Living Legend at 95
a8dmin21 January 13, 2022 0 Comments	Blog, Count Time
Our 95 year old Living Legend talks life history, and community improvement. Audrey N Jacksons long life and commitment to community service is exemplary. She discusses politics and change she has been engaged in and witnessed the last 95 years. It is quite a ride described by an extraordinary woman.
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Count Time Podcast Living Legend Audrey Nabors-Jackson
Selected quotes and notes from Count Time Podcast with LD Azobra Interview with Griffin Rivers
Well, once again, we have a very, very special guest here. We're talking about a true living legend and how honored I am to be here at her wonderful home in the big city of Zachary, Louisiana. Cheneyville. And I'd like to thank her for giving us the opportunity to come here, I have the Queen herself, Miss Audrey Nabors Jackson. Ms. Jackson, we are honored to be here at your home and thank you for inviting us here. Welcome to Count Time.
Thank you. And thank you for thinking about me. It's really an honor and a pleasure to be able to talk to you.
First of all, you went to school, you live in Zachary, but you went to school in Baton Rouge, right?So how did that happen?
Okay, I was born in New Orleans on July 10. My date is not listed, so I won't tell you my date, but I am 95.
You would not believe this young lady is 95. No way. She jumps up, move around, just do everything got it all going on.
And the other thing is that my father worked on the spillway in New Orleans and then we moved to Baton Rouge when I was five years old and he started working at the savvy at where we saw is up there next to the standard all used to be Savvy, Allied Chemical and Standard oil. But since that time they've changed all the names and it's not And I don't know what I think is Allied Chemical or something.
I think the first house we stayed on was 2500 Grace Street was right around the corner from Reverend Weatheris. They lived on Gracie in the 24th on the box and we lived on the 25th, 1st.
I'll let you know why we have Ms. Jackson here today, because she is the genealogist of North Baton Rouge, Zachary Cheneyville. And what that is Southern Lab, which was the Southern is it called
laboratory demonstrated labor demonstrated. But now it's just Southern Lab. It's a demonstrated school because that was the only way the teachers at Southern in the 40s and 39 could do practice teachers to be teachers.
So they use the high school to train to demonstrate teachers? And that's why it was named Southern University Demonstration High School. That is interesting all by itself. So now as we are in your home, you have history all over this house. I mean, it is amazing. It isn't a Museum like a Museum. It is a Museum of your family, your family tree, your family history and your godchildren grandchildren, your children. But to have your great great grandmother. You got pictures of these people?
Yeah. I have my great great grandmother. There she is right there. That's my great great grandmother. I have pictures of my great great grandfather
First Drug Czar
a8dmin21 December 30, 2021 0 Comments	Blog, Count Time
The first Drug Czar in Louisiana, Griffin Rivers talks about working for Gov. Edwin Edwards, his role of keeper of people" in prisons in Louisiana and Michigan and a passionate discussion about race, religion and education with his wife Freya Rivers.
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Count Time Podcast Living Legend Griffin Rivers
Today. I hate to say wonderful, but he's a good guy. I have a good friend of mine, Griffin's River. We're going to let you participate today.
I appreciate it.
Thanks for being here. We want to have another great discussion. Last time your wife was here, she gave us so much history, so much insight on her upbringing, her upcoming between her dad, the different community leaders and all the things that she had to go through as a young woman and even as a grown woman, still fighting the system like it never ends. But we like to thank you all for being here. So, brother Griffin, we're going to start with you this time just to get you out of the way. But he's been in Corrections, correct?
I was appointed by Edwin Edwards, who was the governor at that time. I was appointed for April 1, April Fool's Day. According to the Constitution of the state of Louisiana, you only have 20 agencies, and it's the governor's office, Lieutenant governor's Secretary and all that. Then you have the other agencies like Corrections, public Safety and what have you? Well, Corrections was an agency by itself and Public safety, which is state police and fire Marshal was another Department but they had to create another Department which was called DEQ. Department of Environmental Quality or something to that effect?
They consolidated Corrections with public safety. And that's how I became the Department of Corrections and Public Safety to create a position for DEQ to come on board. So when I was appointed, I was appointed deputy director of corrections. When they did the consolidations. They changed the titles to secretaries. I became deputy Secretary now by right. That was a big thing back in those days for a brother to be in that position. Still a big thing. They just don't know how to do it.
What had happened was, according to the flow chart, the Secretary is supposed to be over corrections and public safety, which means the deputy Secretary of public safety is over public safety, and the deputy Secretary of corrections is over corrections. But my immediate supervisor, which was Phelps, C. Paul Phelps before staying with corrections, he had very little to do with public safety. But I, in essence, on paper, was supposed to be over corrections at that time.
May all that is beautiful, meaningful and brings you joy be yours this holiday season and throughout the coming year! Merry Christmas from the Smart Brotha Media family!
Happy Holidays from Count Time Podcast
Selected quotes and notes from Martin Luther King, Jr. "Christmas Sermon on Peace and Nonviolence
Massey Lecture #5 (Also known as "Peace on Earth" or "a Christmas Sermon on Peace") Aired on December 24th, 1967
Peace on Earth.
This Christmas season finds us a rather bewildered human race. We neither have peace within nor peace without. Everywhere, paralyzing fears harrow people by day and haunt them by night. Our world is sick with war. Everywhere we turn we see its ominous possibilities. And yet, my friends, the Christmas hope for peace and goodwill toward all men can no longer be dismissed as a kind of pious dream of some utopian hoper. If we don't have goodwill toward men in this world, we will destroy ourselves by the misuse of our own instruments and our own power. Wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete. There may have been a time when war served as a negative good by preventing the spread and growth of an evil force, but the very destructive power of modern weapons of warfare eliminates even the possibility that war may any longer serve as a negative good. And so, if we assume that life is worth living, if we assume that mankind has a right to survive, then we must find an alternative to war.
And so let us, this morning, explore the conditions for peace. And as we explore these conditions, I would like to suggest that modern man really go all out to study the meaning of nonviolence: its philosophy and its strategy. We have experimented with the meaning of nonviolence in our struggle for racial justice in the United States, but now the time has come for man to experiment with nonviolence in all areas of human conflict, and that means nonviolence on an international scale.
Now, let me suggest first that, if we are to have peace on Earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone—and as long as we try, the more we are going to have war in this world. The judgment of God is upon us, and we must either learn to live together as brothers or we're all going to perish together as fools.
Yes, as nations and individuals we are interdependent. I have mentioned to you before of our visit to India some years ago. It was a marvelous experience; but I say to you this morning that there were those depressing moments. How can one avoid being depressed when he sees with his own eyes evidences of millions of people going to bed hungry at night? How can one avoid being depressed when he sees with his own eyes thousands of people sleeping on the sidewalks at night? More than a million people sleep on the sidewalks of Bombay, India, every night. More than a half a million sleep on the sidewalks of Calcutta every night. They have no houses to go in, they have no beds to sleep in. And as I beheld these conditions, something within me cried out: "Can we in America stand idly by and not be concerned?" And an answer came: "Oh, no!"
And I started thinking about the fact that, right here in our country, we spend millions of dollars every day to store surplus food. And I said to myself: "I know where we can store that food free of charge—in the wrinkled stomachs of the millions of God's children in Asia, in Africa, Latin America—and even in our own nation—who go to bed hungered at night."
It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality.Did you ever stop to think that you can't leave for your job in the morning without being dependent on most of the world? You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom and reach over for a sponge, and that's handed to you by a Pacific Islander. You reach for a bar of soap, and that's given to you at the hands of a Frenchman. And then you go in the kitchen to drink your coffee for the morning, and that's poured in your cup by a South American. Or maybe you want tea: that's poured in your cup by a Chinese. Or maybe you're desirous of having cocoa for breakfast, and that's poured in your cup by a West African. And then you reach over for your toast, and that's given to you at the hands of an English-speaking farmer—not to mention the baker! And before you finish eating breakfast in the morning you are dependent on more than half of the world. This is the way our universe is structured. It is its interrelated quality. We aren't going to have peace on Earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.
Now let me say, secondly, that if we are to have peace in the world, men and nations must embrace the nonviolent affirmation that ends and means must cohere. One of the great philosophical debates of history has been over the whole question of means and ends. And there have always been those who argued that the end justifies the means; that the means really aren't important. The important thing is to get to the end, you see.
So, if you're seeking to develop a just society, the important thing is to get there and the means are really unimportant—any means that will get you there. They may be violent, they may be untruthful means, they may even be unjust means to get to a just end. There have been those who have argued this throughout history. But we will never have peace in the world until men everywhere recognize that ends are not cut off from means. Because the means represent the ideal in the making, and the end in process. And ultimately, you can't reach good ends through evil means because the means represent the seed and the end represents the tree.
It's one of the strangest things that all of the great military geniuses of the world have talked about peace. The conquerors of old who came killing in pursuit of peace—Alexander, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon, were akin in seeking a peaceful world order. And you know, if you will read Mein Kampf close enough, Hitler contended that everything that he did in Germany was for peace. And the leaders of the world today talk eloquently about peace. Every time we drop our bombs in North Vietnam, President Johnson is talking eloquently about peace. What is the problem? They are talking about peace as a distant goal; as an end we seek. But one day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means. All of this is saying that, in the final analysis, means and ends must cohere because the end is preexistent in the means. And ultimately, destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends.
Now, let me say that the next thing we must be concerned about if we are to have peace on Earth and goodwill toward men is the nonviolent affirmation of the sacredness of all human life. Life is sacred. Every man is somebody because he is a child of God. And so when we say "Thou shalt not kill," we're really saying that human life is too sacred to be killed on the battlefields of the world. Man is more than a tiny vagary of whirling electrons or a wisp of smoke from a limitless smoldering. Man is a child of God, made in His image, and therefore must be respected as such. Until men see this everywhere, until nations see this everywhere, we will be fighting wars.
One day somebody should remind us that, even though there may be political and ideological differences, the Vietnamese are our brothers, the Russians are our brothers, the Chinese are our brothers. And one day we've got to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. But in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile. In Christ there is neither male nor female. In Christ there is neither communist nor capitalist. In Christ, somehow, there is neither bound nor free. We are all one in Christ Jesus. And when we truly believe in the sacredness of human personality, we won't exploit people, we won't trample over people with iron feet of oppression, we won't kill anybody.
There are three words for "love" in the Greek New Testament; one is the word eros. Eros is a sort of esthetic, romantic love. Plato used to talk about it a great deal in his Dialogues: the yearning of the soul for the realm of the divine. And there is and can always be something beautiful about eros, even in its expressions of romance. Some of the most beautiful love in all of the world has been expressed this way.
Then the Greek language talks about phileo, which is another word for love. And phileo is a kind of intimate love between personal friends. This is the kind of love you have for those people that you get along with well, and those that you like on this level you love because you are loved. You love those people that appeal to you, and those that you like.
Then the Greek language has another word for love. It is the word agape. Agape is more than romantic love. It is more than friendship. Agape is understanding; creative, redemptive good will for all men. Agape is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. Theologians would say that it is the love of God operating in the human heart. And so, when you rise to love on this level, you love all men not because you like them, not because their ways appeal to you, but you love every man because God loves them. This is what Jesus meant when he said, "Love your enemies." And I'm happy that he didn't say, "Like your enemies," because there are some people that I find it pretty difficult to like. Like is an affectionate emotion, and I can't like anybody bombing my home. I can't like anybody who would exploit me. I can't like anybody who would trample over me with injustices. I can't like them. I can't like anybody who threatens to kill me day in and day out. But Jesus reminds us that love is greater than like. Love is understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill toward all men. And I think this is where we are, as a people, in our struggle for racial justice. We can't ever give up. We must work passionately and unrelentingly for first-class citizenship. We must never let up in our determination to remove every vestige of segregation and discrimination from our nation. But we shall not in the process relinquish our privilege to love.
I've seen too much hate to want to hate, myself. And I've seen hate on the faces of too many sheriffs, too many white citizens, councilors, and too many Klansmen of the South to want to hate, myself. And every time I see it, I say to myself, "Hate is too great a burden to bear." Somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponents and say: "We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you. We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws and abide by the unjust system, because noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. And so throw us in jail and we will still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and, as difficult as it is, we will still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and drag us out on some wayside road and leave us half-dead as you beat us, and we will still love you. Send your propaganda agents around the country, and make it appear that we are not fit, culturally and otherwise, for integration, but we'll still love you. But be assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory."
And if there is to be peace on Earth and goodwill toward men, we must finally believe in the ultimate morality of the universe, and believe that all reality hinges on moral foundations. Something must remind us of this as we somehow stand in the Christmas season and think of the Easter season simultaneously, for the two somehow go together. Christ came to show us the way. Men love darkness rather than the light, and they crucified Him. And there on Good Friday on the Cross it was still dark, but then Easter came, and Easter is an eternal reminder of the fact that truth-crushed earth will rise again. Easter justifies Carlyle in saying, "No lie can live forever." And so this is our faith. And as we continue to hope for peace on Earth and goodwill toward men, let us know that in the process we have cosmic companionship.
In 1963, on a sweltering August afternoon, we stood in Washington, D.C., we talked to the nation about many things. Toward the end of that afternoon, I tried to talk to the nation about a dream that I had had, and I must confess to you today that not long after talking about that dream I started seeing it turn into a nightmare. I remember the first time I saw that dream turn into a nightmare, just a few weeks after I had talked about it. It was when four beautiful, unoffending, innocent Negro girls were murdered in a church in Birmingham, Alabama. I watched that dream turn into a nightmare as I moved through the ghettos of the nation and saw my black brothers and sisters perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity, and saw the nation really doing nothing to grapple with the Negroes' problem of poverty. I saw that dream turn into a nightmare as I watched my black brothers and sisters in the midst of anger and understandable outrage, in the midst of their hurt, in the midst of their disappointment, turn to misguided riots to try to solve that problem. I saw that dream turn into a nightmare as I watched the war in Vietnam escalating, and as I saw so-called military advisors, 16,000 strong, turn into fighting soldiers until today over 500,000 American boys are fighting on Asian soil. Yes, I am personally the victim of deferred dreams, of blasted hopes, but in spite of that I close today by saying I still have a dream, because, you know, you can't give up in life. If you lose hope, somehow you lose that vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of all. And so today I still have a dream.
Men will rise up and come to see that they are made to live together as brothers. I still have a dream this morning that one day every Negro in this country, every colored person in the world, will be judged on the basis of the content of his character rather than the color of his skin, and every man will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. I still have a dream that one day the idle industries of Appalachia will be revitalized, and the empty stomachs of Mississippi will be filled, and brotherhood will be more than a few words at the end of a prayer, but the first order of business on every legislative agenda. I still have a dream today that one day justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. I still have a dream today that in all of our state houses and city halls men will be elected to go there who will do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with their God. I still have a dream today that one day war will come to an end, that men will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, that nations will no longer rise up against nations, neither will they study war any more. I still have a dream today that one day the lamb and the lion will lie down together and every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid. I still have a dream today that one day every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill will be made low, the rough places will be made plain and the crooked places straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. I still have a dream that with this faith we will be able to adjourn the councils of despair and bring new light into the dark chambers of pessimism. With this faith we will be able to speed up the day when there will be peace on Earth and goodwill toward men. It will be a glorious day, the morning stars will sing together, and the sons of God will shout for joy.
https://www.organism.earth/library/document/christmas-sermon-on-peace-and-nonviolence
Living Legend Jimmy Field
Interview with LSU football great Jimmy Field a community leader walking with the Lord. From his time on Billy Cannon led LSU teams, to traveling to Europe, to his successful law practice and election to the Louisiana Public Service Commission Jimmy talks about life and his long friendship with LD. Happy Holidays!
Count Time Podcast Living Legend Jimmy Field
Selected quotes and notes from Count Time Podcast with LD Azobra Interview with Jimmy Field
Today we have someone dear brother, friend, someone I've been knowing for many, many years. My whole time here in the Baton Rouge area, he's been like a father, confidant just just everything you could imagine. My attorney, he's been a true living legend here in the Baton Rouge in Louisiana area. He have impacted so many young men's lives. He worked with so many different men. He also was our former public service Commissioner. We have today, former LSU Tiger quarterback Mr. Jimmy Morgan Field. Welcome to Count Time
Thank you, Lyman I'm always pleased to be in your company. And I'm proud of what you've done with your life. And I'm glad to be here with you today.
I'm honored to have you because we've been knowing each other for a long time, Mr. Field. He still looks like a young man But he has at least 81 trips around the sun. He still has his great health, wisdom, the knowledge he gets around very good. And I feel honored just to be here with you and tell me, where did you grow up?
Actually, I was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1940, New Jersey. And it was during the war and the Japanese cut off the supply of natural rubber to the United States. So they told the chemical engineers my father was a chemical engineer. It was Esso then now it's Exxon. you all got to come up with the synthetic rubber for the planes and jeeps and the war effort. So they came up with a synthetic rubber to take the place of the natural rubber. And then they transferred half of the engineers to Baton Rouge because the refinery in Baton Rouge was larger and it could produce more rubber for the war effort. Thank goodness my dad was in that group. I was only two years old. So I've been here since 1942. I was very fortunate. From the first grade to 12th grade, I went to University High School
Back then.
Back then, it's old school. I think it's close to 100 years old. And we met a Peabody Hall on the LSU campus right by the Indian Mounds. And then they moved the school over to where it is now on Dalrymple across from fraternity houses when I was in the 7th grade. So from 1946 to 1966, when I graduated from law school, every school day, I went to the same campus, same beautiful campus.
Interview with Freya Rivers
a8dmin21 December 9, 2021 4 Comments	Blog, Count Time
From desegregating Baton Rouge public schools, successful entrepreneur, educator to activist, What a life! An enlightening conversation full of emotion and humor with Living Legend Freya A Rivers.
Count Time Podcast and Living Legend Freya Rivers
Selected quotes and notes from Count Time Podcast with LD Azobra Interview with Freya Anderson Rivers
And today we have another special guest. She is truly a living legend in so many ways. Awesome storyteller herself. Dear friend here, Dr. Freya Rivers. Welcome to Count Time.
Thank you so much. And thanks for inviting me.
We're looking forward to a great conversation, a great discussion and a lot of history that I know that you're going to bring forward. And your story takes so many different directions angles I totally want you to start here and share your story. Some things you went through desegregation here in Baton Rouge Louisiana. You was one of them. That was like the Little Rock. Y'all had 26? That was in 1963.
We desegregated the public schools in Baton Rouge. Well, there were four of us at Lehigh, three black males and myself. I was the only female there. And they started with our senior year in Baton Rouge, which was that was rough.
Where were you before that?
Southern High loved every minute. Yes, I loved high school. I was President of the band at Southern High under Ludwig Freeman. I played clarinet in the band, and we had a wonderful class. In fact, I think there were, like, 14 of us that deseg that year came from the class of Southern High. The class of 63, 64.
There were four of us at Lehigh. The three males were from McKinley originally, and that was Louis Morgan, Murphy Bell And Melvin Patrick at Baton Rouge High. But there were 26 of us that had such a great impact. About 55 years ago.
We developed a family, a Camaraderie that year that just drew us together. On weekends. We would meet at the Y to kind of deprogram us from all of the atrocities we had suffered that week. We also had tutors to help us if we needed any assistance with academics. So we were a pretty close group. We just had to be. We didn't have anybody else. However, the black schools in the city really supported us that year because Southern High wouldn't let just outsiders come to their events without approval, prior approval. But when we deseg that year, they welcomed for all activities.
Interview with Russell Sanders
a8dmin21 December 2, 2021 1 Comment	Blog, Count Time
A former marine, successful entrepreneur and currently "captured" husband's humorous discussion of relationships and life. A raucous conversation with a man who has been everywhere and seen everything.
Count Time Podcast and Living Legend Russell Sanders
Arleen and Russell Sanders with LD Azobra
Selected quotes and notes from Count Time Podcast with LD Azobra Interview with Russell Sanders
Back in the back there before we clean a big lot. It was wooded area, and I was over there. And when I first, when she fooled me down here and kept me here that night, come here and got drunk and, put out all that liquor on me. And I slept all night. And then she took me in a golf cart and brought me and showed me her Mama house told me, this is where my Mama live. And she's old now. But she's still getting around, right? I got the story from her then I was her sister in law there, behind her mom.
And then coming up this way, she said, That's my baby sister, her son, is in prison. What he did? She said, he'd do anything, but she got another son. He'd been to prison too. I said, what he did. She said he shot a n***** and he went to prison. I said, okay, I said, what about she got any more? She said, yeah, she got a daughter too. I said, for real, she said, yeah, she's in prison too. She shot somebody.
I said, D***, boy, we ride go cart, right? Because she got her GoCart right there next door. She said, That's my next oldest sister. Now this ain't nothing but the truth, she said, but her husband, you don't want to mess with him because he don't mess with people. He don't talk to nobody.
She said, That's my next to the baby house and her husband is an undertaker. I said, oh, all right. And she said, I'm going to take you back and show you something. So we've gone on in the back. I said, oh, boy, I know where she going back here. So then we go down to the thing and I'm looking. I said, you got a pond back here, too? She said, yeah, I got fish in there. You can fish whenever you want to.
I say, Good, she said, but over here, yeah, she said, but over here, this is our family graveyard. Really? You all got your own graveyard? She said, yeah. So if something happened to you, you ain't got to worry about where you're going to buried.
https://www.russellsoriginalblends.com/
Interview with Ramsey Dardar
a8dmin21 November 25, 2021 0 Comments	Blog, Count Time
LSU Football Living Legend and former SEC Defensive Player of the Year describes growing up in Cecilia/Breaux Bridge; his prominent athletic career at LSU and the St. Louis Cardinals; and his struggles to stay alive and return to his family.
Count Time Podcast and LSU Living Legend Ramsey Dardar
Selected quotes and notes from Count Time Podcast with LD Azobra Interview with Ramsey Dardar
I have a true living legend and a dear friend, teammate and someone I've been dealing with for a long, long time. You all will be excited to have this young man here because he has a true, touching story, a story that can move you because it has moved me every time I've heard it.
Man, you always exemplify leadership. I tell that to Lorraine all the time, man. Well, I won't lie to you, and I'm not telling you this is just because we're doing this interview, but hey, man, I have not met a guy in my football career. I'm talking from LSU to the NFL that I could trust more than you that I believe had my best interests at heart. You saved me a lot of time on the streets. You know that when I was doing bad, you know what I'm saying? But that didn't start when I started doing bad. That started way back when I was at LSU and man you used to look out for me and Lenny.
You never acted like you was. They had a lot of guys that acted like when they were seniors, they looked down on players. They acted like there was too much to have freshman sophomore or whatever. Like they hadn't been there before. But you never acted that way, man. I just tell you about that I never found a friend like you before. I would trust you with my life. No, I'm being honest with you. Because you never showed me. I never seen another side of you. All I see was a side compassion and care for other people. And that kind of reminds me of me.
People at home, man, raise h***. My high school people at my high school. Cecilia people for Cecilia because I went to Cecilia and LSU put Breaux Bridge in the book in the program. And it cost a mess. Not only did it cost a mess at LSU, dealing with these people, asking them to try to get them to change it. I had a lot to deal with with the people from Cecilia and the people from Breaux Bridge, even though Breaux Bridge High School was my rivalry, chief rivalry.
There's a little place. And the restaurant is famous all over the country for sure. Poches. And they're all over. I didn't know they were my dad worked for those people about 25 years for the Poches. But what I'm saying is that the area of Poches, it carries a Breaux Bridge Address. That's where I'm really from Poche Bridge.
And I chose Cecilia. Well, I had a lot of relatives there. So I decided to go, but I was the baby in the family. So my brothers and sisters there was a Cecilia, but it was no big deal
Interview with Dr Thomas J Durant Pt2
a8dmin21 November 18, 2021 1 Comment	Blog, Count Time
Living Legend describes the social, cultural and racial transformation of Louisiana State University. Professor Emeritus Durant gives an insiders look at negotiating the politics of academia and LSU and his role in the desegregation of the university.
Count Time Podcast Living Legend Dr. Thomas J Durant
Selected quotes and notes from Count Time Podcast with LD Azobra Interview with Dr. Thomas J Durant Pt2
Because that's most important. My mother got to the fifth grade. My father got to the 10th grade, which was as far as they were going at the time. So he was really a high school graduate, which was rare at the time. But they wanted their children to be educated because they thought that education was the key to success. God first education, second, and the hard way. Third, those were the key to success.
Now, God, nobody can deny you access to God, even though our people were enslaved and had struggled through hard times, our ancestors were enslaved. But that's one thing about slavery. It couldn't kill the spirit. So you can't deny slaves access to God. That was a good thing. We always had access to God education. We didn't have as much access to it.
Okay, but coming in an environment where your mother, your Daddy. They went as far as they can go in school. Your grandparents, they was all farmers.So what inspired you to say, I want to be? Were you thinking about being a College Professor? What were you thinking about what motivated you to go and further your education?
Yeah, well, first of all, we were inspired by our parents. That's key. If you do not have parents who can nurture and inspire and teach their children, you are lost before you get out into the real world. And so we were blessed to have parents who looked out for the way of their children. No indicated all seven of the children. All seven of us finished high school. Five or seven went to College, four got master's degrees and one got a PG degree out of a family where the father got a 10th grade education and mother got a fifth grade education. So you tell me, how did that happen?
But the challenge was for you, too, is that you end up teaching at a school that wouldn't even educate you.
Yes. Well, let me tell you what happened. Our parents believe so much in education that they felt that that was our way out and way up. But education is not the first priority. As I mentioned, God was number one. Now, when you say God, people say, oh, they're going back to religion. Black folks are going back to religion. And how does that help them? You have to explain to people who God is and what you believe about God because otherwise you lose them in this kind of ecclesiastical argument that there has no basis for how you get from point A to point B. And most people say, Well, I depend on God, but they can't tell you how they got from point A to point B, and that's what our parents did. They manifested God in their lives. So you know how you got from point A to point B. First of all, God believes in love. God is love. So if you don't love your children, who's going to love Him, if you don't take care of your children, who's going to take care of them, that's what God is. God is wisdom. You have the wisdom and the knowledge to understand so that you can direct the path for your children. If you don't have God given wisdom, how can you direct your actions and how can you direct your children.
There's a famous scripture that I like to quote the proverb 29 and 18 that says, without a vision, the people perish, and I'll substitute the word wisdom for vision. Without wisdom, the people perish. And so my parents had Godly love, had Godly wisdom, and they had Godly work. Now some people may say, well, what the he has to do with it. God believes in hard work. You don't believe in hard work. You can't believe in God because God helps those who help themselves. And that's why you have to understand that you can pray all you want to go to Church or believe whatever religion that you want to. But if you don't ever act out your faith, you are not going to get anywhere because you have already been given what you need to survive when you come here in this war, and it has to be nurtured by your parents.
So most of the time that people are saying what they need, they already have the resources to do it. But it hasn't materialized in a life because they don't understand how to manifest. And you're asking God to do something for you. He's already given you the capacity to do it for yourself. So I'm telling you. And the other thing is that our parents taught us that we were no more or no less than anybody else. Black, white, yellow, green, blue, purple. So we came up knowing that other people had more than we did. But we never felt that we were infuriated anybody. And that's key to advancing yourself in society.
Yeah, there were roadblocks, and you couldn't go to the white school. But that didn't keep you from striving to go as far as you could in your own school. And really, how important was that anyway? Because you couldn't go to school with other people? Well, equality is something that you're never going to reach if other people are able to make the rules. Remember that equality is something that you're never going to reach as long as other people make the rules. So that was the problem all alone. Other people were making the rules and setting the conditions. And that prevented excluded Blacks from moving from one place to the other one. And then even if you move all of the obstacles out of the way on one side.
Interview with Dr Thomas J Durant
The Living Legend describes the social, cultural and racial transformation of Louisiana State University in Pt2.
Dr. Thomas J Durant, Professor Emeritus, Louisiana State University discusses his journey growing up in north Louisiana under a segregated system. He describes the tools given to him by his parents that took him around the world.
Selected quotes and notes from Count Time Podcast with LD Azobra Interview with Dr. Thomas J Durant
Today, we have very special guest. Very special to me in more ways than you can imagine. This young man I met many, many years ago. And over the years, we have fostered a great relationship. He's my confidant. He'll get a chance to share his story today. And I've been waiting for this for quite some time myself. I got here. Former LSU Professor Doctor Thomas Durant. Welcome to Count time, doctor.
Thank you. I was about to say, Lyman, but your transition name is L.D. Azobra. Thank you, brother LD AZobra. And I have a special name, too, other than my plantation name, which was Thomas James Durant, Jr. And that name is Kwami Orley Diacqua. I need to explain that to you in the country of Ghana, you have a special name. And according to the day of the week that I was born on.
So for me, my first name would be Kwame born on Tuesday. And O'Reilly was given to me by a family in Kampala, Uganda. And they said, I look like the Motoro people. And the Motoro people represent a large ethnic or tribal group in Uganda. And I asked him, what does O'Reilly mean? They said, O'Reilly means the rainbow, the strength, the brilliance and the color of The rainbow.
Now, the Diaqua was the chief of a village in Ghana. And we visited there in he gave me the name of the DiAqua.
The chief of the village gave you his name.
Yes. And that's an honor name of their ancestors of the village of Diacqua. So I found a new selfrevelation in Ghana, had to go all the way to Ghana to really find out who I was from an African perspective, from an American perspective, my name is just an identity as part of my family. But in Ghana, your name is your identity that reflects part of your culture and your personality. So what people see in you and your talents and gifts that you have becomes an expression of who you are. And this is how they come up with your name. So I'm proud to say I know your name means light. My name means strength of the rainbow. Born on a Tuesday, born on Tuesday and also the honor of the village of the DiAqua, because apparently, I have some chief traits.
Books written by Dr. Durant
So you ask people who am I, who do you say you are? That's what's important. People can call you something by your official name. But do they really know who you are? And do you really know who you are?
Interview with Julia B Moore
a8dmin21 November 4, 2021 0 Comments	Blog, Count Time
A teachers' teacher provides a history of Scotlandville, LA, Jim Crow and her wise opinions on everything from education to politics with some surprising laughs.
Count Time Podcast Living Legend
An engaging discussion with Living Legend Julia B Moore cancer survivor, teacher and activist. Methodism, and her current mission are a few of the many topics described by Ms. Moore in her passionate story telling style.
Faced with a lynch mob the residents of Scotlandville raised their guns to the sky and prayed "God be with us tonight, Amen."
Selected quotes and notes from Count Time Podcast with LD Azobra Interview with Julia B Moore
Today we have another true legend. I mean, one. We are honored to have her here today. It's my honor and pleasure to have to meet with her. She's a historian, scholar. she's someone in the community been in this community for a long time. Matter of fact, you just told us her birthday is coming up at the end of this week. So we fear even that much more honor. And she's a breast cancer survivor two time breast cancer survivor. So this young lady have gone through a lot.
This lady don't like that. This lady take charge, but she's going to be 96 this
year this week so she can have it her way. We ain't going to sit here at argue and have no complications with us. Ms. Julia Bradford Moore, welcome to Count Time.
Thank you happy to participate.
No, we are honored to have you at 96 and still going strong. You all This is beautiful And you got that tall, elegant look.
That's what I asked God for. I asked him, don't come get me till 96 to 26 because he had given me things to do. And I have not finished the jobs he gave me.
You talk to God.
Don't You talk to God.
Julia B Moore and Pastor Kermit Robertson
We like to thank Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church for allowing us to host this interview with Miss Moore over here. So thank you, Pastor, for allowing us to be here now. So we at the Church now. You just made a comment. You said you asked the Lord, not to come get you until when? we know you're not going anywhere.
He gave me things to do with reference to women and men with reference to cancer? And I have not finished a job he gave me. Once a month We hold cross country, better than 100 men and women from across the United States. We come together and learn about how to deal with cancer, with breast cancer. So we brought them in and then we have speakers and we have representatives from California, Nevada, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Maryland.
You've been doing this since 90?
No, the cross country connection just since the pandemic.
So you zooming in and all this stuff now,
I don't know about that. God spoke to me and told me to call the women of color together and what you need I will provide depend upon me. And I don't take any presents on my birthday. So any money that anybody could give me to give it to the coalition or in the Scotland community. And so they called Rigor. They called Smith and they called Willie Drago to the meeting.
They went and they told them, don't do that. These are peace loving colored People pay their bills, go to Church and then work every day. They don't owe us nothing. They're peace abiding citizens. Why do you want to do that? Because they think they better than us.
Well Rigor and them came back and called the black preachers. Rev. Wilkins, Rev. Washington called them together. This is what's going to happen. Like it or not, we are against it. now What do you want from us?
Don't have shotgun and shells. See me. See me.
and Drago said I'm going to build a barricade I'm going to put it behind the store. And on that night that they were coming, the men started on Maryland. And at that time, you could see from here all the way to the tanks. You could see all the way there.
It was just fields.
It was just fields. And daddy said, you could see the flashlights coming. And then they met up. You got players Williams husband out of the field, the John out of the field and you got the heritage And you got the Kellys. They kept marching and the moon was so bright you could read a letter. by and they got to Dragos. They put the barricade up.
And daddy said there wasn't a light, no where. Nobody at the house. And they said, let us pray and they raised their guns to God. And the prayer was daddy said, God be with us tonight, amen.
That's all it need to be.
100 black men.
Real 100 black men.
And Daddy said you could hear that old car in the gravel, just the motor straining and whining. And the bottles were being broken and loud cussing and they're going to burn the so and so.
So pinpoints of light. And my dad said, as they got nearer. They got brighter and brighter. When they got to the railroad track, 100 black men threw down and said, Click click.
And Daddy said, that was the only thing you heard. After the click click and the cars turned around
https://www.facebook.com/Louisiana-Coalition-of-African-American-Breast-Cancer-Survivors-871452102897457/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/misguided-focus-1619-beginning-slavery-us-damages-our-understanding-american-history-180964873/
https://subr.libguides.com/c.php?g=413211&p=4314831
https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/african-americans-at-jamestown.htm
https://historicjamestowne.org/history/the-first-africans/
Dale Brown Court