Empress Modupe Olufunmi Jacobs – Founder of Balm of Gilead/ A Lifelong Activist, Educator & Learner Feb 3 – Room 1: 2 PM – Reparatory & Restorative Justice in Hawai’i’s Legal Cannabis Industry Feb 4 -Room 2: 1 PM – Reparatory & Restorative Justice in Hawai’i’s Legal Cannabis Industry Empress Modupe Olufunmi-Jacobs is a Master Teacher and Certified Cannabis Health & Wellness Coach. She has a Master’s degree in Education, from the College of Mount Saint Vincent, Riverdale, New York. A Bachelor’s in History, one in Africana Studies, from Brook|yn College, City University of New York. Recently completed at Saint Louis University a Professional Certification Cannabis Science and Operations program. Serves her community as A Certified Cannabis Health and Wellness Coach and Educator. Empress has advocated for over 40 years to decriminalize and legalize Cannabis globally. As well as to reform criminal justice laws adversely impacting BIPOC peoples’ entry in the legal “Cannabis Industry”. She founded Balm of Gilead’s mission in the RASTAFARI principles and spiritual traditions of her indigenous African Avisian AnkCestars. She is committed to serving BIPOC communities that have been adversely impacted by the “war on drugs” locally and abroad. Empress provides Cannabis literacy through activism, advocacy, education, health and wellness coaching. She has seen the power of transformation in her own life in caring for her mind, body, and spirit with diet, exercise, with Cannabis and plant medicine. She is passionate about helping others do the same.
greetings and salutations to everyone that is in herethe few the Brave and the solid thank you for cominggreetings in the name of our Imperial Majesty Emperor H Cassi the first andEmpress Menan ASA grateful to our creator our ancestors the orishas theloas and all the Divine forces that give life and keeps all Humanity asone I’m extremely grateful to the organizers and sponsors of the seventhannual Hawaii Cannabis Expo for including the Ganja War veterans aspresenters and vendors for this year’s event our heartfelt gratitude to all those generous donorsand special thanks to those who are present here to discuss our story notjust his story yall are Really Brave you know and I thankyou I’m Empress mod Jacobs a Ganja Warveteran owner and founder of bomb of Gilead cannabis health and wellnessMinistry also known as bomb OG 360 LLC we provide cannabis literacy throughactivism advocacy education and empowering our local and Globalcommunities with plant health and wellness Ministry our services are aimedprimarily for bipar black indigenous people of color thosemostly and adversely impacted by the War on Drugs specifically those who continue to becriminalized stigmatized and marginalized and also excluded frombenefiting and participating with equal access in the Cannabis industryhuntu I am because we are this is a South African phrase meaning Humanity orI am because we are the term is derived from the phrase umuntu ngumuntugabu which translate as quote a person is a person through other people endquote I don’t like to speak much about myself however as a presenter here I’dlike to give you some of her story of my Origins I am a descendant of kidnappedAfricans born in the Highland of heti give Tas transplanted to the United States in1965 with my parents and my siblings at the age of nine I first came to live inHawaii in 1983 I left in 88 and returned in 2018 I am a wife a mother a grandmotheran educator of secondary and tertiary schools I am a culturalpractitioner culinary and visual artist social justice activistcaregiver and visual artists I am also an aspir ing Farmher it is from this cultural historical social and spiritual way of life that Ishare our story there’s an African proverb which states quote the tale ofthe hunt from the hunter will be different from theLions Genesis 1 129 and God said behold I have given you every herb bearing seedwhich is a upon the face of the Earth and every tree into which is the fruit yielding seed to you it shall be formeat you cannot talk about cannabis medicine without including the fullscope of Plant Nutrition along with it so this is why as a people who haverelied mostly on land to nourish our bodies minds and Spirits rifi advocateso passionately to educate Empower and inform people on the culturalhistorical and spiritual value and evolution of this plant with Humanity weare the stewards of the land who always cultivated food along withmedicine and cannabis is that medicine so let’s take a little walk in time fora quick glimpse of our story withcannabis first I want to give credit to one of our Brothers in the struggleBrother Floyd Jarvis who coined the term Ganja War veteran um to describe andspecifically identify those man woman and youth who have been terrorized inthe US the Caribbean Africa Asia and other parts of the world where they’vemade cannabis legal to their racist policies and brought the War on Drugsfor many of us here in Hawaii from the 1980s our lives were and continue to beimpacted by the terrorism of green Harvest this was the DEA funding orcollaborating with local police to eradicate the Guerilla Bush doctors cultivators culinary artists andAlchemists in the Kingdom of Hawaii this is our story not hisstory rastafar have been using cannabis as an economic social and spiritualsustenance prior to their kidnapping and enslavement by European colonization of indigenous people’s lands around theglobe based on our ancestral teachings we have alwaysutilized this plant in every aspect of Our Lives prior to and even throughoutcaptivity while it was made illegal by the onset of European colonization ofAfrica Asia the continents and the islands named by Europeans as America bipacpeople have been using cannabis in a sustainable manner as primarily foodmedicine and spiritual sustenance I would love to go into thehistory of our connections with this plant but due to time I cannot I dorecommend for those interested in learning more to read these books Duval Duval Chris Duval chronicLes um the history of cannabis in the lives of Africans prior to and during Europeancolonization author asley hammed provides an ethnographic study ofrastafar community in the Caribbean islands of Trinidad St Vincent andJamaica as well as in New York hammed teaches us how once criminalized youthin these communities use cultivation distribution and of ganja to becomeproductive heads of household sustaining numerous familiesand communities with cannabis I want to get to the main purpose of this presentation really which has a lot moreto do with the current proposed cannabis legislation inHawaii from anslinger Mixon Carter Reagan Bush ObamaTrump and Biden what remains constant is the number of blackindigenous people of color individuals and communities that have been adverselyimpacted by the communalization and marginalizing and stigmatizing associated with possession ofcannabis black people have and continue to be the ones most criminalized andincarcerated for possession of cannabis I’ll give you an example black peoplehere in Hawaii make up 1.4% of the population according to the census that was taken but yet we’re 1.7 times morelikely to be arrested by whites or any other group of people on this island andthis is a 2022 study um so it brings me like I camehere with a lot of questions and these questions are not necessarily for you because you probably have the samequestions but these are the questions I want to ask the politicians when they’re talking about creating new laws thathave equity and inclusion in the industry so is there racial and socialequity in the Cannabis industry if it exists then how does it translate from legislation to itsimplementation as the legal cannabis industry continues to expand Across the Nation there’s still exist economicracial and social disparities within the US in terms of the legislation andregulations that allows entry into the industry excuse me for a secondplease MJ Biz daily projected the legal cannabis sales in the United States from2022 to 2028 from Medical and recreational Cannabis sales could reach $33.6 billion by the end of 2023 retail cannabis sales are projectedto be upwards 53.5 billion do by2027 so for every $10 consumers and patients spend anadditional $18 will be injected into the economy much of it at the local leveland this is what the powers that be here in Hawaii are banking on that um theyseeing money and they seeing profit so on the local level only medical cannabis is legal inHawaii so that’s why they pushing to make um adult use and the predictedannual tax revenues for adult use sales is $80 million and this would came fromthe Hawaii cannabis industry Association they all also predicted uh 3,000 newcannabis related jobs in Hawaii where when the adult use is legalized so ifand when this happens I would like to know how they propos to include theexperienced ogs that is the Ganja War veterans the indigenous people of havayiwho’ve been cultivating cannabis probably hundreds of years before their land were captured from them and Ireally don’t know the history of cannabis in the Pacific so I’m not claiming to be an authority on that butI’m just saying that this plant people of color indigenous peoplehave been using it for thousands of years before its colonization by thismodern industry so here in Hawaii we only have a vertically integrated modelof cannabis business and with a few uh Rebel farmers and some cooperatives likek and the black the black market peoplestill exist so how do you plan to keepthem or even bring them into this uh diverse and inclusive industry thatyou’re talking about so I want to leave Hawaii for a minute and look at moneyand H how how money is being made on this you guys seeing the screencorrect cuz from this side is that coming through correct turn offyeah cuz I I just turned around and saw how dull that that is that must be horrible for youreyes yeah so I apologize for that I’m not the tech person so I just try tobear with me so all of revenues that’s G gained from Cannabis basically is thatthe state is simply money laundering for the feds and my question MJ Biz reportedthat California earned a 5.1 billion dollar in revenues and sales in 2021sales supporting 83,7 jobs Illinois marijuana industrysold $1.78 billion in products in 2021 supporting28,0 9,992 legal cannabis jobs legal you knowbeautiful sister may I read it revenues from Cannabis money laundering for the feds and number two something else howare these tax rues from canis sales currently being utilized awesome yesthose are the questions I have for the powers that be so when these monthly totals are combined the results aregoing to going to be in the Millions for these for this state despite an abundant flow ofcannabis generated Revenue into the US economy there seems to be no evidentsignificant transformation okay and terms of likeyou hear the AG and you hear um thelegislators with the current bill that they’re proposing talk about they want to be in inclusive and that um they wantto make the industry diverse thus far in Hawaii we have not seen that inclusionnor that diversity and we’re calling for that equity and that inclusion so in terms ofum to as I said to date evidence of cannabis revenues being used in repairing and restoring the communitiesand lives of individuals worse impacted by cannabis prohibition legislis not well documented so these would be recommendations that I would be makingto any of the politicians that before you think about cannabis reform lawswhich must happen but you need to also think about Criminal Justice Reform lawsand how you going to keep people out of prison instead of putting them in prison because frankly in my opinion and I Imaybe digressing from my path here but um in order to help a people and restorethe damage that you’ve done in Hawaii for example Hawaiians don’t need more prisons they need restoration of theirHomeland Hawaiians need to have um measures for restoring um technicalsupport because we going into an age of artificial intelligence and all these things the farmers of Hawaiiparticularly we need to encourage young people in Hawaii to to get into farming because I just spent two weekends ago inYPO Valley volunteering at at a farmers’s um space and what the farmershared she was lamenting that in YPO Valley only konas are farmers there nowthe youth are not really it’s not viable and you you you know you can see howit’s not sustainable for them because they don’t have the support they don’t have the technology they don’t have the training so um we would encourage youknow the powers that be to put more of that uh those revenues that they aimingto build prisons into educational opportunities into training for youngpeople in Hawaii instead of criminalizing the poor people into homes okay there’s a great deal of uhhouselessness on this on this island okay so sorry for that digression it’s just in case I forgetyou know Jeremiah IAH 8 2022 and this will explain to you this this this versefrom the Bible will explain to you why you know this is a very importantquestion Jeremiah 82022 is there no bomb in Gilead isthere no physician there why then is not the health of the daughter of my peoplemarginalized sorry my marginalized people recovered black psychologist DrJoy ly degree wrote postraumatic slavesyndrome America’s enduring Legacy of injury and healing and you can see how this impact I don’t know aboutyou but I’ve had enough talk therapy to understand what the trauma of myancestors experien experience when they were kidnapped and enslaved 450 50 yearsago and brought to these parts of the world it’s and not only that but for along period of time continues to be in that same oppressiveracist systemic system that dehumanizes them soyes it’s that that brings the the the the theverse from Jeremiah that makes it so important and so valid and by the way anyonerecognizes one of the people in the picture there yourbrother the beard yes that’s my that’s my verymasculine side that’s appearing there uh with my child I was in fact with childuh and my uh oldest daughter there in front of me my oldest daughter uh IDUand so this this was and if you could see the cannabis plant in front of me this is1983 um as Guerilla cultivators up in Fern forest in Hawaii and then thesister with the smoke coming out of her mouth is a legendary Ganja War veteranmy sister IBA who unfortunately um the the feds had hadtargeted and she’s no longer living on the mainland and she’s return home and I won’t disclose where she’s from but yeahthese are the folks uh who we’re here advocating for um we are the descendantsof kidnapped Africans and we have not yet and may never recover from theimpact of the maaa or What’s called the African Holocaust also known as thetransatlantic slave trade everyone every culture has had their history of traumaand the world sometimes seems to recognize all the other traumas exceptthat of African people but we will never forget because the honorable MarcusGarvey stated that a people without the knowledge of their past history is like a tree without its roots so we cannotafford to forget past damages that have not been repaired you can only build a house on asolid foundation his Imperial Majesty Emperor H Cassi has re a reminder for thisindustry herb is the healing of all nation and he said and I quote as weguarantee to each the right to worship as he chooses so we denounce the policywhich set man against man on issues of religion rastafar is our way of life wedon’t call it religion that’s our way of life and so without apology we are herein this forum in this cannabis industry to say the Ganja War veterans are herefor restorative justice and reparatory Justice to theAG your lengthy lengthy extremely lengthybill that you have submitted before the legislature page three section811 what are the mentioned Provisions for compliance where is is the billwhere in the bill are those Provisions described how does the state plan to implement compliance and regulationswhich violate a person’s right to practice cultural and spiritualrelationship with cannabis section 1215 of your bill how has this independentbody the Hawaii cannabis Authority created who died and made them theauthority and the voice for cannabis describe the selectionprocess okay through which your rubrics for candidates selected how do you planon being inclusive of those you have targeted asBlack Market or elicit uh how do you plan on making them participants in theindustry how will you utilize tax revenues you have already collected fromthe two or the the I can’t say the two from the eight licenses that you two ona big island that’s why two came to mind but from the licenses that you havegiven to these corporations to um distribute and um provide cannabis tomedical patients which um I’m going to ask another questions and then I’m I got to say something before I forget how areyou going to utilize those tax revenues you’ve collected and who will determine how and when where the funds will bedispersed and used by the way dear folks who consume cannabis and go and buy it from the dispensary news flash all rightwhen you’re not getting your herb from a knowncultivator that you know’s practice is mostly organic and even though that person’s the the Cannabis is not labtested you guaranteed to get a safer herb to smoke or to use to however youmedicate with it right why because the herbs according to the state regulationsthe dispensaries have to send like let’s say they cultivated last October right they have to take that plant and send itto the lab that lab may not give an okay on it it may not clear in terms ofwhatever impurities they looking for or whatever canabo they want to identifywell let’s say that canono was THC right and it was identified as THCwhen they did the lab test let’s say the lab test was done 6 months after it was cultivated and they still have THC butguess what by the time it meets you on the shelf that plant guarantee you will have more CBN than THC in it because weknow if we understand the science of cannabis that THC degrades into CBNnaturally so o overtime overshelf life your THC the one that the chemar thatyou think is all THC is not so how doRegulators compensate for that okay andum how am I doing with the time oh man I you know like uh I’m goingto give you all a call to action and as well as the politicians but you first weurge everyone of voting age to register to vote and begin learning how you aregoing to make elected officials accountable for the legislation theysign off on as per current in proposed cannabis legislations we are calling forTotal Recall and reconstruction of these laws they must be economicallyenvironmentally Equitable just and sustainable for Havi and the people whohave and continue to be worse impacted by your currentlegislations Hawaii can be the change in this industry when you include thepeople in your constituents and your constituency they must be included inyour decisionmaking process they elected you you work for them not them work foryou the road to legalizing adult use in Hawaii begins with the inclusion ofpeople you have left out of the process instead of building new prisons inHawaii as I said before to fuel the already bloated and corrupt criminaljustice system and prison industrial complex utilize those revenues to reducethe rate of recidivism create more educational opportun unities for Hawaii withTechnical Training and support for the economically challenged build morehousing provide opportunities for home and land restoration cuz havianshouldn’t know havian should be houseless orlandless okay and don’t tell me about you have Hawaiian homelands all the landin Havi is Hawaiian Homeland so when you separate at and you bring incorporate uh uh bodies okay like the ones and I just heard in a nextpresentation there that you got a group um I couldn’t see the pictures well but it looks like Eddie monster and HermanMonster talking about let’s keep Hawaii Hawaii and they have no resemblance towhat Hawaiian what I remember Hawaiians look like and what does that mean when you say keep Hawaii Hawaii keep continuebusiness as usual of exploiting the land and the people andtheir denying them of their cultural rights and access to practicetheir uh responsibility towards the land as their ancestors have for thousands ofyears before you arrived here and took the land from them so these are questions I have for the politicians andnone of them are here I Ain I can’t see any here right now so I just you knowknow I I I think that that’s pretty much what I canthe call to action as very important is to vote so again I’m impress mup uamiJacobs a Ganja War veteran owner and founder of bom of Gilead cannabis healthand wellness Ministry also known as bog G LLC providing cannabis literacythrough activism advocacy education and empowering our local Global communityunities with plant health and wellness Ministry our services are aimedprimarily at black indigenous people of color specifically those who have beenadversely impacted by the war on drugs and thosewho continue to be marginalized and stigmatized for more information aboutour ministry please contact us you see this information up here we’d love to continue the reasoning with with you andI urge you again vote wherever you are register tovote even if you don’t vote be a registered voter because that when you find that representative that you feelyou want to support then you will cast your vote for them but I urge you to register to vote even if you don’t votethat power and your registration of voting is vital all right and I will endright here and say thank you so much for being such a humble and gracious uh andpatient to sit through this you know uh some might call uh you know uh I don’tknow what but whatever you may think of it it’s my heartfelt our story it’s coming from theheart it’s real I’m here to tell you that the Ganja War veterans have a placein this cannabis industry and when wethe people can participate in the decision making and the regulating ofthis plant as a wholesome holistic plant that we all can besustained with then we’ll be talking about justice so until thattime you politicians will have no peace from me until we get Justice all poweris in the hand hands of the people in the land any questions any comments my can’t[Applause] know thank you so much any comments anyobservations and remember at 3:00 there’s going to be four or fivelegislative people here one of them is from my district in Puna and I do intendto be there because I don’t believe that uh people who arenot uh inform about the cultural socialspiritual and historical um knowledge of cannabis andits Connection in human history the human evolution with the plant theyshould not be making decisions that will impact our lives like thisare y’all a quiet audience not a us well I will say thank you again I appreciateloveyou you could still say what’s what’s in your heart yeah well I’m justhappy share with everyone sister yeah I mean sometimes our minds like as we’regoing through these things and you know taking on wisdom and this knowledgeright um like the piece that you said when you brought the pictures back toyou know the original bush people or indigenous whatever that truly have beenjust intimate relationship with the land right so since the beginning of time wehave to remember those images we forget those because we don’t we don’t see them in the books we don’t you know we welearn and we see what we see on TV or what you know how they edit everything and uh to craft their own story so weforget so I’m just saying all that to say just always going back to the rootand sometimes we have to do a little digging and researching to get back to the root because we have so many questions well why is it like this why Iknow it’s not supposed to be like this but what happened well that what happened in our minds instead of just being you know because we could bechatting it up about anything like I Happ that’s for us to take it further and do our research because obviouslythere’s a question burning here there’s an answer and once we realize the answer then we can get to the solution and thenwe’re in unison now because we’re all on the same page and we all realize that first we got to get educated and we Iappreciate you again because some that education comes from the ones that have come for us you know our our ancestorsour aunties our uncles sometimes we don’t we too busy over here you know doingthis but we got to remember so I’m just being thank so thankful for you know thewisdom so that I can better and be accepted at my job because I am now Ihonor the truth and the and the right you know um story you know not just thestory said not just his story our story our story I sh I want to give thanks forthat and I want to continue and say that we all lifelong Learners so I’m not justteaching I’m learning as I’m speaking I learned from every single one of you that’s why I love to hear your commentsand I’d love to hear umel Sude you know playing doctor foryears trying to get this stuff legal everybody needs to hear this I’m sograteful that it’s been documented now in broadcast quality you know that wassuch a beautiful summary I feel that it’s validating everything that I’vebeen preaching and practicing for 30 Years everybody needs to hear thisespecially the lawmakers amen and thank you thank you thank you for coming I Ireally appreciate love your presence you know it’s not thequantity of people that are here but the quality of people that are here thatmakes the difference so even if it was one person in here in this room you’d get the same message and continueplanting the seeds you know thank you so much we got a new generation here we gotI mean so many people are going to see what you just shared and it’s I’m so happy about that amen we have ancestralaffirmations to keep so this is part of keeping my ancestorsaffirmations yeah I mean and any other questionsnothing thank you so much thank you ohcan you talk a little bit more about your business okay um bom OG 360 LLC thereason I founded this educational business is because I have over 17 to 20years of teaching a secondary and tertiary education um in New York City I workedin the New York City public schools and then I also taught uh graduate students on how to teachstudents um specifically an environmental Topic in their subject area anyway to make a long story shortthis business was created when I returned to havayi because I realized that and I got to find out that I hadtwo felonies two felony charges against me here in Hawaii from Green Harvestdays and I actually came to correct the family our story because I took HawaiiPolice Department to court for harassment and breaking down my home for cannabis um um that they were lookingfor and when I presented myself before the the authorities I defended myself Iwas my own lawyer I defended myself attorney Pro say because myCreator and my life as a roster is what gives me the right to use this plant onthis Earth anyway make a long story short yes I heard it was illegal uh butthat’s that’s your law okay and so when I created bom OG and with the respect Isaid okay let me use this Avenue of being a medical patient and use my 10 plants to practice the knowledge of myancestors so I started doing um educational courses because I do have the training I have a cannabis scienceoperation um certification that is a professional certification offered by StLouis University it’s 18 months you pay thousands of dollars to an institutionto teach you things that your ancestors have been teaching you for however manyyears but because they are The Gatekeepers to in this industry hey Ipay I I paid it so that I could have this certification I also have a coachingcertification um from another institution and um I transferred my myuh skills as an educator as well as those training that I have and as wellas my um cultural practice of using this herb to share that information becausethey’re not it’s an ancillary business I don’t touch plans when I make mymedicine and those things I I’ll do it on a video and share it as content formy clients I cannot I’m not allowed to I’d be if I were to actually makemedicine and sell it to people I’d go to jail right now unlike the many Caucasianand I’m going to call it people who are doing this illegally okay becauseeven in in in in in in uh California right where it’s legal in California butyou have a lot of Rogue businesses in California doingproducts marketing products like like there’s no tomorrow and they you don’teven know some of these products aren’t even regulated okay but yet they’re operating because of the licenses that’sbeen giving to folks to do that the currency is skin okay it’s skin colorokay and and I’m going to repeat it again the Cannabis industry is prettymuch like the system it is built on a asystemically and structurally racist system and until we the people who usethis plant medicinally uh for whatever reason that we use it until we addresssystemic and structural racism we we not talking about anything until yourecognize that for you to be able to now get a medical cannabis card and for youto even consider adult use you have been doing this on the bodies on top of blackbodies and people of color’s blood you have been doing this so if it hurts you tohear that that’s not my fault that’s on you if you cannot recognize your ownhumanity and understand the sufferings of other and how you contribute to it much like this I’m going give yousomething I’m I’ll tell you I’m ashamed of myself to know that I own iPhone okayand there’s no shame really but I’m saying I feel disappointed that I have to depend on this because the the littlechip that’s in here uh that provides this what is it 5G uh that is causingthousands of men and women to die every day in the Democratic Republic of theCongo and other parts of Africa where you guys call it mineral conflict rightand it’s not just mineral conflict it’s genocide okay and genocide caused bycorporations and Nations like the United States like Great Britain like Chinalike Russia that are now Co recolonizing the continent of Africa you don’t hearabout these things because it’s black people if it wasn’t the Ukraine it wouldbe a damn world crisis and talking about the Ukraine if you really look recently right when the ukrainians the UK youdon’t hear much about the Ukraine crisis now you because those people that they had they wanted to get out they got themout and they’re here by the way lots of ukrainians getting jobs here in Hawaii too and one girl at my bank when shetold me that she was from the Ukraine I said how the hell did you get this job how did you AR me this and got this jobwere you a banker in the Ukraine you know but anyway man I I sort of digresshere to say that we have heti where I was born the island of heti the FirstIndependent Black Republic in the Western Hemisphere my ancestors gave shed their blood and their life toabolish slavery worldwide worldwide people where you ever hear that okaydoes there would be no Latin America no South America right now had it not been for the Haitian revolution Iun will rise again so thank you my brother thank you somuch anyway having said that right why is therealways a presence in hetiby the world’s greatest superpowers you have the United States you got Francethere right now you got Brazil you got Canada you got you got no Kenya’s out ofit right now want to move in uhuh and Kenya is not a superpower my brotherKenya would be coming in as the same way the puppet government is in heti rightnow no my friend no United Nations I disagree with you okay everything thatyou saying right now the names that you calling are the problem in heti rightnow okay read the history in 1917 the UnitedStates tried to colonize Haiti they called it an occupation they call it that they wanted to bring order becauseHaitians were out of control killing each other in a civil war okay what itwas was a takeover of our resources cuz under known to the world the poorestnation in the world if you do a check of their minerals is one of the richestplaces in the western hemisphere in terms of minerals we have oil we have umwhat what what’s that iridium we have uh and by the way Haiti and South Africa are the only two places in the worldthat have idium um our oil supply is larger than Venezuela’s our fossil fuelsupply okay and I can’t to oh we have gold also because currency the currencyup to my mother’s time when she was born my grandmother told me they used to have$50 that’s how she used to get paid $20 gold pieces okay well what the invasionbrought us it brought us a militarized police it brought us a a banking systemthat took away our gold standard currency system and gave us copper andnickel and paper that are worthless and they continue to devalue our economy by undermining thelocal farmers in heti by bringing Monsanto products they just wipe out everything look at the earthquake thathappened in 2010 they raise billions of dollars those nonprofit organization askthem today to account for how many uh houseless people in heti that they’ve provided homes for how many uminstitutions that they’ve restored asked them so you knowsomebody’s laughing back there did I say something funny you know oh okay everything righton and if I may say I was totally moved and enlightened when I understood thatHaiti i i i outlawed slavery in1804 60 years before America France and England outlawed slavery not not only weoutlawed slavery but we also made sure that wefinanced revolutions that ban slavery the same the same side of the islandthat you now call the Dominican Republic they were freed from Spanish ColonialMasters by our ancestors the many of you don’t know this but heti governed theDominic what’s now today the Dominican Republic for almost 40 years from 1804till about 1842 when they managed to find a weak link and what was the weaklink the people of the land having the people of the nation having to pay backreparations the topic of this discussion right we had to make repairs to ourformer Masters where the heck you ever hear that Haiti was still in debt upuntil the other day we have to ask to say to France we cannot pay you anymoreyou’ve robbed us and sucked us of too many and they still doing it okay we hadto pay reparations to France for our former slave masters losing my ancestorsas their property okay they had to pay uh to Germany it was held in a blockadeyou see how they holding Cuba right now you see how the United States is putting economic sanctions on Cuba right nowthey did that to heti until 18 1865 when they abolished slavery here and guesswho the first US ambassador to it was Frederick Douglas they try to makeit politically correct by bringing a an orator who was an African-American andhe was the first US ambassador to it was Frederick Douglas if you don’t believe me go learn your hisstory
Day 2
greetings and salutations to everyone that is in herethe few the Brave and the solid thank you for coming greetings in the name ofour Imperial Majesty Emperor H Cassi the first and Empress Menan ASA grateful toour creator our ancestors the orishas the loas and all the Divine forces thatgive life and keeps all Humanity as one I’m extremely grateful to theorganizers and sponsors of the seventh annual Hawaii Cannabis Expo forincluding the Ganja War veterans as presenters and vendors for this year’s event our heartfeltgratitude to all those generous donors and special thanks to those who arepresent here to discuss our story not just his story y’all are ReallyBrave you know and I thank you I’m Empress modui Jacobs a Ganja Warveteran owner and founder of bomb of Gilead cannabis Health and WellnessMinistry also known as bomb OG 360 LLC we provide cannabis literacy throughactivism advocacy education and empowering our local and Globalcommunities with plant health and wellness Ministry our services are aimedprimarily for bipar black indigenous people of color thosemostly and adversely impacted by the War on Drugs specifically those who continueto be criminalized stigmatized and marginalized and also excluded frombenefiting and participating with equal access in the Cannabis industryomuntu I am because we are this is a South African phrase meaning Humanity orI am because we are the term is derived from the phrasehunab to which translate as quote a person is a person through other peopleend quote I don’t like to speak much about myself however as a presenter hereI’d like to give you some of her story of my Origins I am a descendant of kidnappedAfricans born in the island of heti give Tas transplanted to the United States in1965 with my parents and my siblings at the age of N9 I first came to live in Hawaii in1983 I left in 88 and returned in 2018 I am a wife a mother a grandmotheran educator of secondary and tertiary schools I am a culturalpractitioner culinary and visual artist social justice activistcaregiver and visual artists I am also an aspiring Farmher it is from this cultural historical social and spiritual way of life that Ishare our story there’s an African proverb which states quote the tale ofthe hunt from the hunter will be different from theLions Genesis 1:29 and God said behold I have given you every herb bearing seedwhich is upon the face face of the Earth and every tree in which is the fruit yielding seed to you it shall be formeat you cannot talk about cannabis medicine without including the fullscope of Plant Nutrition along with it so this is why as a people who haverelied mostly on land to nourish our bodies minds and Spirits rify advocateso passionately to educate Empower and inform people on the culturalhistorical and spiritual value and evolution of this plant with Humanity weare the stewards of the land who always cultivated food along withmedicine and cannabis is that medicine so let’s take a little walk in time fora quick glimpse of our story withcannabis first I want to give credit to one of our brothers in the struggleBrother Floyd Jarvis who coined the term Ganja War veteran um to describe andspecifically identify those man woman and youth who have been terrorized inthe US the Caribbean Africa Asia and other parts of the world where they’vemade cannabis legal to their racist policies and brought the War on Drugsfor many of us here in Hawaii from the 1980s our lives were and continue to beimpacted by the terrorism of green Harvest this was the DEA funding orcollaborating with local police to eradicate the Guerilla Bush doctors cultivators culinary artists andAlchemists in the Kingdom of Hawaii this is our story not hisstory rastafar have been using can abis has an economic social and spiritualsustenance prior to their kidnapping and enslavement by European colonization of indigenous people’s lands around theglobe based on our ancestral teachings we have always utilized this plan inevery aspect of Our Lives prior to and even throughout captivity while it was made illegal bythe onset of European colonization of Africa Asia the continents and the islands named by Europeans as Americabipac people have been using cannabis in a sustainable manner as primarily foodmedicine and spiritual sustenance I would love to go into thehistory of our connections with this plant but due to time I cannot I dorecommend for those interested in learning more to read these books Duval Duval Chris Duval Chroniclesum the history of cannabis in the lives of Africans prior to and during Europeancolonization author anley hammed provides an ethnographic study ofRastafari community in the Caribbean islands of Trinidad St Vincent andJamaica as well as in New York hammed teaches us how once criminalized youthin these communities use cultivation distribution and sales of gan to become productive heads ofhousehold sustaining numerous families and communities with cannabis I want toget to the main purpose of this presentation really which has a lot more to do with the current proposed cannibuslegislation in Hawaii fromanslinger Nixon Carter Reagan Bush Obama Trump and Biden what remainsconstant is the number of black indigenous people of color individualsand communities that have been adversely impacted by the criminalization andmarginalizing and stigmatizing associated with possession of cannabis black people have and continueto be the ones most criminalized and incarcerated for possession of cannabisI’ll give you an example black people here in Hawaii make up 1.4% of thepopulation according to the census that was taken but yet we’re 1.7 times morelikely to be arrested by whites or any other group of people on this island andthis is a 2022 study um so it brings me like I camehere with a lot of questions and these questions are not necessarily for you because you probably have the samequestions but these are the questions I want to ask the politicians when they’re talking about creating new laws thathave equity and inclusion in the industry so is there racial and socialequity in the Cannabis industry if it exists then how does it translate from legislation to itsimplementation as the legal cannabis industry continues to expand Across the Nation there still existseconomic racial and social disparities within the US in terms of the legislation andregulations that allows entry into the industry excuse me for a secondplease MJ bis daily projected the legal cannabis sales in the United States from2022 to 2028 from medical and recre ational cannabis sales could reach $33.6 billion by the end of 2023 retail cannabis sales are projectedto be upwards 53.5 billion doll by2027 so for every $10 consumers and patients spend anadditional $18 will be injected into the economy much of it at the local leveland this is what the powers that be here in Hawaii are banking on that um theyseeing money and they seeing profit so on the local level only medical cannabis is legal inHawaii so that’s why they pushing to make um adult use and the predictedannual tax revenues for adult use sales is $80 million and this would came fromthe Hawaii cannabis industry Association they also predict picted uh 3,000 newcannabis related jobs in Hawaii where when the adult use is legalized so ifwhen this happens I would like to know how they propos to include theexperienced ogs that is the Ganja War veterans the indigenous people of havayiwho’ve been cultivating cannabis probably hundreds of years before their land were captured from them and Ireally don’t know the history of cannabis in the Pacific so I’m not claiming to be an authority on that butI’m just saying that this plant people of color indigenous peoplehave been using it for thousands of years before its colonization by thismodern industry so here in Hawaii we only have a vertically integrated modelof cannabis business and with a few uh Rebel farmers and some cooperatives likek wua and the black the black market people still exist so how do you plan tokeep them or even bring them into this uhdiverse and inclusive industry that you’re talking about so I want to leaveHawaii for a minute and look at money and H how how money is beingmade on this you guys seeing the screen correct cuz from this side is thatcoming through correct can I turn off my light yeah cuz I I just turned around and sawhow dull that that is that must be horrible for youreyes yeah so I apologize for that I’m not the tech person so I just try tobear with me so all the revenues that’s get gained from Cannabis basically isthat the state is simply money laundering for the feds and my questionMJ Biz reported that California earned a5.1 billion dollar in revenues andsales in 2021 sales supporting 83,7 jobs Illinois marijuana industrysold $1.78 billion in products in 2021 supporting28,000 9,992 legal cannabis jobs legal you knowbeautiful sister may I read it revenues from cannibis money laundering for the feds and number two something else howare these tax revenues from Canabis sales currently being utilized awesomeyes those are the questions I have for the powers that be so when these monthly totals are combined the results aregoing to be in the Millions for these for the state despite an abundant flow ofcannabis generated Revenue into the US economy there seems to be no evidentsignificant transformation okay and terms of likeyou hear the AG and you hear um the legislators with the current bill thatthey’re proposing talk about they want to be inclusive and that um they want to make theindustry diverse thus far in Hawaii we have not seen that inclusion nor thatdiversity and we’re calling for that equity and that inclusion so in terms ofum to as I said to date evidence of cannabis revenues being used in repairing and restoring the communitiesand lives of individuals worse impacted by cannabis prohibition legislation isnot well documented so these would be recommendations that I would be makingto any of the politicians that before you think about cannabis reform lawswhich must happen but you need to also think about Criminal Justice Reform lawsand how you going to keep people out of prison instead of putting them in prison because frankly in my opinion and I Imaybe digressing from my path here but um in order to help a people and restorethe damage that you’ve done in Hawaii for example Hawaiians don’t need more prisons they need restoration of theirHomeland Hawaiians need to have um measures for restoring um technicalsupport because we going into a age of artificial intelligence and all these things the farmers of Hawaiiparticularly we need to encourage young people in Hawaii to get into Farm farming because I just spent twoweekends ago in YPO Valley volunteering at at a farmer um space and what thefarmer shared she was lamenting that in YPO Valley only cunas are farmers therenow the youth are not really it’s not viable and you you you know you can seehow it’s not sustainable for them because they don’t have the support they don’t have the technology they don’t have the training so um we wouldencourage you know the powers that be to put more of that uh those revenues that theyaiming to build prisons into educational opportunities into training for youngpeople in Hawaii instead of criminalizing the poor people into homes okay there’s a great deal of uhhouselessness on this on this island okay so sorry for that digression it’s just in case I forgetyou know Jeremiah 8 2022 and this will explain to you thisthis this verse from the Bible will explain to you why you know this is avery important question Jeremiah 82022 is there no bomb in Gilead isthere no physician there why then is not the health of the daughter of my peoplemarginalized sorry my marginalized people recovered black olist Dr Joy lydegree wrote postraumatic slave syndromeAmerica’s enduring Legacy of injury and healing and you can see how this impactI don’t know about you but I’ve had enough talk therapy to understand whatthe trauma of my ancestors experien experien when they were kidnapped andenslaved 450 years years ago and brought to these parts of the world it’s and notonly that but for a long period of timecontinues to be in that same oppressive racistsystemic system that dehumanizes them so yes it’sthat that brings the the the the the verse from Jeremiah that makes it so so importantand so valid and by the way anyone recognizes one of the people in thepicture there your brotherbeard yes that’s my that’s my very masculine side that’s appearing there uhwith my child I was in fact with child uh and my uh oldest daughter there infront of me my oldest daughter uh IDU and so this this was and if you couldsee the cannabis plant in front of me this is 1983 um as Guerilla cultivators up inFern forest in Hawaii and then the sister with the smoke coming out of her mouth is a legendary Ganja War veteranmy sister IBA who unfortunately um the the feds had hadtargeted and she’s no longer living on the mainland and she’s returned home and I disclose where she’s from but yeahthese are the folks uh who we’re here advocating for um we are the descendantsof kidnapped Africans and we have not yet and may never recover from theimpact of the maaa or What’s called the African Holocaust also known as thetransatlantic slave trade everyone every culture has had theirhistory of trauma and the World sometimes seems to recognize all the other traumas exceptthat of African people but we will never forget because the honorable MarcusGarvey stated that a people without the knowledge of their past history is like a tree without its roots so we cannotafford to forget past damages that have not been repaired you can only build a house on asolid foundation his Imperial Majesty Emperor H salasi has re a reminder for thisindustry herb is the healing of all nation and he said and I quote as weguarantee to each the right to worship as he chooses so we denounce the policywhich set man against man on issues of religion rastafar is our way of life wedon’t call it religion that’s our way of life and so without apology we are herein this this forum in this cannabis industry to say the Ganja War veteransare here for restorative justice and reparatory Justice to theAG your leny lengthy extremely lengthy billthat you have submitted before the legislature page three section81 what are the mentioned Provisions for compliance where is the billwhere in the bill are those Provisions described how does the state plan to implement compliance and regulationswhich violate a person’s right to practice cultural and spiritualrelationship with cannabis section 1215 of your bill how was this independentbody the Hawaii cannabis Authority created who died and made them theauthority and the voice for cannabis describe the selectionprocess okay through which your rubric for candidates selected how do you planon being inclusive of those you have targeted asBlack Market or illicit uh how do you plan on making them participants in the industry howwill you utilize tax revenues you have already collected from the two or thethe I can’t say the two from the eight licenses that you two on the big islandthat’s why two came to mind but from the licenses that you have given to thesecorporations to um distribute and umprovide cannabis to medical patients which um I’m going to ask anotherquestions and then I’m I got to say something before I forget how are you going to utilize those tax revenuesyou’ve collected and who will determine how and where the funds will be dispersed and used by the way dear folkswho consume cannabis and go and buy it from the dispensary news flash all rightwhen you’re not getting your herb from a knowncultivator that you know’s practice is mostly organic and even though that person’s the the Cannabis is not labtested you guaranteed to get a safer herb to smoke or to use to however youmedicate with it right why because the herbs according to the state regulationsthe dispensaries have to send like let’s say they cultivated last October right they have to take that plant and send itto the lab that lab may not give an okay on it it may not clear in terms ofwhatever impurities they looking for or whatever canabo they want to identifywell let’s say that canono was THC right and it was identified as THC when theydid the lab test let’s say the lab test was done 6 months after it was cultivated and they still have THC butguess what by the time it meets you on the shelf that plant guarantee you will have more CBN than THC in it because weknow if we understand the science of cannabis that THC degrades into CBNnaturally so o overtime overshelf life your THC C the one that the chemar thatyou think is all THC is not so how doRegulators compensate for that okay andum how am I doing with the time oh man I you know like uh I’m goingto give you all a call to action and as well as the politicians but you first weurge everyone of voting age to register to vote and begin learning how you aregoing to make elected officials accountable for the legislation theysign off on as per current in proposed cannabis legislations we are calling forTotal Recall and reconstruction of these laws they must be economicallyenvironmentally Equitable just and sustainable for Havi and the people whohave continue to be worse impacted by your currentlegislations Hawaii can be the change in this industry when you include thepeople in your constituents in your constituency they must be included inyour decisionmaking process they elected you you work for them not them work foryou the road to legalizing adult youth in Hawaii begins with the inclusion ofpeople you have left out of the process instead of building new prisons inHawaii as I said before to fuel the already bloated and corrupt criminaljustice system and prison industrial complex utilize those revenues to reducethe rate of recidivism create more educational opportunities for Hawaii with TechnicalTraining and support for the economically challenged build morehousing provide opportunities for home and land restoration cuz havianshouldn’t know havian should be houseless orlandless okay and don’t tell me about you have Hawaiian homelands all the landin Havi is Hawaiian Homeland so when you separated and you bring incorporate uh uh bodies okay like the ones and I just heard in the nextpresentation there that you got a group um I couldn’t see the pictures well but it looks like Eddie monster and HermanMonster talking about let’s keep Hawaii Hawaii and they have no resemblance towhat Hawaiian what I remember Hawaiians look like and what does that mean when you say keep Hawaii Hawaii keep continuebusiness as usual of exploiting the land and the people andtheir denying them of their cultural rights and access to practicetheir uh responsibility towards the land as their ancestors have for thousands ofyears before you arrived here and took the land from them so these are questions I have for the politicians andnone of them are here I ain’t I can’t see any here right now so I just youknow I I I think that that’s pretty much what I canthe call to action as very important is to vote so again I’m impress mup olamiJacobs a Ganja War veteran owner and founder of bom of Gilead cannabis healthand wellness Ministry also known as bog LLC providing cannabis literacy throughactivism advocacy education and empowering our local Global communitieswith plant health and wellness Ministry our services are aimed primarily atblack indigenous people of color specifically those who have beenadversely impacted by the war on drugs and thosewho continue to be marginalized and stigmatized for more information aboutour ministry please contact us you see this information up here we’d love to continue the reasoning with you and Iurge you again vote wherever you are register to vote even if you don’t vote be aregistered voter because that when you find that representative that you feelyou want to support then you will cash your vote for them but I urge you to register to vote even if you don’t votethat power in your registration of voting is vital all right and I will endright here and say thank you so much for being being such a humble and gracious uh and patient to sit throughthis you know uh some might call uh you know uh I don’t know what but whateveryou may think of it it’s my heartfelt our story it’s coming from theheart it’s real I’m here to tell you that the Ganja War veterans have a placein this cannabis industry and when we the people can participate in thedecision making and the regulating of this plant as a wholesomeholistic plant that we all can be sustained with then we’ll be talkingabout justice so until that time you politicians will have no peacefrom me until we get Justice all power is in the hands of the people in theland any questions any comments I can’t even[Applause] know thank you so much any comments anyobservations and remember at 3:00 there’s going to be four or fivelegislative people here one of them is from my district in Puna and I do intendto be there because I don’t believe that uh people who are not uh inform about the culturalsocial spiritual and historical um knowledge of cannabis andits Connection in human history the human evolution with the plant theyshould not be making decisions that will impact our lives like thisare y’all a quiet audience not a us well I will say thank you again I appreciateloveyou last you could still say what what’s in your heart yeah well no I’m justhappy to share with everyone sister yeah Imean sometimes our minds like as we’re going through these things and you know takingon wisdom and this knowledge right um like the piece that you said when youbrought the pictures back to you know the original bush people or indigenouswhatever that truly have been this intimate relationship with the landright from since the beginning of the time we have to remember those images we forget those images because we don’t wedon’t see them in the books we don’t you know we we learn and we see what we see on TV or what you know how they editeverything and uh to craft their own story so we forget so I’m just know thatto say just always going back to the root and sometimes we have to do alittle digging and researching to get back to the root because we have so many questions well why is it like this why Iknow it’s not supposed to be like this but what happened well that what happened in our minds instead of it just being a you know know because we couldbe chatting it up about anything be like yeah I wonder what happen that’s for us to take it further and do our researchbecause obviously there’s a question burning here there’s an answer and once we realize the answer then we can get tothe solution and then we are in unison now because we’re all on the same page and we all realize but first we got toget educated and we I appreciate you again because some that education comes from the ones that have come for us youknow our our ancestors our our aunties our uncles sometimes we don’t want to listen we too busy over here you knowshe’s doing this but we got to remember so I’m just being thank so thankful for you know thewisdom so that I can better and be accepted at my job because I am now I’mhonored because the truth and the and the right you know um story you know notjust the story said not just hisory but our story our story I sh I want to givethanks for that and I want to continue and say that we all lifelong Learners soI’m not just teaching I’m learning as I’m speaking I learn from every singleone of you that’s why I love to hear your comments and I’d love to hearumel Daniel you know playing doctor for years trying to get this stuff legaleverybody needs to hear this I’m so grateful that it’s been documented nowin broadcast quality you know that was such a beautiful summary I feel thatit’s validating everything that I’ve been preaching and practicing for 30Years everybody needs to hear this especially the lawmakers amen and thankyou thank you thank you for coming I I really appreciate love your presence youknow it’s not the quantity of people that are here but thequality of people that are here that makes the difference so even if it wasone person in here in this room you’d get the same message and continue planting the seeds you know thank you somuch we got a new generation here we got I mean so many people are going to seewhat you just shared and it’s I’m so happy about that amen we have ancestralaffirmations to keep so this is part of keeping my ancestoraffirmations yeah I mean any other questionsnothing thank you so much thank you ohcan you talk a little bit more about your bu okay um bom OG 360 LLC the reason Ifound that this educational business is because I have over 17 to 20 years ofteaching a secondary and tertiary education um in New York City I workedin the New York City public schools and then I also taught um graduate students on how to teach students um specificallyan environmental Topic in their subject area anyway to make a long story shortthis business was created when I returned to Havi because I realized thatand I got to find out that I had two felonies two felony charges against me here in Hawaii from Green Harvest daysand I actually came to correct the family our story because I took HawaiiPolice Department to court for harassment and breaking down my home for cannabis um um that they were lookingfor and when I presented myself before the the authorities I defended myself Iwas my own lawyer I defended myself attorney Pro say because myCreator and my life as a roster is what gives me the right to use this plant onthis Earth anyway make a long story short yes I heard it was illegal uh butthat’s your la okay and so when I created bom OG andwith the respect I said okay let me use this Avenue of being a medical patient and use my 10 plants to practice theknowledge of my ancestors so I started doing um educational courses because I do have the training I have a cannabisscience operation um certification that is a professional certification offeredby St Louis University it’s 18 months you pay thousands of dollars to aninstitution to teach you things that your ancestors have been teaching youfor however many years but because they are The Gatekeepers to in this industryhey I pay I I paid it so that I could have this certification I also have acoaching certification um from another institution and um Itransferred my uh skills as an educatoras well as those training that I have and as well as my um cultural practiceof using this herb to share that information because they’re not it’s anancillary business I don’t touch plans when I make my medicine and those thingsI I’ll do it on a video and share it as content for my clients I cannot I’m notallowed to I’d be I if I were to actually make medicine and sell it to people I’d go to jail right now unlikethe many Caucasian and I’m going to call it people who are doing thisillegally okay because even in in in in in in in uh California right where it’slegal in California but you have a lot of Rogue businesses in California doingproducts marketing products like like there’s no tomorrow and they you don’teven know some of these products aren’t even regulated okay but yet they’re operating because of the licenses that’sbeen giving to folks to do that the currency is skin okay it’s skin colorokay and and I’m going to repeat it again the Cannabis industry is pretty much like the systemit is built on a a systemically andstructurally racist system and until we the people who use this plantmedicinally for whatever reason that we use it until we address systemic andstructural racism we we not talking about anything until you recognize thatfor you to be able to now get a medical cannabis card and for you to evenconsider adult use you have been doing this on the bodies on top of blackbodies and and people of color’s blood you have been doing this so if it hurtsyou to hear that that’s not my fault that’s on you if you cannot recognizeyour own humanity and understand the sufferings of other and how you contribute to it much like this I’mgoing give you something I’m I’ll tell you I’m ashamed of myself to know that I own iPhone okay and there’s no shamereally but I’m saying I feel disappointed that I have to depend on on this because the the little chip that’sin here uh that provides this what is it 5G uh that is causing thousands of menand women to die every day in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other parts of Africa where you guyscall it mineral conflict right and it’s not just mineral conflict it’s genocideokay and genocide caused by corporations and Nations like the United States likeGreat Britain like China like Russia that are now Co recolonizing thecontinent of Africa you don’t hear about these things because it’s black peopleif it was in the Ukraine it would be a damn world crisis and talking about the Ukraine if you really look recentlyright when the ukrainians the UK you don’t hear much about the Ukraine crisis now I you because those people that theyhad they wanted to get out they got them out and they’re here by the way there’s lots of ukrainians getting jobs here inHawaii too and that one girl at my bank when she told me that she was from the Ukraine I said how the hell did you getthis job how did you around this soon got this job were you a banker in the Ukraine you know but anyway man I I sortof digress here to say that we have heti where I was born the island of heti theFirst Independent Black Republic in the Western Hemisphere my ancestors gave shed their blood and their life toabolish slavery worldwide worldwide people where you ever hear that okaythere would be no Latin America no South America right now had it not been for the Haitianrevolution un will rise againso thank you my brother thank you so much anyway having said that right whyis there always a presence inheti by the world’s greatest superpowers you have the United States you gotFrance there right now you got Brazil you got Canada you got you got noKenya’s out of it right now want to move in uh uh and Kenya is not a superpower my brother Kenya would be coming in asthe same way the puppet government is in heti right now no my friend no UnitedNations I disagree with you okay everything that you saying right now the names that you calling are the problemin heti right now okay read the history in 1917 the UnitedStates tried to colonize Haiti they called it an occupation they call it that they wanted to bring order becauseHaitians were out of control killing each other in a civil war okay what itwas was a takeover of our resources cuz unbeknownst to the world the poorestnation in the world if you do a check of their minerals is one of the richestplaces in the western hemisphere in terms of minerals we have oil we have umwhat what what’s that iridium we have uh and by the way Haiti and South Africa are the only two places in the worldthat have idium um our oil supply is larger than Venezuela’s our fossil fuelsupply okay and I can’t oh we have have gold also because currency the currencyup to my mother’s time when she was born my grandmother told me they used to have$50 that’s how she used to get paid $20 gold pieces okay well what the invasionbrought us it brought us a militarized police it brought us a a banking systemthat took away our gold standard currency system and gave us copper andnickel and paper dollars that are worthless and they continue to devalueour economy by undermining the local farmers in heti by bringing Monsantoproducts they just wipe out everything look at the earthquake that happened in 2010 they raised billions of dollarsthose nonprofit organization ask them today to account for how many uh houseless people in heti thatthey’ve provided homes for how many um institutions that they’ve rerestored a them so you know somebody’slaughing back there did I say something funny you know okay everything you righton and if I may say I was totally moved and enlightened when I understood thatHaiti i i i outlawed slavery in1804 60 years before America France and England outlawed slavery not not only weoutlawed slavery but we also made sure that wefinanced revolutions that ban slavery the same the same side of the islandthat you now called the Dominican Republic they were freed from SpanishColonial Masters by our ancestors the many of you don’t know this but hetigoverned the Dominic what’s now today the Dominican Republic for almost 40 years from 1804 till about 1842 whenthey managed to find a weak link and what was the weak link the people of theland having the people of the nation having to pay back reparations the topicof this discussion right we had to make repairs to our former Masters where theheck you ever hear that Haiti was still in debt up until the other day we have to ask to say to France we cannot payyou anymore you’ve robbed us and sucked us of too many and they still doing itokay we had to pay reparations to France for our former slave masters losing myancestors as their property okay they had to pay uh to Germany it was held ina blockade you see how they holding Cuba right now you see how the United States is putting economic sanctions on Cubaright now they did that to heti until 18 1865 when they abolished slavery hereand guess who the first US ambassador to itwas Frederick Douglas they try to make it politically correct by bringing a anorator who was an African-American and he was the first US ambassador to it wasFrederick Douglas if you don’t believe me go learn your his story okay so I encourage you I mean I Ithink I’m going over time cuz somebody else is supposed to be in here right now right yeah you should have kicked me outa long time ago yo y’all are great thank you so much what an amazing amazing andthank you did I answer your