Kimberly Bernard and Darwensi Clark

00:07 My name is darwensi Clark. I am 42 years old. Today's date is Friday, February 5th, 2021. I am in Brooklyn New York by the name of my end. My partner is Kimberly Bernard and she is my new friend and Liberation movement.

00:26 Okay, my name is Kimberly Bernard. I am 31 today's date is Friday, February 5th. 2021 Jersey.

00:47 Very cool again. I've been looking forward to this conversation for some time and really have been looking for opportunities to engage with activist and people who have just been on the front lines doing the work and in really activating a lot of other people within the greater New York City region, and so I'm really thankful for you just spending the time to talk with me today. So I have a few questions for you and I'd love to just kind of start off with getting to know a little bit more about you personally because I just I don't know and I just want to ask you start off with if you could share a little bit about like where you originally from your family your Kinfolk and how you kind of ended up in the greater, New York City region.

01:35 Who?

01:41 So I'm originally from Jamaica and Jamaicans. I moved to the Bronx and lived there until.

02:00 Last year April April 2020. My children's ages are 9/8 and 6.

02:16 So I have a little one a transition been moving from the Bronx out to East Orange for you.

02:34 It's just friends. It's very different. I don't think I'll be here for very long and just not a Jersey girl, you know York, but I can feel that it's not an easy place to live but they're the benefits of being here. I think there's things that I really really love about this city for sure even though it's hard.

03:17 Yeah, it's that's the part. I don't like those very hard, especially, you know, being an immigrant who who's also mother and making that transition from Jamaica to New York. It was very hard. But very call and when you did the migration when you did the journey was New York City always the the first option where you wanted to come and kind of plant roots.

03:54 No, not really. I didn't even really.

04:01 Watch I mean like a really rough time back home. I mean I lived in the UK and daughter is really rough, and I just really wanted to escape.

04:47 And in the end up coming here and I was in college I transferred my church. Yeah. Well, it has a wave a city has a way of kind of drawing people in and having you stay and you know, I said this to my wife many times over like

05:28 If I were to move and go to another city in like the continental United States, I don't know where it would be.

05:35 I mean it would most likely be a brought like I just don't know if I have the appetite to stay in the country if I was going to move to another city in the u.s. I should room.

05:52 Yeah.

05:54 I like Ellie alone now. Okay. Yeah, it's cool. They're cool out there and you got people out there I bet.

06:01 Industry like as a writer excel in that field. I feel like you know Elias the engine of the industry you are right about trade and I know that in an interview I was looking at on IG earlier you had stopped writing for some time and I was wondering if you are now if you kind of started again and how has the movement kind of inspired to work if it if it all

06:44 And are you still kind of working on the Ahmed table restoring God. Where is that at?

06:50 Democracy Mart RV story

06:57 And I did stop writing.

07:07 I don't know if you know what I mean.

07:38 So but so but then murdered.

08:07 Maybe

08:11 Recently liked

08:18 The one the first week of protests.

08:25 LOL, I really just watching and seeing all of the protests happening what happened? I don't know what to do, but the following week which was the first week of June 4th of June 1st, and I was like you are you watching the news coverage in your life?

09:10 Was mayhem out there?

09:17 That was me. I don't know New York and moving forward movement.

09:52 My

09:55 I was completely just swept up. I did not expect for it to become what it became for me. I didn't do anything else Ray my friend my best friends with one of the organisers and Blake. Okay, and we kept you.

10:37 Yeah that go with Warriors and freedom, March that day.

11:01 Square records and girl and we were just put a tracking a phone on Twitter beautiful and simple but this is not what I was looking for it.

12:28 Ms. To the Joint was just the most beautiful. It was a black and blue.

13:28 I always say that looks like almost like this to your people parted in like a group of maybe like five or six flags look like you and me and the proud to City Hall and I don't know who organized ruptured.

14:20 I mean we have a group that was working policy. If you had a group that was on people. Kind of tired of these organizations.

14:52 Discipline myself to put my phone down and stop working midnight and then you know, you can get a call or text us some midnight diaper gel support. It's a lot and one thing I can believe that I wanted to bring up was like when you started hitting the street. I found it interesting and maybe this wasn't the case. I can't remember like when Justice for George started in terms of like being able to have something for like just like street-level people who were like I need information as to like where people are gathering and when

15:41 They are when I first really hard to find the protest.

16:04 But when I joined up with that group on the 4th of June starting from the time the we first went into the street.

16:39 Yeah, I remember those early days. And when I first found the account, which must have been the first week of June, I can't remember the exact date but

16:48 You would you would scroll through their stories and they would have so many stories about different marches or actions that were taking place that like you could spend 10 minutes just like tracking everything that was happening. It was a lot. Can I listen to Phoenix?

17:26 Eat go to

17:34 So my day was waking up, you know getting the kids breakfast ready from East Orange, New Jersey.

17:58 And we would leaking from it.

18:10 Steamroller schedule

18:15 So far so Kimberly. I had a question about like that the beginning like the Inception and like how black women's March kind of came about and I'm wondering cuz my understanding is that there was kind of this collaborative effort with the people's March and I'm like, I'm wondering if like how that was born. How black women's March is born out of people smart psych. How did that work?

18:45 So, you know, I do know I started out with the people's March and

18:52 It was sort of I recall standing next to one of her lead organizer.

19:05 And Caroline walked up and start marching band.

19:16 I hate black women and you were like

19:27 You're like, no not that we know of her eldest agenda on June 28th was great.

20:09 Anyway to MGK domain name.

20:31 Yeah, I mean I have no doubt in the back of my head cuz I was like giving so much to what we're doing here with people's March, but I really wanted to I mean to pretty much organization he started working and we we, you know, we're still going today and we got a lot of important work and not so much what you do.

21:31 I wanna go back and take the kids your kids and you know, you got three young ones. I'm just wondering you know how this transition for you and your participation in your leadership in the movement. Like what do they know about that? It might how has that changed them. You know, what kind of you talking about like, we're Mom where you headed out to today or where you been

21:55 Yeah, so

21:58 Whenever I get sick, so they know what I do if my daughter has a better grasp on what I been there with me.

22:25 Unfortunately died during this movement Sarah and my daughter was at the March that we did for her, but she's been out with me. She was also at a youth March that I brought her out and she was almost ten 6 at 8 also.

23:08 You know the understanding that Mommy.

23:11 You know this person and they understand that it's somehow I don't.

23:23 In-depth conversations with them about

23:30 Police and only because I want I want to be safe, he about it, you know.

23:55 What works best for you is on the lease Space is really amazing. But yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, your three children are really, you know, I'm motivating factor that they are young black children growing up in a country where you know, we have a systemic issue with policing in this country. And so I'm just wondering

24:48 When you think about the driving force that got you out into the street. I'm wondering, you know was it was it that you do or what was it, you know just as personal, you know realization that you needed to be there in some way shape or form.

25:06 The number, you know, the first thing is and I could sleep almost like I had somewhere to square my my frustrations you watch these things and looks like hard I'm over and over again people who look like real name.

25:44 It was really difficult. So it was almost like they're keeping me in the way. I see family-friendly my chill, you know my is about to undergo. Are you going to autism spectrum because you guys have

26:31 And so

26:33 Stairs rap

26:38 I am like cuz you know and they said the next time you and you don't pick up weird, you know, and I can show you how difficult.

27:13 Is call the police on my child, right?

27:24 You know a mental health emergency.

27:42 Not if you don't

27:46 An emotional issue right mental health mental health professionals, you know, it's a major issue in terms of how that situation gets dealt with at least just don't have the train that they need.

28:24 Sorry, can you hear me now? I got you. All right, so

28:39 I want to ask you about you know, just your personality Kimberly, you know you when you when you get up on the stage, you know, the proverbial stage in front of the crowd you have this ability to connect and really said to motivate and Inspire individuals with your words and your conviction. Sure. I mean, I know I've been there I've witnessed it multiple times but you seem like a very humble, you know, you just realistic person, you know that this doesn't just hasn't really changed you in terms of light kind of your head getting blown up in terms of like who you are and your values your morals or ethics. So on and so forth the night, I wonder what happens personally if you can describe this what happens when you get that megaphone in your hand and you are ready to speak to the crowd, can you tell me about what that feeling is like when your

29:39 Getting ready to to motivate and to activate others.

29:46 Maddie

29:49 Like

29:51 Is that I didn't get to do that.

30:01 I first of all I don't write my speeches down.

30:25 I just got up there and I just really think that I mean what I'm passionate about change for black people in this country and you're free and hope that will connect the heart and

31:16 Aaron

31:42 People come up with me after I Cry.

31:46 They told me that I would change their lives. Do you think getting

32:34 Yep, I am here. So we got we got about 10 minutes left and I want to make sure that I hit on a couple things and really

32:47 And what was kind of in front of me that I wanted to make sure we had a chance to talk about what this word abolish and defund the police just really freaked out a lot of people black and white, you know real talk, and I'm wondering why you think that is like, what's the Miss Nomar and then let me just preface that with I was talking to my father about this, you know, he's in his seventies and he was saying that you know, he's talking to his brother and they feel as you know, these are African Americans who grew up in Greensboro North Carolina during the Civil Rights Movement. They were in the trenches, right? And they think that the way that defund was was articulated that it wasn't necessarily Define that there were there is an approach to reallocate funding to more necessary activities.

33:47 Beneficial activities to black and brown communities and that you know, if you sold it as let's reallocate, you know these funds to more virtuous causes that that could have maybe been more palatable to other people so you don't throw that out there just from my perspective. I'm wondering what you think.

34:10 The first time I heard the term defines the police was in a hurry.

34:38 The guy who?

34:45 You're the very first person I heard talk about abolition and I was like, hold on. Hold on. This is my no one is going to like fine idea of abolish the police in learning cuz I wanted to hear cuz I want any solution that can be offered like I was willing to grasp it and so once I was fully on board an abolitionist, right?

35:29 But when I speak I speak and I think this is why I'm able to make it so palatable for people because I remember how I felt when I first heard it and so I always bear that in mind when I speak and

35:49 One of the things that I love to say

35:52 Is

35:55 Abolition is not destroying something in its creation.

36:03 It's an opportunity for us to reimagine a new way of doing things people killing him and doing things to other people in the streets and no one can.

36:24 But you have an opportunity now to replace that with something else defunding the police.

36:50 And then the other thing is I always say that.

36:56 You know I've always been is.

37:01 It's it's an opportunity right for us and I think about you know the days when people were talking about about abolishing slavery idea of fighting for black people to be able to vote slavery, you know, it will never happen. It's you know, it's it's on real but I think

37:46 That every movement for black lives that has happened since I've been on it for a oil or in the Americas.

37:57 Has always been led by radical people, you know with radical ideas doing things that are Unthinkable that no one thinks will work because I think that's the only way you move the needle forward, you know, if the break the Box open if you stay within the confines of the box, then you don't get anything done. I hear that. Thank you for that. Alright, I got time for one more question, and I just want to know if you had the crystal ball.

38:31 And you had to predict where we are, you know, like one you're out, you know from George Boyd murder.

38:40 What do you think we're going to where do you think we're going to be at like in terms of like successes or just things that you'd like to see with the one-year anniversary? What it what do you think realistic?

38:55 Realistic

38:59 I don't.

39:02 Ice

39:09 I don't see a huge change.

39:16 Little pieces be chipped Away From the Block, you know, I think the Civil Rights Movement last 14 years and I still would have been of the movement and so I think you would have some major changes. You know, what I'm hoping for a police officer pulling your weapons and schools on school children.

40:14 Defending the police sounds really radical, but that is vested in the community to prevent crime Suicide Prevention instead of try to cure it on the back end and these are things that you can do to help get to the end goal to get to the end of the race, right Blasio saying he's not going to dispatch police officer for federal legislation to prevent on a hole and also against

41:14 I am hoping to ski in the first-year say thank you. We'll have to talk about these other questions when we're out in the street and I'm looking forward to that again. I wanted to say thank you for

41:36 You know your guidance your inspiration in the work that you've been enjoying, you know in the in the Heat and in the freezing cold, you know when I can be out there. I am there and I an emboldened and empowered by, you know leadership, you know from black women like yourself, so I just want to say, thank you.

41:56 Thank you. Thanks for having me.