Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wake that ass up in the morning.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The Breakfast Club Morning.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
Everybody is the j Envy Jess, hilarious, Charlamagne a god.
We are to Breakfast Club long the Rosa fillin Info Jess,
And we got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed,
back with a new book out right now, The Wind
on her Tongue, Ladies and gentlemen, Anita Kopak.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Welcome, thank you, thank you. It is so awesome to
be back here.
Speaker 5 (00:23):
That's right, book two of the Daughters of the Daughter
of Three Waters trilogy.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Yes, yes, yes, tell us what the wind in the
tongue is?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Win on her Tongue is all about.
Speaker 6 (00:33):
So the Wind on her Tongue is about Oya, who
is the daughter of Yameya.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Whom our first novel, Shallow Waters is about yea Aya.
Speaker 6 (00:42):
And so Oya is her daughter, and not only in
my stories, but in the ancient parables and in the
religion of the Europe of people the Epha and so
Oya is the goddess of the wind and storms and
so many other things. But I think one of the
(01:02):
things that mainstream might know her as like Storm, the
character in Black x Men, she is kind of fashioned
after Oya. So Oya can like change the weather and
bring So this year, which is twenty twenty five, is
(01:22):
a number nine.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Year, sure, which is Oya's number.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
Yes, the end, right, if this is the end, this
is when there's a lot of transformation. Things are moving fast,
and we can tell as soon as twenty twenty five started,
right like what this year is. And so this is
really the energy of Oya. And that was not on
purpose that this book was coming out on a year nine.
Speaker 7 (01:48):
So in the opening of the book, it's not like
the first chapter. I don't know if it's the forward
or the note, but you talk about how like in
black communities we're not really allowed to talk about these
like folklore. The other communities and other ethnicities are able
to talk about. And it made me think about how
like with your grandma, even with my grandma, certain things
she's like, turn it off, that's demonica, that's not God.
(02:10):
But then they have certain things that they lean into.
How do you have those conversations with your family because
you're putting this on the forefront, and I'm sure some
of your family is like, girl, what are you doing?
Speaker 6 (02:18):
Absolutely, And the thing is is that I've had these
conversations like way earlier from the beginning, because I would
be like, well, what do.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
You mean, Like we can't learn about our history. We
can't learn about our like gods and.
Speaker 6 (02:31):
Goddesses, our parables, right, our stories? Why is it demonic?
Who said it to demonic? We know who said it
to demonic? Right, And so it's like we've I've dot
white people, yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Saying it.
Speaker 6 (02:49):
But they got it from somewhere, right, they got it
from somewhere because it's like it's it's where.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Our ancestors are from. It's us. It's like who we are.
Speaker 6 (02:57):
And so even if you're not going to practice the religion,
you know, like it's like, oh, but can't we know
our history? Like why is it demonic to know our history?
Speaker 4 (03:06):
To know the stories? And they know them.
Speaker 6 (03:09):
Like if you think of like some of the the
who do practice practices, it's like in our families, like
you know, if you're going to the beginning of the year,
you want to have black eyed peas, you know, like exactly,
and so it's like.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
We're doing it, we're doing it.
Speaker 6 (03:24):
But you know, it's there's just that that fine line.
But I think more and more people are waking up
because it's in us.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
It's in us. And like it.
Speaker 6 (03:34):
A part of it is our power, remembering our power,
remembering who we are, and and so there's not really
any stopping. We can't burn books, we can do whatever
it is. It's inside of us. It's inside of us,
and at some point some of us are going to remember,
some of us are going to write it down right,
(03:55):
and who knows who's going to be inspired by this
book right to create more things and remember more things.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So what made you dive into all of this?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I know you were here before, you briefly explained, but
for people that this is the first time hearing, what
made you dive into this part of it?
Speaker 6 (04:12):
So to me, I felt like Oya, not oya, yeme
Ya like dove into me because I was, I would say, curious,
but not like I wasn't. I wasn't practicing the religion
or anything, but I had a lot of friends who were.
And someone had told me that yeme Ya watched over
(04:33):
our ancestors as they came over on the slave ships.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
And I was just like, what.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
We had a black mermaid like watching over us, watching
over the souls that jumped off, And I was like,
what is this? I was like, I don't know these
stories and I'm a curious person, so I was like,
I want to learn about this, and so as I
was diving in, I just felt so connected.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
The more and more I learned, the more.
Speaker 6 (04:58):
I felt like I woke up, the I felt like
I was going.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Home and I was like, what is this? And so.
Speaker 6 (05:07):
At some point I decided to, you know, write the book.
And as I was writing the book, to me, it
felt like for Shallow Waters, it felt like, yeah, yeah,
was sitting at the edge of the bed telling me
the story.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
And so there were things.
Speaker 6 (05:22):
That I had to look up after to make sure
that you know history, these are both historical fiction, and
so the history part I definitely had to like look
up make sure that it all made sense. And of
course you know the publishers they helped me with that as.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Well too, to keep me on point.
Speaker 6 (05:41):
But I would say if I just felt such a
calling to it. And then what was interesting was when
Shallow Waters came out, African Ancestry got a hold of
me and they're like, do you want to see like
where your ancestry is from. I was like, yeah, actually
that would be kind of dope, and it is.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
It's Yureba and Housa and so I was like, Oh,
it's because it was It's in me, gotcha, That's why
I felt so connected.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
You know, you wrote an article for People magazine and
break it down the parallels between Wicked's el Faba Alphaba
Alphabe Yes and how they defy the gravity of social
norms and expectations break then m.
Speaker 6 (06:23):
So when I watched Wicked and I saw Alphaba's character,
I was like, Oh, this is Oya right, Like, like
how nobody understands her. How when she gets mad, this
power comes out of her. She doesn't understand the power,
and then someone else has to understand it first, you know,
help her to like hone it. And there were so
(06:44):
many things how she just stood up against the like
societal norms right, and was able to be herself.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
And she did have to.
Speaker 6 (06:55):
Go through her own journey and different relationships in.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Order to do that.
Speaker 6 (06:59):
So Oia is very similar, where she has this power
within her of the storm and gathering up right the.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Energy of the the nature and all of these things.
Speaker 6 (07:15):
And in the beginning, it's just happens when she's mad, right,
And I don't want to tell the story, but you know,
she learns about herself and about her powers. And what
was really cool about what I found out after I
wrote that article is that who Alphabe's character is fashioned after,
(07:37):
which is Matilda Jocelyn Gage.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
That's Tilly in Shallow Waters. That's Matilda Joscelyn Gage.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
Like when I was doing like the research and everything,
and I was like, I like this woman, Like she
was like she was like fighting. She was a white woman,
she was a suffragette. She fought for black and indigenous rights.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
She fought for even.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Child slavery as far as like trafficking back then.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
She did so many things. And I was like, I
like this woman. So I made her Tilly and she
that's who Alphabe is. Fashion had no idea.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
How you talking about the sixteenth Truths.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
A little bit?
Speaker 6 (08:20):
Oh oh listen, okay. I put that onto my Instagram
because I'm not a I would say I don't know
everything about Epha, right, I know, like one like one
of the truths that is very important is know thyself, right,
(08:43):
like really knowing yourself even before you find what arisha.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
So the orishas are like.
Speaker 6 (08:51):
The the energies that represent the different than natural forces
in the world.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
So this is.
Speaker 6 (08:58):
She's of storm weather, yama Yah was the ocean, right,
And so they're not necessarily gods and goddesses. I just
we just say that for the purpose here, right, So
they're they're more like spirits. And so even before you
really know who's on your head, that's what they will say,
who's on your head?
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Like what Arisha rules.
Speaker 6 (09:19):
You, You have to know yourself and so really connecting
to yourself and your ancestors and what you were born
for and so that you know, to me would be
one of the most important truths in EVA.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
When you were growing up, did you know you wanted to.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Be a writer, Let me tell you.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Just just just scroll and I see you a tap dancer.
You're you know you do so much? Did you know
that you wanted to be an.
Speaker 6 (09:46):
Art So I I was a like math and science nerd,
Like I went to UC Berkeley. I went to UC
Berkeley with my bestie Risha Rocks here and she actually
did my makeup, so and I did civil engineering. So
I was very much like math science nerd. But I
(10:10):
always love storytelling and I am dyslexic, so I actually
didn't think I could be a writer like that wasn't
really like I was, like, I can't spell shit, you know,
Like I'm like, fuck, yeah, okay, And so I didn't
think I could.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
Be a writer until my senior year.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
They're like, Anita, if you don't take Freshman English, you're
not going to graduate.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
And I was like, I got to take fresh freshman all.
Speaker 6 (10:40):
The way through without doing it, yes, because I had
you know, I was doing crazy math classes, science all
of that.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
And they're like, you.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Need to take Freshman Fail for freshman year.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
You're not going to graduate.
Speaker 6 (10:51):
And so I took the class and I fell in
love with it.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
I fell in love with the storytelling and all.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
Of that, and so I was like, actually, wait, is
this what I want to do? And I loved learning
about the African diaspora, the different places within the diaspora,
the people, how are we, how are we alike?
Speaker 4 (11:10):
How are we different? And what wakes up inside of us?
Speaker 6 (11:14):
Like you can't really describe what wakes up inside of
us when we learn more and more about our true ancestry,
because it's like you're getting closer and closer to home
and there's these energies and people are like, you're glowing.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
What is that?
Speaker 6 (11:30):
And so I feel like that's kind of what happened
and once I hit that, I was like, oh, I'm
a storyteller. I gotta figure this out. I gotta And
luckily the world has turned into.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
A place where I don't have to know how to smell.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
You know, I want you to go deeper into who
oh yeah is right? Because you dedicate the book to
a lot of your friends who have experienced, you know,
still born births and miscarriages and oh yeah, the African
goddess who watches over women who have had still borns
and miscarriages.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So can you respond on that little yes?
Speaker 6 (12:06):
That just gave me chills because to know that there
is an energy or a goddess out there that is
watching over women who have lost children. So I've told
you about my time when I went to Peru and
I did ahuasca and San Pedro, right, And so when.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
I did San Pedro, my ancestors came to me san Pedro.
Speaker 6 (12:29):
So san Pedro is it? I believe it's a cactus
and and it's a drugs medical.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Medicine, flat medicine.
Speaker 6 (12:43):
And and so you you go into the space like
you just get deeper in touch with this with the
energies around. To me, it felt like I was more
in touch with the invisible energies that are around. And
so my ancestors came to me and they said, what
is happening right now is that so many of us
are dealing with the loss of children, whether it was
(13:06):
us or our ancestors down the line who had lost children,
lost children through through death, through being taken away in
during slavery. So many people are suffering from that that
we're trying to hold on to everything. So that's why
people have clutter, that's why people think they have to
keep things and like as if we can own anything ever, right,
(13:31):
And so that's what the ancestors told me. And so
then when I found out that Oya watches over women
who had lost babies in any form, right like the stillbirths, miscarriages,
even abortions, right Like, it's like you've lost a child,
(13:52):
and she helps with the healing, and she helps with
you know, getting us because she is the goddess of
the storm, she's the goddess of transformation.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So she moves things around so that.
Speaker 6 (14:10):
If there is a healing like that that needs to happen,
because that's such a deep wound, she comes and she
blows the shit away, so that so that you can heal.
Speaker 7 (14:22):
It's crazy because in your writing a lot of times
I can relate it to things like how you talked
about like the black eyed peas and the fried chicken,
and I'm like, oh, yeah, that's what they were doing.
But with that, I couldn't relate it to anything. And
I'm like, I don't think I've ever had a conversation
in my family just about what happens if you have
a miscarriage and how you feel.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
I don't even know.
Speaker 7 (14:40):
I'm sure it has happened, but I don't know any
close family mermors that I've ever talked to me about it.
Speaker 6 (14:43):
Yeah, because people don't talk about it, and they definitely have, right,
like someone has.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
It's in all of our families, right.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
If it hasn't happened to you, it's like happened to someone.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Who's close to you.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
And it's a lot of times people just go through
through it in silence and go to work right in
a couple of days and not you know, like not
be able to deal with it. And we know that
if we hide things away, they just keep growing and
growing and growing. And so it's so important to have
(15:16):
a place and a way to heal from these things.
And I'm also a spiritual psychologist, so I do deal
with people in that way. As far as guiding people
through trauma and things like that, I do it with
the Goddess Wisdom Counsel.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
We have a retreat that's coming up in Costa Rica.
Speaker 6 (15:38):
So a lot of times I work with women who
have experienced some form of sexual trauma.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
That's one of my things that I work with a lot.
And what is interesting with.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
That too is that it's not always directly like a
woman can be like, oh my gosh, I don't remember
anything happening to me, but I noticed the way I act,
it's as if something happened. So it could be something
that she doesn't remember, or it could be something that
happened in her family line. Because if it did happen
to her grandmother, right, like she's passing it down Like
(16:14):
what's inside of us is what was in our ancestors.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
So here's you know.
Speaker 7 (16:19):
Can you break down the parallels that you make with
Oya in the Black Woman trope Angry Black Woman? And
then you talk about duality too, because you talk about
how the hurricanes are like so strong and people hate them.
But then after sometimes they reveal beautiful things, people come
together to get through them.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (16:34):
Yes, So that was actually one of the things that
came up for me with Oya a lot, because I
was actually kind of afraid at first to write about
her because I was like, Oh, Oya scares me a
little bit.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
She's a beast.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
She's an unbeatable warrior. Like that's who she is. She's
an unbeatable warrior, Like, don't fuck with her. And I
was like, oh, I'm a little scared to write about Oya.
And then when I started like learning about her and
writing about her and listening to her, I was like,
oh shit, it's like the angry black woman. Like people
being afraid of the angry black woman. I was like,
(17:11):
she's not angry, she's just powerful. And just because you
can't handle it right, just because they you know, just
because I couldn't handle it right, Like from from what
I thought about her, it was.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Like, No, she is just powerful.
Speaker 6 (17:25):
And I think it's that misunderstanding that, like people misunderstand
that like a black person, a black woman is just
saying what she needs. Oh she's angry, right, She's just
telling people that she doesn't like something. Oh she's angry,
And we know, other people say that they don't like
(17:46):
things all the time, y.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Wh white people, especially white men.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
Exactly do you think that these these uh, these these
these goddesses possess you when you're writing, Like do they
are they like guiding you?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Like, OK, hey, I need you to tell this story
about me, so.
Speaker 6 (18:02):
I gotta tell you something, because yes, I had an
experience like that, so I didn't necessarily feel like that.
So with Yemy, I felt like she was sitting at
the edge of my bed right telling me with oh yeah,
I wasn't sure.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
I couldn't quite.
Speaker 6 (18:16):
I didn't feel like I was possessed. But at the end,
when I finished writing, I like that. After I wrote
the last word, I was like.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Let me go downstairs.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
I put on some music and I started dancing, and
all of a sudden, I just started balling crying and
it felt like she was coming out of me, Like
it was just like and I don't know where these
tears were coming from. It was just like sh and
I was just like, oh my gosh, was shent. It
(18:46):
didn't feel like it. I don't know, I don't know
what it feels like to be possessed, but it didn't
feel like it in that way, but it did feel
like I was definitely guided. She was telling me the story.
She was telling me who needed to be in it.
You know, some of the characters I love to work
with with historical figures, so like Marie Leveaux and mary
(19:09):
Ellen Pleasant. So Ellen is named Ellen. Mary Ellen Pleasant
is Ellen in the book because sometimes she was people
called her Ellen or Mammy Pleasant. But anyway, when I
was looking up Mary Ellen Pleasant, I was like, who
is this woman? How Come I don't know about her
before Madam C J.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
Walker. She was.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
She was the first self made millionaire woman. And this
is not just black women, it's women. She's the first
one before Madam C. J.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
Walker. And I was like, how come I.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
Didn't learn about her? Was because she was a voodoo queen.
I don't want to teach that in school. She was
also a madam. That's not how she made like most
of her money, but she.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Found co founded Bank of California, which is now Wells Fargo.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
She's like, did so many things invested in, like.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
In gold, silver, a lot of real estate.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
And the thing is while she was doing this, because
of the time, she was pretending that she was a
mammy so she was pretending that she was the help, right,
so she would dress up like the help.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
She had a thirty room mansion.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
When people came by, she would pretend she was the help,
and then she would like serve.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
The white men would be.
Speaker 6 (20:34):
Talking about the investments they're making, and she would take
that and go do her inside training training.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
She was like the spook who sat by the door and.
Speaker 6 (20:42):
Yeah, yeah, and so she was amazing and I was like,
why how come I don't know about her? And so
when I was studying about her, I saw that she
studied under Marie Levau, and so that's kind.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Of where I got all of the characters and Marie Lavaux,
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
When I went to New Orleans to learn about learn
more about her, I had a tour guide and he
was like, so, what do you guys think when we
when I say voodoo and we're like, okay, African religion,
you know, honoring ancestors. And he was like, oh, thank god,
I don't have to, like, you know, break down what
(21:20):
it is, because he's like most people you say voodoo,
they're like dark magic, you know, evil like all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Well, from Socaculine, we say roots, yes, roots on you.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
Yes, exactly right.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
And so so when I learned about her through his eyes,
you know she's she's a healer, right, she's most of
the people who have actually met her and talked about her,
they were saying how she helped them and how she
was a healer.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
And then you know, in stories in.
Speaker 6 (21:51):
Pop culture, she's still like seen as like a voodoo
queen who drank baby's blood. But none of that, I mean,
as far as I know, none of that happened.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
When I read Shallow Waters, you know, four or five
years ago, whenever it was I didn't know it was
going to end up being a trilogy.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Did you know that?
Speaker 4 (22:09):
I didn't know it.
Speaker 6 (22:10):
But people kept going, it's a trilogy, and I was like, no, no,
it's done, the story finished, it's done.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
People so many people they're like, it's a trilogy. It's
a trilogy.
Speaker 6 (22:22):
Did you say that to me?
Speaker 4 (22:24):
I remember, But trilogy? I wonder what, I don't know,
why doesn't it keep going on?
Speaker 2 (22:30):
So? Well?
Speaker 6 (22:31):
The Daughter of three Waters, let me tell you where
that comes from. Because in Cuba, and usually you have
just the two orishas on your head, a male and
a female, and so that would be who like kind
of rules.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
You or rules kind of the energies of your life.
Speaker 6 (22:51):
And they have one thing in Cuba where if it
feels like you have Yameya and Oshoon, they'll say, oh,
that's a daughter of two waters because you can have
that in Cuba.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
Everywhere else they don't really have that.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
And so I was like, oh, well, Oya feels like
water for me too, So that's why I made that
up Daughter of three Waters.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
So do you know what the third installment is going
to be about?
Speaker 4 (23:19):
I do?
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Okay, so I do.
Speaker 6 (23:24):
I mean it's most people probably will figure out that
it is Oshoon, so it will be Oshoon, and I
do have the story.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
But ocean sitting on the edge of your bed or
she is?
Speaker 5 (23:39):
She is?
Speaker 6 (23:40):
Wait okay wait, I'm trying to think if I should
be sharing this yet.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
Probably not.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
Okay, let's focus on the window telling you it's out
right now. You said something in your dedications that I
found interesting too. You said, uh, you said your mom, dad,
and sisters for putting up with you as a child.
Then you shouted out your children for putting up with
you as an adult. Is there anything from your childhood
that you have bought with you into adulthood that made
you say adulthood.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
I was definitely like this as a child. I mean
I was.
Speaker 6 (24:12):
I was very introverted though I was quiet, but I
was very much in my own world, like in this
magical world all the time. And for my kids, I'm
kind of more like one of the kids. It's not
necessarily how I thought I would adult. I thought I
was going to be a little bit more strict.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
My mom.
Speaker 6 (24:30):
She's amazing, but she was definitely strict with us as well.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Mom, I love you.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
That's she's amazing. But you know, I couldn't fuck around, right.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
I thought I was going to be like that, and.
Speaker 6 (24:45):
You know, I tried to be stricted for one second
and to see, like, like my kid, the way they
responded to it, I.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Was like, no, they don't take it serious.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
This is no, they don't.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
The artists as well, like they are, well, my two
girls are, and then my son is math science.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 6 (25:04):
And my oldest one, Sadie, she's she's twenty, she's at NYU.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
She's like doing film.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
And then Tila is a senior in high school and
really into singing.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
She's actually yo.
Speaker 6 (25:19):
Which I got to talk to you about she is
writing the songs for Shallow Waters the musical, and I
like she came in, you know, I was like, she's
seventeen year old. I was like, okay, yeah, She's like
I have a song and that I want to sing
to you.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
I had chills.
Speaker 6 (25:35):
I was like, oh, let's do it, Lin Manuel, where
are you wanted to be a music yo? When she
sang the things, I was like, yo, ye, you don't
even know. I was like, okay, we're doing this, let
me let me find Lyn Manuel. So so she's into
like like the definitely into the arts.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
And then my son Mayan is math sciences.
Speaker 6 (25:59):
He told me he can't imagine a world where he's
not figuring something out like math wise. So they're all
like parts of me right, Like yeah.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
But you know, it's interesting because when you talk about
these books being filmed, if you've ever read Shallow Water,
if you read The Wind on Her Tongue, you're going
to feel like you're, you know, watching a motion picture.
Like that's how much this stuff pops out, you know,
on the page. So I know that's the next evolution
of these stories. Yeah, they're going to be on the
big screen or the small screen. They're going to be
(26:32):
on the screen.
Speaker 7 (26:32):
Yeah yeah, Noah, going back Cooks to something you said
about Woodoo. What point in the world did that switch?
Because like even when you're talking about it, I'm like, ooh,
I'm saying his word so much as like a no no,
especially around like your older older pogeam. When did it
switch from like these people were healers roots to this
is bad, stay away from it.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
You're possessed and you can't watch scary movies?
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Like when did that switch?
Speaker 6 (26:53):
So that switched all during slavery when when the Africans
were enslaved, so they needed to keep us away from
our religions, they needed to keep us away from our spirituality,
from our language, and so in order to do that,
it's they demonized it. And not only that, if you
(27:13):
practiced it, a lot of people were killed or beaten,
and so all of these things were like like just
kind of like I guess beaten into us, right, And
then there was a point where the fact that it survived, right,
like what you resist persists, right, Like you can't beat
(27:38):
shit out of people.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
It just doesn't work.
Speaker 6 (27:41):
Like the more you try to do that, the more
the person becomes stronger. In that and so it's like this,
these these spirituality, the religion, all of these things survived
these these times.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
And a lot of times they.
Speaker 6 (27:59):
Kind of hit it behind Catholicism because Catholicism works with saints, right,
and so each candle right, like it would be a
certain saint, but they'd be like, oh yeah, but this
is actually Aya behind this saint. And so they were
able to work with their religion through Catholicism.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
All right, Well, the new book, The Wind on Her
Tongue is out right now, pick it up.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
It's available via Black Privilege. Simon and Schues to publishing man.
And you know, Anita is, how do you feel for
your second book? You know, you wrote Shallow Waters. How
does this feel? They have another book?
Speaker 4 (28:35):
It feels so good?
Speaker 6 (28:37):
Like, I feel so grateful to you, like the fact
that you saw me, you recognize me, you recognize the work,
you recognize the words that needed to be out there,
the stories that needed to be out there. I feel
so grateful that I'm able to get these stories out
into the public. And I would say that's how I feel, deep,
(29:00):
deep gratitude.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
So if you're looking for some escapism rooted in some realism,
The Wind on Her Tongue by Nita Copax is available
right now everywhere you buy books, and the audiobook is
read by your sister.
Speaker 6 (29:13):
It is audiobook is read by my sister, Michelle Copatch.
And also shout out to YACHTI for bringing us together.
And she wanted to try to come to but she
wasn't able to.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
So yes and tonight.
Speaker 5 (29:31):
We will be at green Light Bookstores, Yes, seven thirty pm.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
It's on Fulton, Brooklyn. Yes, it's on Fulton.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
Street, so we'll be there tonight at seven thirty pm
having a conversation about The Wind on Her Tongue. So
we'll see all there tonight, green Light Bookstore in Brooklyn,
seven thirty pm.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Pick up the book now, and we appreciate you for
joining us this morning. Nita Copax Breakfast Club, Good morning,
wake that ass up in the morning.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Breakfast Club