Written by Noni Montaque | 09 May 2008

 

"This one goes out to all my beautiful black girls, with finger waves, corn rows, or beautiful black curls, shine like a diamond, my beautiful black pearls, no matter what they say, you run this beautiful black world" - Beautiful Black Girls, (Enoch da Messejah with JiraSun).

May 3, 2008, marked the 4th year of the annual Beautiful Black Woman Festival held in Greensboro, NC.  Even with an 80% chance of rain, nothing could stop the sun from shining down on the event.  Mother Nature held the clouds at bay, so that event organizers, ThemFive, and the Greensboro community could celebrate its mothers, daughters, wives, aunts and sisters.

Below, we chat with Jeff, one of ThemFive's members about the purpose behind the event, their mission for this year's event, and the future of the Beautiful Black Woman Festival.  NuFACES plans to sit down with all the Brothers in the near future, to bring you the organization's collective vision.

TELL ME A LITTLE ABOUT THEMFIVE, THE BROTHERS BEHIND THE BBWF?

ThemFive - we are entrepreneurs, husbands, fathers, activists, revolutionaries, at some times ni**as, but at all times, we are MEN, men who know the value of the people, who know the value of a woman and the male / female relationship, the old head / young head relationship, [and] the HipHopper / Jazzman relationship.

We are attempting to bridge the gaps keeping the Black and Latino communities divided from each other and from within our own respective communities.  The old folks are scared of the young folks (in many cases with good reason) and that ain't right, so we talk to both sides in a non-judgmental way and find out the causes and work toward a solution.  This, to us is one of the jobs of the Man in a community.

Another is accountability, we go into the projects to pick up trash.  We invite the people to help us and we talk with them and remind them that we can't wait on the government to keep our neighborhoods clean, we gotta do for self.  At the same time, we make sure those outside the PJ's understand the Hell it is to live in the projects and watch the people who run the world live in million dollar houses - it's frustrating and that comes out as anger and I-don't-giva-fuckness.

Anyway, ThemFive are Men, and we try our best to live up to that title in every way.

 

 

HOW DID THE IDEA FOR THE FESTIVAL COME ABOUT?

The BBWF came about from a song by Enoch tha Messenjah (one of ThemFive's members).  The song is titled "Beautiful Black Girls", which was what the festival was originally titled, but the Sista put a halt on that, saying we came too far for ya'll to still be callin us "girls" we are "women".  We couldn't argue with that, so the Beautiful Black Woman Festival was Born.

The song features JiraSun, another ThemFive member, [and encourages] the ladies to "rediscover your black ties, put somethin on ya mind while ya show off ya black thighs" - the fellas, of course perform this track at the BBWF every year.

THIS IS THE FOURTH YEAR OF THE BBWF.  HOW HAS IT CHANGED?

Honestly, the show has gotten smaller and less significant.  With all of us having families, we must hold down full time jobs as well as our crafts / businesses.  Gas is damn near $4, bread is like $2, but wages stay the same, so everybody is working crazy hours to keep afloat and we were unable to hit the streets like we normally do to get performers, sponsors and vendors. 

BESIDES THEMFIVE, DO YOU HAVE ANY PARTNERS OR SPONSORS FOR THE EVENT?

Beloved Community Center is our fiscal sponsor and handles all monies coming in as a 501c-3, Martin's Pump and Jump provid[ed] us with a giant Moon Walk, and Elitists Entertainment provid[ed] the sound.

DO WOMEN OF OTHER RACES ATTEND THE FESTIVAL?

Of course the majority of the attendees are black women, but women of all flavors come thru and we make sure that they feel the love too - we all came from Black Women so we gotta show love for mama 'nem first but we love the people, all people.

 

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM THIS YEAR'S EVENT?

This year's show will be more like a party with a few people performing, where past shows have had fashion shows, bands, and step teams.  Ms Yvonne Johns, who is the mayor of Greensboro, spoke at our first BBWF and would have spoken at this one were it not on the same day as Bennett (College's) graduation.

Next year, we will bring back the luster, this year, we just wanna make the ladies feel appreciated.

ME- And what better way to make the ladies feel appreciated than honoring them with their own festival?  Women had a chance to mingle, pick up some eats, listen to music and watch the performances, while the children jumped in the giant Moon Walk and enjoyed the Spring day.

The organizers opened the mic for attendees to get onstage and speak about whatever was on their minds. It gave people an opportunity to discuss the future of music, eating healthy, raising our youth, the internet and the digital divide.  After a final performance, from Greensboro's own, hip hop poet / rapper, Mr. Rozzi, the mic was opened again for a very entertaining, and at times, hilarious freestyle session.

If you would like to participate in next year's BBWF as a sponsor, vendor, artist or entertainer, contact Jeff at 336-509-4056.

 

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