In thinking about how to sum up my recent trip to Amsterdam, I couldn’t. It was an amalgamation of release, intrigue, inspiration, and critical analysis all wrapped in community and reunion.  I explained the purpose of the trip in a previous post that you can read here, so I won’t go into detail about the meaning behind the event. Almost two weeks later, I am still processing how to talk about what I witnessed because it is a case study of what culture work looks like and how success is attained via communal action and corporate buy in- a space that rarely breeds authenticity. At the center is an important conversation around liberation, purpose, and remembrance. The broken agreements, like the ones spelled out in Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ” Letter from a Birmingham Jail” echo throughout the diaspora when thinking about the global emancipation of enslaved Africans. None of us are untouched by this mass incaceration of Black bodies and the promises to end bondage, for many, was a promise that was mired with big talk, and little action. To celebrate emancipation is one thing, to specifically call out the broken promises, is the work. KIP REPUBLIC did the work and it was an honor to witness first hand. So here are some tidbits from the trip along with a clip from an interview I did connecting Juneteenth and Keti Koti (my interview begins at the 48:44 mark.