We had the good fortune of connecting with Shemariah J. Arki, EdD and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shemariah J., we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking

Risk, for those of us who identify as Black, is everywhere. Each day that I am alive, that I am in my right mind (at least able to function), that I am able to see and hug my sons, that I can call my mom, I’ve escaped death. That is the life I am forced to live as a person of the global majority in the United States. So when, it comes to my activism and writing, I aint neva scared! I became a creative entrepreneur because I was fired. I had to learn to bet on myself, I’m not gonna let myself down. I think we, as a society, are confused on what the real risk is. Risk is being an at-will employee and places where we not seen as humans, only producers. Risk is building a life on an income that is predicated on systems and institutions that were designed to destroy you. There is no security in that. Thats the real risk–thinking that this system, the masters house, will provide us with (masters’) tools to get us free. Betting on yourself is never a risk, its a sure shot! I’mma work hardest for me! And I know I got my own back. Periodt.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I identify as an educator, an activist and an organizer. Currently serving as a professor in the department of Pan-African Studies and as the interim director of the Center for Pan African Culture, both at Kent State University, I am an intersectional feminist scholar with expert knowledge and skills to develop, implement, facilitate and evaluate curricula that promote institutional equity, communication, and access for traditionally marginalized students and families.

Serving as the founder and program director of the Ellipsis Institute for Womxn of Color in the Academy and as an auto/ethnographic researcher and creative non-fiction writer, my work centers cultural epistemologies and the construction of a #BlackCommaFeminist pedagogy. As one of five editors for the textbook, Teaching Beautiful Brilliant Black Girls, curated to position classrooms as places of radical transformation and to amplify the voices of the Black girls who inhabit them, I seek to create radical spaces of teaching and learning that center the lived experience of Black girls as empirical evidence and create spaces of radical transformation.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Let’s start with hydration and nourishment, because its important! Also, assuming it’s a warm sunny day in the CLE.

Coffee, smoothies and pastries from @Kafela in St. Clair/Superior and morning meditations by the lake at the E. 55th street Marina. As we ride past the Tamir Rice Afrocentric Cultural Center @TamirRiceFoundation, we pour a libation for all of fallen comrades and dedicate today’s work to their lives.

We would ride through Cultural Gardens on East Boulevard, on our way to the Glenville Arts Campus. Here we post up @3rdSpaceCle to take a few meetings, meet up with some local creatives and visit the new reading room! Leaving the parking lot, watch out for the bright beams of light who are attending the after school programs, also located on the campus, hosted by @CenterForArtsInspiredLearning and @TwelveLitArts.

Heading over to #AGreaterBuckeye for Network Night sponsored by @NeighborUpCle, a grassroots collective igniting the power of everyday people to create, together, an extraordinary world right where they live. There will be a delicious meal catered for us, vegan friendly of course! But still, on the way, we stop by @unbar_cafe in the Larchnmere neighborhood for the lavender lemonade. We walk a few doors down to grab some spiritual supplies from Kings and Queens, a local shop with afrocentric wares.

After a day in community, we know we need self-care! Tomorrow morning (or afternoon) we have a delicious brunch at the @TheVeganClubCle, then we leave the city limits to patronize more Black women owned businesses! We stop by @lt2inc to indulge our sense of smell with custom body care and home fragrances. Next up, @hobj.co for a shopping spree! We decide to wear our #RichAuntieVibes and #BlackWomxnAreTopTier gear to happy hour @SwereveGrill, hosted by @BrentRoachEvents.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Black girls, womxn and femmes. Y’all are the real MVP’s My team at Sankofa Circle International and Ellipsis Institute for Womxn of Color in the Academy – So much love to y’all
My comrades at Kent State University – #LittyintheRitchie
My sons, Solomon Safari and Malcolm Saadiq – Thank you for choosing me as your mother

Website: www.shemariaharki.com

Instagram: @BlackCommaFeminist

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/blackcommafeminist

Twitter: https://twitter.com/blackcommafem

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackcommafeminist/

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