JUSTaSISTA Re-Launches: How I Became an Entreprenegro

A few months ago, I re-launched JUSTaSISTA/Girl in a Tie Productions (GTP). The re-launch came after much-needed self-analysis about the direction of my company. It is important to note that I had not focused on developing JUSTaSISTA/GTP in more than two years and it needed an total overhaul; that incuded new marketing materials, a marketing plan, establishing and rebuilding relationships. Within a month or so, it became clear that this would involve a lot of hard work and ingenuity, something I believe our early ancestors possessed. I began jokingly using the term 'entreprenegro' to describe myself.  Although I saw it initially as a clever term, I recently realized that choosing to refer to myself as an ‘entreprenegro’ has a much deeper meaning.

I was born in 1966. My birth was during the protest era. I was very fortunate to have a father who was very involved in Civil Rights. My father owned a wide variety of books that included a rather large collection of historical African American fiction and non-fiction. His library exposed me to literature that referred to African Americans as “negras, niggers, negroes, colored, black and Afro American” people. I remember seeing titles such as “Up From Slavery”, “The Souls of Black Folks”, “The Complete Works of Martin Luther King” and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”. However, what really ignited my curiosity was the protest literature. Daring titles such as, “Die Nigger! Die!”, “Soul on Ice”, “Look Out Whitey Black Powers Gon’ get Your Mamma!” piqued my interest. I didn't read these books until much later in life, but at age 12 I read with wonder and amazement the descriptive narrative on the back covers of these and other books. I became a cerebral rebel at a very early age.

My mother unknowingly contributed to my rebellious nature by exposing me to more African American literature. She read to me excerpts from “Narratives of the Life of a Slave Girl”, “Jubilee”, “The Best of Simple” and “Go Tell it on the Mountain”. This exposure accounts for my continued interest in African American literature today. As a matter of fact, when I was in the 2^nd grade she was reading a book entitled, “The Decline of the Wasp”. I asked her what the book was about and she told that it was about how white people would not always be the most powerful race in the future. She then told me what ‘wasp’ meant. The next day when my Caucasian teacher made me angry, I told her she was a ‘White Anglo Saxon Protestant’. This didn't go over too well based on her reaction. I have to laugh to myself when I think about that moment because God knows what the teacher thought when I said that to her. This was my breakthrough as a true rebel.

When I think about the terms “negras, niggers, negroes, colored, black, Afro American and African American”, I remember the scope of literature I have read that suggests and confirms the intelligence and greatness of my people. I use the drive of the spirits of my ancestors and those who share in their collective strengths and body of knowledge to push forward and to stake my claim. I call myself an ‘entreprenegro’ in honor of what I learned from my father’s library and from my Mother’s reading. I am forever grateful that I was exposed to great African American literature by my family. So when I think about bursting onto the scene with a renewed vision for JUSTaSISTA/Girl in a Tie Productions, I have empowered myself as an ‘entreprenegro’. Besides, ‘entreprenegro’ sounds a whole lot better than ‘entreprecolored’ or ‘entrepreblack’.