GMGM everybody. We're just gonna start it. Let me tweet this out.
So yeah, we're going to get started on some invite folks up who are speaking today. Some folks are running late.
And that's totally fine because we're on CBT girl. Welcome welcome, excited for this space. It's gonna be a really good one.
How's it going today? It's snowing a lot in Salt Lake City today, so it's like... Yeah, we're going to be 12 inches.
Damn, as a southerner, that's not heard of. I'm precedenting. Somehow, I would never even try and think to imagine. You really just kicked off some anxiety for next week. I'm really rest. Are we still going to Denver dog? They talk about snow.
I'm trying to remember what snow is. We get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that we get that#
No facts. I live in a city where if it dropped below 20 we shut the whole city down And that's no snow at all so look pray for the Texas family y'all
Look man, doing taxes is the literal definition of when hell freezes over because we all have snow. This is a different story. That shit be funny. Damn just like Atlanta, y'all know what to do. Y'all just be running with a chicken with the head caught off. It's hilarious.
So some people are going to trickle in a bit later, but we'll get started. So this is recorded. People can always share it out afterwards. But yeah, I'm excited. I know, like, I just want to level set. So my name is N. My partner
I thought it was really important to highlight some incredible black voices including my own in Web 3.
And really have a little community discussion about how blackness and web 3 intersect in a lot of meaningful ways. So we have a lot of amazing speakers today and I just want to we're going to go through. People might jump in a little bit later.
later, but I just want to go around, have people introduce themselves, where they help from what they're working on. And yeah, just initial reflections. If not, we'll just do introductions and then we'll start the conversation. So we're going to go to seriously first.
What's up, y'all? My name is Sarsu. I've been in this space for three years now. I started with a project called Mint Fund. It's a project that helps artists submit interviews for free.
Then that moved into I'm with the esports and on the esports or called black hands It's like basically esports for the culture and what three and then we also just build a product called stadium which brings Competitive
eSports into crypto spaces and a much more transparent way. But ultimately, I think my goal in this space is to build tools, products, and cultural artifacts that provide agency to my community
communities like mine so that we have better opportunities to participate in this sort of newer dynamic of ownership and financialization that we've never really had a chance to do before so that's me. Awesome, over to Stefan.
Hey, you all. I'm Stefan Dellovo, born and raised in the Bahamas. My entry into the space was through the Caribbean blockchain lines. I run that. I started that a hundred years ago, where we do
mainly education, a little bit of public policy in the Caribbean, about web 3 and such, etc. I'm also the head of growth at govern, which is Dow Tools for contributors, and I guess my goal in space really is just
one education in the global self in general and in parliament and to I really loved owls but I would love owls to be more focused on empowering workers rather than just people with money.
Love, love, love, over to Valerie.
Hi everybody, my name is Valerie, I'm the founder and CEO of Tech by Choice and we're an org that helps underrepresented groups just have a good time and tech and we do it from like the real point of view of how to do that. We talk about mental health financial literacy.
and all the skills you need to build to either work in tech or build your own business. And I've been in the whole Web 3 space kind of before I got the name Web 3. Like I was looking at blockchain tech in like 2016. And we've been exploring this inside of the
the tech by choice org since the inception. And so my space and the whole entire ecosystem is just to be able to build community that I want to be a part of and making sure that we have access to all the same
resources and benefits and then some as our counterpart's have. So there's a lot that I could go on about about what three web one and two but happy to be here around other black organizers. Amazing over to our 40.
Hey, yeah, somebody's going crazy in the background and I love it. Of top of the afternoon game, we are 40 acres down, a internet native community.
that is focused on amplifying, educating, engaging, empowering the whole nine yards when it comes to our people because if we aren't our
ecosystem. My bad, I got a call, y'all. Okay, good, good, good. I'm gonna put the ball in the night. So yeah, what we do is across various mediums as it relates to Web3 technology and the broader push for mass adoption, ranging from artivism
to social impact organizing and event are written publications. So I'm excited to be in space and community with some pioneers in trailblazers and I'm even more excited for this conversation, this much needed conversation during this quiet ass February W.A.
I already have so many thoughts and questions. Let me say it for this. Quinn, last but not least, welcome. Hey, hey, hey, everybody. My name is Quinn with two ends. I am a music artist journalist and mobile photographer and we have three. I'm an overall artist and builder. I've been in
with three since late 2020 early 2021. I'm operating for Wonderverse 48 because Dow, Ginkgoin, and I've been apart of seven plus art galleries for my music and mobile photography and everything I do is on my Melanated lens, a cultural barrel lens, and
I'm not a science, you know, one team. I put my hand where they need to belong. So I'm happy to be here for this kind of a tip. Amazing. So we have some folks coming up later. I think what Tasha's going to be coming in like a few minutes. So she'll be here as well.
maybe other folks will come in a bit later, but we have a good group here. So I think I want to start with, you know, I know Sarah's has been posting about this, just a reflection I want to start with. Speaking of the devil, Natasha's here. Yay. So we'll just let Natasha come up, introduce herself, and then I'll ask her a question.
Welcome, friend. Would you give yourself an introduction before we get started?
I'm sorry, was that the meal? Yes, Natasha welcome. Oh, I didn't hear the first part. Hi, all I'm Natasha I'm a multi disciplinary artist and head of community at Zora and also founder of Zorotopia and I'm been working in the Web 3 space for about three years now and
It's just been a wild ride. I'm excited to be here with some of the heavy hitters like Sarsou and staff and 48 girls that I grew up with in this space and it's just such love to be here. What's up y'all. Hope you guys are doing good. Awesome. Thank you for joining.
So I guess my first question is more just as we're kind of towards the end of Black History Month. More of a reflection before we get into like the topic of today. More of a reflection on like how do we feel? I know there's been a lot of hot takes on my feed, but how we feel about the kind of
I'll like go down so 40 acres go ahead We couldn't even get a logo color change dog. I'm so upset I was always expecting at least that you feel me come on now Granted opus. He did did yeah
Yeah, it's disappointed, but not surprising and I think you know, that's really what we got to chalk it up to I kind of walked into February knowing that there was gonna be I mean look at it when market cap is shrinking
in pockets or getting a thinner, you know, out goes the window all things that you know you think one would care about and take seriously and it's sad because that thing that I'm talking about is the very lifeblood of what would transform into
change that market cap. And it's the community. When these companies are hyper focused, and I believe we had a similar conversation about this last week as it relates to how we've hyperfinancialized this entire industry and commodified things like art, commodified things like community.
That doesn't bow well for marginalized voices and I think What wonder and other communities that have taken an intentional approach to as Bun B say Buck the trend and go against the grain and say nah nah nah nah
Look y'all could be as quiet as y'all want to be y'all being quiet does nothing but amplifies our voice when we choose to highlight and raise and amplify these folks So yeah, that's that's kind of our city save word Okay, bowie go ahead
No, I just have to 100% agree to everything Catalyst just said because like that's pretty much it that's the space but I think the thing that is different is I know I think it was like 2020 or no I think it was 2021
I remember once we, people started talking about the fact that we got to the end of Black History Month. People tried to scramble and put together these like mini half-ass events and it became something different. I know that I tweeted out at the beginning of Black History Month
to give people some space to, you know, scramble, put a little bit more effort into it to see like who's doing something for Black History Month. The only people I saw doing anything I think was like Arzora, which that's kind of given.
But I think everybody else who was doing something was from a marginalized group if they weren't black. So it made me realize that this space is one way for a reason and that it doesn't matter if things are good or bad.
like the fact that it's always the same group left behind has created this space where we are the groups that are going to come together and support each other. So I even though that's really depressing to see the larger community does not
put the same effort for our communities. The fact that we got us, I think, can be enough. We just have to learn how do we plan and organize better so that we can show up for each other and like 10X what we've been missing. Yeah, um, Cersei, you're up next.
Quinn put their hand up first actually so got to Quinn. Okay, thank you. Thank you. So with that being said, like I love a line conversations and like with Katta said I was a line with Valerie said I was a line with
What was on my mind is we need to just focus on ourselves support ourselves focus on ourselves. We have a history of millenited people globally when we the effect of so when we put everything into our cells into our community who comes running all the time the
people that did not want to support us. So I believe we need to pay attention to things of that nature and catalyze off of that catalyze off of that and and not put our because our energy is very valuable and height and as millenium
So the fact that we even focus on what they not doing is even giving them part what to even feel like they have some type of control, you know, a ventriloquist type of act over us and it's not giving that. I feel as if when it came to everything that was said, like I said, I'm in alignment with it.
with that being said, I came into Melanity History Month to not give in the fuck about who was going to support us that was outside of us. I'm hyperly focused on my people and I support us, you know what I'm saying? And that's how I look at it. I'm coming up
but it's not gonna be depleted by focusing on the deterioration. - Okay, so assuming that we'll give another friendly face from our 40s, so I want to let them introduce after you go ahead. - Work, awesome. Yeah, I mean,
So to me, I look at it from a couple of different spaces. The first is, if we think about what three specifically, you know, the hype around
blur and all of it decide they dropped February 14th like the middle and Everyone's money is focused on this Air drop because this is where folks and people are gonna get paid and I think When we look at market conditions
Many marketplaces in exchanges that deal with NMTs are dying. It's been erased to zero since the middle of last year. Once the bull market died out and people were looking to grab money from any such and such and so and so place, the level of support
or financially if we were to get support at all was pretty much going to be nonexistent. Just coming from looking at how marketplaces have been moving over the past year. And everyone was building some sort of a method to try to beat open sea.
But realistically, the funny part about all of this, I think the dramatic irony of it all is that every single place or person when you talk to these founders and they talk about why they got into Web 3, they talk about abundance, they talk about value, they talk about distribution of value and creating a fair ecosystem.
and yet their actions when they are building these marketplaces are anything but what they have talked about the reasons why they got into the space. And I find that to be incredibly ironic. So for me, like the proof has always been on chain, which is the other dramatic ironic part of this too, is that you can see these actors
and you can do both of them. One is, you know, we can continue to bully marketplaces and people
and positions of power and influence and value to give us money, which I think we should just always continue to do regardless. But then the other thing is exactly what Kun was saying, "Yo, fuck that shit and build for us, support us." And it's harder to do when obviously you don't have the same money
power, you know, resources available. But I think one of the greatest aspects that I've always, every time my Black History Month comes around, I'm always reminded of our ingenuity, the making of something out of nothing. And it's not something that, honestly, we should, you know, it's something that
I champion because we've just had to do it for so long, but I want to build a reality where we don't have to anymore, but knowing we come from a scrappy and genius people, right, like that will do the work to get things done no matter how hard it is, is something that continues
It really drives me in this space and I think drives many of us in this space to continue pushing even when things look bleak. So yeah, that's my two cents on it. Awesome. So UGX I wanted to introduce yourself. Welcome. I have seen you from 40 acres. But welcome.
Yo, what's good? I'm UGX artist musician entrepreneur I'm also like an electrical engineering student, but I also have 40 boys. You can see very big on that I just want to start with a big fuck you to these corporations the biggest of fuck using these corporations
in Google, I mean in Google, in 2015, Google actually announced that they're going to be dedicated 150 million towards increasing diversity at their company. Last time I checked, I think they're Latino, demographic, and this
This is employees and contractors was about 5.9%. This will last year. Black contractors are about 30.7%. We're looking at the biggest company in the world. Those employees, quote-on-quote, "You think those employees are sitting at decision desk?" No, they're putting in all the retail workers.
I say big fuck you to these corporations because they do not serve us. Not only that, we understand where value actually derives from. Value does not derives. These phones that we have in our hands, Apple being worth extra amount of trillion, but we know that we drive the culture and everything that they put in our face.
what do you think that we are actually worth? So it continuously trying to get people to, you know, offer us their scraps at their table is not going to work. How long does it take for you to actually hire a board member that actually comes from a community of people that look like me? This whole damn
I'm a black history on Twitter all I'm seeing is my fucking black people acting a fool on my on my T.L. And I'm like I know at least 100 black people doing some crazy shit right now that should be amplified who is pushing these these agendas why are we unionizing and galvanizing on these apps of people that
that do not serve us, do not intend to serve us and what they intend to do is extract from us. We have to understand that the road is big. The road is too big. We Africa. I see people in you go to Nigeria, our politicians are black, our people are black. Everything is black.
these people do not intend to serve you, so surround yourself with people that want to serve you.
Thanks for coming up. Um, Stefan go ahead and then we'll get to the first question about the topic today.
I appreciate this so much. Also, you don't even have to go as far as Nigeria, like go south a bit. We're all black now here. But not to channel call me Turey too much, but the end of it, I answer to all of this is organized. Like we have to be organizing all the time throughout.
And this is why we're here. So end childhood you're doing this. Andrew, so I see you down there, shout out to you too. But also at the same time, like everyone out here is involved in organizing and has been involved in organizing in different forms. So really the key is one for us to continue to do that and two for us to continue to do that.
to also empower each other while we are doing this stuff and just recognize each other's doing, figure out how we can link all these different organizations and movements at the end of the day and then we just build together. It's hard organizing is the hardest thing in the world but it's important because just like everyone said already,
and give us anything we have to come in and build ourselves. Absolutely. So all of my questions that I'm going to be asking today come from like, you know, the US Black experience. So if you're outside of that, feel free to bring your perspective as well. But that's just I just like to speak into existence like where I'm coming from. So like,
And I think when I thought about this space, what I really wanted was to, you know, I wanted to start with, okay, what's the fuck are you at the top of the thing in Web 3, around Black History Month, around Blackness in technology. But I wanted us to move to how we are really a contemporary example of the ethos
of Web 3. Not only contemporary, but also historically. My first question is about the reality, and I want to hear Yarl's reflection on this reality, that our movement as Black people, I'm speaking again, as Black people in the US, the movement that I kind of come from, had to be
centralized had to be autonomous and had to be organizations to fight for voting rights to fight for existing in spaces to fight for you know like you're good on the list of things that you know our answers to so fought for in our you know not even answers as contemporaries you know grandparents parents right um they had to
Operate in a way that is very akin to the ethos that we are part of in web 3 so I feel like at home, right? I don't know the technology makes has a resonance for me that feels akin to a family cookout Right, so I want to hear you guys talk about that and you know
share your thoughts about how you see the technology as being very congruent with the quote-unquote black experience. Yeah, Quingorhead, start us off. Madam, yes, yes, yes, I wrote some notes down because I just felt it and yes, we hear it's very kindry. It's very kindry for us. It's giving kickback.
is giving Bobby Q was giving Crawfish ball all of that. So the kinship within alignment or like the familiarity with where through with us is African Americans and things of that nature. I feel this shows our togetherness beyond boundaries. We've always been a boundless people breaking confines.
and the community is in the middle of the world.
Children together in things that end nature we bind away Algeria Ethiopia gone and stuff after so I said at the state I agree is very familiar for us because we've been doing this Our 40 go ahead Oh man, that's the follow-up that dope stream of consciousness. We just got
But for me, especially coming from a community organizing background and being forced to study the movement where I was, you know, just coming up under folks like Emma's Brown, leaders in the NAACP, Black Liberation leaders, and seeing how it was literally
like you pointed out, and a matter of life and death. And that's what kind of help that light bulb turn on in my head whenever I say, "Oh, Web 3 is really the way in which we liberate our people." That's why we've coined the phrase liberation technology.
because after four centuries of subversive and oppressive regimes that have taken away all type of self-sovereignty from us, now we have this decentralized, distributed ledger of transactions that's transparent to all. Like, it's a reason why
are people are gravitating towards that by design we're tired of being allowed to we're tired of systems that we we have to opt into effectively killing us like I'm tired of coming on like just today first 10 minutes of scrolling on Twitter I saw a
young 10 year old black boy get a gun pointed at him. And it's like when we're coming up in systems like that, I'm a lean into what my my Caribbean black shame brothers say, I'm going full on climate to rate because like we're really at that point to where this ain't just no side
Escapae for us right now we in Israel specifically because we have to be because we know if not for us then who like? There's really one of no type vibes so What this technology does is it only aids us in these efforts and that's why it's so important that we
we stand squarely and you see us talk about it at 40 all the time at the intersection of culture, crypto and community because the values that we're recreating as Osman Sekbenne said we are in search of a new culture one that really impluses
to elevate from within and not look to the external systems that are placed on top of us. And I believe that the blockchain serves as the best perimeter for us to do so. Absolutely. I get to use your expertise. I just wanted to comment that, you know, I think a lot about just how, I think about the Black Church a lot.
And how the black church was the US state allowance as a center for organizing. But again, we saw the black church being experiencing terrorist attacks throughout the civil rights movement and even before that, and even in more contemporary times as we know. So like the centers of black organizing
which most of the silver team came out of this kind of black church monoliths in a lot of ways. Like that was, but you have these little notes across the US, right? That fought for liberation in their local communities and then as a collective, right? Is that not a doubt? Right? So it's like,
It's like when we have these words, these words are a modern description that are losing context. And for me, what happens when you can't bomb the church anymore? What happens when you can't go to one location and tear it all down? That is a dow.
In my opinion, our correlated one-to-one with the black experience. I had to, as a black person group in white spaces, I had to find 50 shades of brown, right? I had to find places, I had to find spaces, I had to create them, I had to birth them, right? In order to survive.
Web 3 feels like the thing I needed when I was a kid, right? It was the thing I needed, the technology I needed to not have to just be this one thing in this one place isolated, right? There was a collective, a spirit that was like larger than just me. But we're gonna give you jacks then we're gonna go with Tasha.
Yeah, I just wanted to go quick. How we talk about we gravitate towards it. It's because that is literally who we are within our own spiritual makeups. You know, with slavery, we always, you know, tend to focus on
the physical enslavement, but in my opinion, what was the most detrimental was the psychological enslavement, not being able to trust your neighbor, not being able to believe that, you know, the person who's literally across the street from you can help you build everything in which
it is that you guys have been looking for. Also us just being very, very aware that like we have tried this before, like we said the civil rights movement, things like Tulsa, Black Wall Street, and we've seen what happens sometimes.
times. So you know, just really think, why is that being done and how powerful are you really? If you really just dig deep and get back to your roots, how powerful can we be really? Let us know. I think that we find ourselves
in these spaces because in our core we're all seeking autonomy and sovereignty constantly. I think our hearts are in that because our ancestors and because of everything our ancestors have endured the good and the bad. I think
even prior to slavery, we had so much in us and there was always a revolution in us and evolution in us and it shows up in the culture, it shows up in the technology that we even had back then and this is in direct correlation to that. I
also really believe that even the beginnings of hip hop is a direct correlation to what is happening right now in Web 3, how we utilize whatever tooling that we had in the hoods during the crack era. And I mean, if you really want to, you know, reach a little bit
this is the crack era in some cases for a lot of folks right now and we're utilizing whatever technologies we had to you know transform the means of living. I think that is in direct correlation. I also I think about growing up in Brooklyn and things like Sousou
these form, you know, formulations to get people paid. I don't know if you know what Susu is, but Susu is, you know, in black neighborhoods and in Caribbean neighborhoods, people would take bread and put it in a pot. And then that bread would be, you know, circulated throughout the community.
community. So maybe one month, madam will get the bread and then they would pay it back and then the next month somebody else would get the bread and they would pay it back and that's how we survived, you know. And so the space is in direct correlation with that necessity. I think, you know what?
I think at this point, I hope at this point, we're all moving into the mindset that we are supposed to survive and that we now deserve thriving, right? And this space calls for that energy of us to believe in our thriving, believe in the opportunities for us to go above and beyond.
come with combat though, it does come with the fight of the mind, it does come with the psychological fight of the mind and this idea that I am deserving constantly is the affirmation that we have to sit in and remind ourselves personally and to the communities that we're in. And I think at the roots, a lot of the
complications we're witnessing is because of lack of listening to each others and going back and listening to others before we listen to ourselves. And there's these ideas that, oh, this is the way it's always going to be. This is the way the world has worked. This is the way capitalism works. And I wish that we
We could move into a different ideology of what existence looks like and could be for all of us, especially BIPOC folk. And that's why I think we're in alignment with this work because we see the evolution in it, we see the revolution in it and we're going to walk in that. - You pervert. - That was our good.
Now I think everyone is pretty much on point with what I see as what's pulling us towards this space I think. Historically our communities and communities like ours have moved in groups and we've been able to find ways to make things work.
And now we're just using different tools to make it happen. Like people always ask me what's the best part of being black and working in tech and I always tell them it's just like the same thing that's great about being black in general. We can take nothing and make it everything and I think the exact same thing as
happening here. And the other thing that I want to point out is that I feel like this movement has opened the eyes of other non-black communities especially to see like there is benefits in moving together as a unit.
people are now saying this has never been done before. You've never seen people pull money together to support each other. I'm like, have y'all never been broke? And if you were broke, were you really alone? Like the poorest I've been is the most connected I've been with my community. And the more money I make is the more money I'm ready to
poor into the same community that poured into me. And I think we're able to, I'm going to say this, there's always been ways to track where money goes, right? Now people who opt in to use in the blockchain, it's just we can click to see it and less clicks than before.
for. And so we're able to see where the money is going, how to support each other and like what our impact is. And I think we'll start to see like the benefits and power of working together because in previous times all of that has been hidden by design. And I
I think the transparency, the community, and the fact that a lot of these other companies and projects are taking our culture anyway, we see the need to be here, stay here, but most importantly be loud about our presence. So I said a whole lot, but yeah. - Oh my God, this is gonna be life. 40 go ahead.
Yeah, I want to make this one quick, but I just think it's so interesting
y'all picking up what I'm putting down whenever I preface some shit by that. But it is very interesting how you know crypto kind of gets his roots and it's primary backing from this like libertarian wet dream when you peel just a half a layer back
Do a smidge of due diligence and conversations like these just go to show how What what what do we be saying clearly not new to this we true to this like we've been doing this like this isn't nothing new, but you know, we we don't have a couple dozen
Christopher Columbus is a Web 3. Come through talk about the market. And LinkedIn to NABBIT a community and raise a multi-million dollar funds. Meanwhile, my name is at Pooful Vibes. I hear bootstrap boys getting it out the mud. So it's like how are we really
not just in the conversations but in the actions and how are we really like leaning into this ancestral and indigenous like knowledge that we all have within us and within our native communities and how are we transcribing that on a chain so that's just how I like to
with that flag. I was like, you're too intensive about this. You're hiding something good. What are you hiding, Bestie? Get out the way. Real quick, real quick. Please, real quick. We must overthrow the network state. Shout out to my guys at the blockchain
socialists for opening my eyes and also on the flip side shout out to my afro-pollident family because I know that they push that proponent heavy but like you say it if you really lean into like where the motivation is coming from for a lot of this shit come on now but largely we see
right though you buddy we see right through that but yeah let me not shake too many tables I'm trying to make a mess and I want to say that actually um bread chain um one of the creations of the blockchain socials will actually be using wonder they're already on platform so you love to see it but actually go ahead
Yeah, I think shake the fuck out of the table at this point because they need to fucking see the mess that they've made. We didn't make the mess. They made the mess. You know what I mean? I think we need to be on that time right now. I get asked a lot in my interviews like
How how did I utilize not how did I utilize like what made me utilize this tool and how is this tool like How was web 3 the thing you know what it is they on some like I Hate the word your web 3
Queen and she's like that. I know a lot of y'all call me that. I appreciate it. I'll take it, but I don't care for it because I'm not a fucking Web 3 queen. I'm a queen that utilizes fucking tools and all the tools that is going to speak to my independence and speak to my autonomy.
me over and over again. And that's what we constantly do. We constantly find tools and shape them shits to what we have to use to thrive in this world. And I watched, you know, I hate to use Hove as the only example sometimes, but I'm from Brooklyn. So Hove is always the example for me.
But hope, you know, utilize the technologies that he had in his time to surface himself to the person he is now, right? And that's literally what we do all the time. It's not about Web 3 alone. It's about everything. It's about all the things that
We could utilize to make this this thing work for us to our greatest advantage and that's why when this is doesn't work or this shit is acting up or y'all want to be stupid and not support black communities, etc. I'm like, word, let's take our money and put it somewhere that they're going to, you know, let's show up somewhere
else that has been showing up for us. And that's why, you know, I was a huge advocate for Zora and I'm still am obviously because I work there. But like, I'm a huge advocate for so much of Zora because they did shake the table and they said, like, all right, we're gonna try our best to show up for y'all because y'all show in up for us, you know? And
I would watch like all of my homies be like, "Now fuck that, let's use OpenC and now look at where OpenC is." You know what I'm saying? Like, that's the joke to me. I'm like, "Damn, y'all like we could have been running up a platform that already is about what we do and now OpenC talking about no more royalties."
for y'all and everybody's upset. And I'm like, oh, you can't be upset because there was a tool out here screaming and shouting and waving their hands. And now now that tool is trying to figure out how to sustain itself in this new world, right? In this bear market situation. And people
People are like, oh, but open see and I'm like, no, there's so much more we could be utilizing y'all. Like there's so many tools out here. And that's what this shit is about. It's not about Web 3, Web 2, Web 1. It's about all of it and utilizing everything we got to thrive in this space of living and existing in this world right now.
now. Oh my god. Yeah, I just want to interject and say that like, you know, that's why I joined Wonder, right? Because when I talked to Andross and Adam who were into the co-founders, I felt in them that they were about it in some way, shape or form that was kind of more like an intuitive feeling, but I felt like
in some way they wanted wonder to be a thing for people right to be a thing that people can use to further their goals and their dreams and their hopes and their prayers right through action and through work and That is why I'm here because I'm trying to get people hit on what's going on
And like, you know, people can listen to your nod. It's up to them. But, you know, I'm here trying to explain people the tools that are there for them, right? The tools in Web 3 that can catalyze something meaningful, something different, something unique. But I'm not going to talk anymore because you guys are spitting. So, seriously, go ahead.
So I just I just need to let Wollatosh and San Res for a minute because this this is that's one of the
That's one of, when we talk about support, then we gotta really mean what we say and say what we mean. And we gotta put
Our ship behind it. We got to stand in that truth and I don't think a lot of people were willing to support
something that was available even when all the evidence pointed to that support being beneficial for that community or for our communities. And so it's like
You know, folks talk about, well, why don't we build this and why don't we do this and why don't we do that? And it's like, well, yes, true.
And also when you already have someone that has the door wide open and is only asking you to merely walk through it, then at some point you gotta be like, "Alright, let me at least put a foot in and just see what it's
about rather than straying away from it and being like, "No, I'm gonna do something else." But that wasn't what I was really trying to say. Here's my thing. Because I think a lot of this kind of really talks in relation to the royalty discussion that's also been happening. Is that you've got
in the context of OpenC. OpenC looks rare, X2, Y2, all of these exchanges, all these marketplaces that we're trying to build for power traders.
are fighting for 500 wallets.
500 wallets exist in this space right now that are doing 80 to 90% of all trading activity on blur on fucking looks rare on like on all of it only 500 people
And the impetus for the space to move in favor of only 500 wallets, when there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions at this point, millions of people that use
went through technology on a daily basis. The aspect of building in this space and building where value can be redistributed amongst the many is so possible and yet
almost everyone is building an accordance and in field to 500 while it just doesn't really make sense to me whatsoever. And it's very unfortunate that
A space that touts that it's for the people is showing us that it's anything but so really it really is Up to us as incumbent people in this space to to really Shot like do away from that
money is going to be, I'm trying to find the right way to phrase it. Actually, you know what? I'm not even, I'm just going to drop it where it is. That's really the main thing is that there's a problem between 500 wallets that are
that's holding NFTs and royalties and value distribution hostage and the few people that are building the open seas, the blurs and what have you that are only working in cahoots with those wallets and not for anyone else. And that's a problem.
And for us, thankfully there are tools that exist like Zora for instance where we can build our own economies or our ecosystem without having to even deal with those other folks. If those people want to play and trade your work then you have the ability to set the terms in which how they are going to play with your shit.
And they're going to learn one way or the other that we're not people where our work is to be trifled with our work is to be exchanged to give you value and I'm not getting anything for it. We have we can draw that line in the sand and we have to do that. I don't care how many
fucking fake ass normie people who wear board apes on a daily basis tell you that you're not gonna make money and that royalty is in a business that you don't deserve to get paid for your work or that you have to continually admit work because everybody is in a demand economy. I feel like that's bullshit. As already
you have an opportunity to dictate exactly the type of way you want your work to be propagated in the space and to be respected and to be engaged with. And so you have to be very, very willing to fight for that. And if you don't, then your work is
As valuable as these 500 wallets are playing with everybody else who shit. So that's just something to keep them all. Before we go to Valerie, I just want to add a breadcrumb and then we have one more question before we wrap up because like the time is flying because of course you guys are all iconic. But are we surprised that agents of white supremacy
I'm not surprised. I am not surprised that agents of white supremacy are continuing the project
is turning, it's not surprising to me that us, those of us here now, with marginalized identities, with underrepresented identities, are thinking the way we're thinking in opposition to the same agents we've always been, and subsequently and contemporarily in opposition to, but let's go to Valerie.
Yeah, so I think what we're all talking about is the fact that Web 3, whatever or whatever you want to call this space, likes to use words that they don't know the definition of as a way to market themselves and pull in people like decentralized. I've been kicked out of a lot of spaces when I ask people to define what decentralized
is. And I find that very funny because you use it all the time but you can't tell me what it means or give me an example of it. Wild. But that's what Web 3 is based off of, right? But I think that's our biggest issue. We're moving in this, some people move in this space in a way as if it's not the
same world we all live in. As a PFP picture is going to magically make you not black and just because we're using voice people won't know what identity you are by the way that we speak by our accents all of these things that make us us and people also say that we're in this decentralized space but
Instead of finding things that suit them, we could build a million tool sets and each business could be thriving because each tool set will fit individual needs and money could run in our community because we want it to run. But it doesn't because we're still working in this world of isms and it's
reflected in the tools that we use in the communities that we're navigating in. And a lot of the space is run by influencers who pockets are lying to say that they like one thing or the other or it's run by companies, startups and BCs who are
want to make sure that they have a ownership over a certain market. And so in order for us to be able to make that shift, even if it's just smaller communities that are doing it, it doesn't have to be mass adoption. It could just be people who want to organize.
For the same mission or something similar, have some way to come together and organize to say like, this is what we're going to use. This is how we're going to use it because this platform supports what we're doing. And just stick to that. We don't have to follow where the masses are if we can organize.
Now, I want to point out the fact that it is hard to organize. If it was easy, we would have done it by now and we wouldn't be having a Twitter space about Black History Month and talking about trauma and what's not working. We would be in a space talking about what is and focusing on our joy.
But because we can't get to that spot, we have to find ways to support ourselves. Like marginalized communities are always going to be at the back end of things. So in order for us to secure our back, sometimes we do have to go where the masses are. So I think the way that we back away
from that is to build community that can have our own ecosystem of money resources tools access to what we actually need. And I think a lot of us are doing that like 40 acres of tech by choice like there are different hubs that are providing those
resources, but we tend to lack money. So like we just have to figure out like that part of it and once we do, I think we'll be fine. So I'm going to go to Stefan and then I'm going to ask the last question before we have to wrap up and I'll go to UGX first on that last question. Go ahead Stefan.
I'll be quick to, but I mean everything you're all saying is so 1.9% right and this is the dilemma right is that Capital is a centralizing force so that it doesn't matter how decentralized the technology is the tech could be as decentralized as possible but as long as it's built on top
of accumulating capital and focusing on capital and whether it's the marketplaces or communities or whatever, we will always get back to these 500-allets. We'll always get back to these inflowings, these people who the money just comes to basically. So that's the hardest part about this because the movements get co-opted.
the time every single day. So it's really just about making sure that our values are on point and we stay on top of what we're trying to build. But it's really, really hard and every day is a struggle.
the struggle of the turtle. That's just what it is. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. So the last question I want to ask, what are EGX first on this one, is how do we, as Black people in Web 3, continue the legacy of
Black organizing. How do we operate as agents of that throughout this low interest cycle as well as to call it and through the next high interest cycle? How do we become what we're meant to be in my eyes? So let's go to UGX first and we'll go around and this will be the last question before we wrap.
Yeah, allowing people who operated the system in which we intend to break and then like looking at them to be our saviors, not gonna work.
It's literally just where we've been saying like not looking at any of our people whenever we get in these spaces and building and being like, well, because this company doesn't appoint you this type of value, I'm not going to give you this value, understanding that everybody
in this space has value that is untapped and understanding that when it comes down to like just money, like money is derived from value. If we build the gates in which we store our value instead of letting them be these value jars,
and just continuously continue to build with each other without with the pure intention of like really making it. I mean, making these people understand that, you know, we, my community is not for sale. I don't want to give you 30% of my token allocation because I understand that means that you are
30% of my community. You're not going to trick me. It doesn't make sense. So just really understanding and keeping our sovereignty and really pushing together, standing behind what another, like the way that we were supposed to be when we were in tribes, when we were, you know, that's the way it's supposed to be, especially
Fire is divine. It's on time and a line. So with that being said, the piggyback off with Google just said and with a step and say to about keep our values in check, I say we got to be upfront honest and pure. We got to put our reservations about each
other to the side. We got to put our ego to the side, genuinely commune, collab and work together. And then for all newcomers, we got to be an environment that's a safeguard, security protect because historically, you know, over and over again, we've been duped out of our finances for centuries. So like Google
about the stink of shit you don't want to bring his niggas on the stink of shit that's funny like I said cuz I wrote my notes I wrote my notes cuz I'm that type of nigga I smoke so I'll be forgetting so my notes be aligned with it I don't even know the questions but with that being said yeah we got it we should want to prevent newcomers from coming in onboard and then having a money being fucked with and things that
nature. So I feel like that's how we continue to organization of a millenated communities regardless of the space. Awesome 40 years. Somebody had to break that brand new sound board in and y'all waited too long. I was
I don't want to scare people because if someone's talking and then I hit the wrong one is like a boo Exactly, yeah, not definitely not fucked up a few times and press the wrong button gave me because that uh that wrong answer buzzer sound when it was bitten some fire so so yeah, you know uh
UGX and Quinn for show like stole my lighten that anthunder But I love it, you know, so what I like to do is I like to hit my niggas with quotes what what the? Delegant Marcus Garvey said is that those that have no knowledge of their history
or like a tree planted with no roots. And I think that if we want to really be good stewards of the legacies that our ancestors love behind, we got to get in the jail when we got to really practice and build that pedagogy that Paula Friere talks about of over
comment why we struggle because I think it was Stephanie I just pointed it out and to let Davis set it years ago freedom is a constant struggle like it's something that we ain't never gonna just be able to really truly kick our feet up and act like shit is sweet and I think that
For example, with 40 acres just this week, we'll be hopping on a zone called with Dr. Matulu Shakur, with him recently being released from a 40 year bid, having, I think, what, stage three prostate cancer and a very limited life expectancy. We need to connect with our
ancestors and elders that have stood at the forefront of these movements and and really not just give them their flowers but say hey why I got you here you mind if I take some notes what were some of the struggles that you overcame what what message would you like to leave behind how can we make you immortal
on chain like these are things that I'm actively thinking about in ways in which we can connect with our historical figures because everybody's harmonious earth is limited everybody got a date that they go check out and far too often we were just speaking on this in the women x met a special link up yesterday do
our stories by way of you know, Quang gave y'all a very good example of the shit that just happened last year. Imagine all of the books that they burned. Imagine all of the languages that they hunted people down to make sure would never see the light of day.
We need to really get on our shit and really move with that type of tenacity and fire within us because this isn't a game of, oh well we'll just run our race and they'll run theirs.
Look we know how that ended up we can learn parents generation and James Baldwin is my final quote James Baldwin said how much of my time do you want to waste you've wasted my grandparents time you've wasted my parents time
And I'll be damned if you waste my time. So that's why we can't we can't afford to not go big and go all out and Really make this block change should ours. So with that, I'm gonna rest my mic Thank you so much, so we're gonna go to
I do have to run y'all. I just wanted to say thank you so much for this beautiful space. This was so necessary. Really filled my heart right now. I needed this like seriously. So thank you again y'all and massive
love. If y'all need me for anything, highlight me, I know my deems is there. And Zorotopia is still running. So if you guys know any sponsors, we're looking for support right now too for the event for NHTLA. So highlight me, massive love, peace y'all, take care. Thank you for coming.
And then Cersei let's go to you and then Valerie will and with you and then I'll say something and then we'll wrap the space go ahead Cersei Word I just want to say this space has been amazing What folks have been leading are been basically taking
is attribution and understanding history is part and parcel to planning what we can do in the future and how we build sort of like that present, how we build in the present. It's so funny like
When I think about what folks have been doing over the past five years, we think about how NFTs have manifested from their inception back in 2013-14 and just it being an experiment to it turning into something a little bit more dynamic in
2017 with the first like ERC 721 standard and then moving into the groups like power data and some of the initial artists that were fighting for royalties to exist on chain right 2018 2019 was an open letter as well to make that to make royalties officially at 10% and
And then, pandemic hits and a massive wave of people get into the space 2020 and everyone saying that the first to do something when we've had 2-3 years, if not 5 years of previous history. And it goes to show that even
in a space that has the proof on shame and completely accessible that the lack of respect of those that came before is still readily apparent amongst a lot of people. Right? So the the opportunities
that we have to really pay it forward is to put respect on that history and to do what the folks at our 40 are doing. But it's like grabbing these stories and putting them in a record that is as close to a mutable as possible.
so that we have these ancestral records of these great movements always available for us to access and always available for us to point towards so that we know that we don't need to reinvent the wheel. That a lot of the answers have already been laid out for us.
Because they've done that work. And why do we need to redo the same ship they've already dealt with rather than just building on what they've built for us? And I think that that's one of the greatest unlocks that this space can actually afford is that with attribution, which is a daily muscle, just like the
practice to free them, right? This is a thing we have to exercise and fight for and build and work on and perpetuity, right? And so the same practice that we spend with our creativity, with our work, with our mission, we have to do the same
same thing when it comes to paying respect to those that came before us, paying respect to those that have lifted us up, paying respect to the village that we work with that's raised us, that's a part of our new shared communities. And that's the way in which we can honor our people.
to the utmost respect, right? Like build upon what they've done, not rebuilds and do the work that they've already done because now we've, that's wasting time. So. Thank you so much. We're gonna end on Valerie and I'll say my closing thoughts and we'll wrap this iconic space up. Go ahead Valerie.
I loved everything that was said throughout this whole entire thing and that's why I love being in community with all of y'all. We're not just talking about building community. We're actually doing things to help and we've said a lot of different things but I hope what you take from this space is that you're in a space
to take action and your inner space to connect and to continue to be in community. Whether it's with 40 acres, Arzora, Wunderverse or Tech by Choice, just reach out and find some space that you could join, be active in, see what you can help
with ask for things that you need help with because that's a big issue with their community. We don't be asking for help. Them other communities be hitting up their friends and families for small loans or a few million dollars. We may not got the capital to give out loans like that but we can supply the help that is worth more than any of
that. So ask for that help you will receive it. It may take time, but if you're in community, you'll get it. So I hope you take that action to find your space and just stay there. Absolutely. My final thoughts are, you know, I want wonder to be the place where you go to
build your dreams to make transparent, to make it countable, to make clear how you're going to get from point A to point B. That's why I joined this company. That's why I'm here and bring my talent to wonders because I want to see people say, "How can I get this done and who do I need it to get, who do I
I need who I need in here to get it done and here's a task I'm going to sign to them on the Wonderverse Task Board so they know it's what when they got to get it done and who's going to get it done right. We need more of that accountability transparency in Web 3. The other thing I wanted to say and then Dawn is I am fire resistant. One of the
The themes that I really, really care about and I just wrote a piece. I do some writing just in my free time about, you know, Santa Cah and Tulsa and the Library of Alexandria where it's like, you will not burn me again, right? I am fire resistant. So as a black person, I think about that a lot.
not destroy me or my history or my legacy, I will be immutable. And immutability as a black person is something I know that my ancestors, even my parents and my grandparents dreamed of, right, to be immutable, to have their stories safeguarded, to have them be unburnable.
So for me ending the space, I am fire resistant and I want you to be too. And that's why Web3 technology is critical for Black organizing in the future and for the organizing of all of us as people to see hopefully a better world in our lifetime. So thank you all for joining.
This is an iconic space. As I said, check out Wonder if you have it. I'm always a resource. I had a community over at Wonder, jump into a Discord DM me. I'm here as a resource to help you understand the technology, to help you grow in the space, and to hopefully see you in the wonderverse. So thank you so much everybody, and see you next time.
See you next time and see you at E. Denver. We outside. Bye, everyone. Hey, everybody.