The name is kind of quirky right?
I considered loads of other names. Some of these names I am using as other parts of the whole project such as Skoolie House Rock (for the HoodHealth/Technical elements), Skoolie High Cheerleaders (for the group of women supporters who have already stepped up named after the classic Black movie Cooley High). In the end though Old Skoolie 1863 is what stuck embodying the mission that I am setting out to do.
The Old Skoolie part of the title refers to Old School Hip Hop which focuses on four elements; djing, emceeing, break-dancing and aerosol art. It is the essence of sound, music and art from the inner city. HoodHealth uses this framework to reintroduce health in urban environments. 1863 alludes to the end of the Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction. During this time was the founding of many of the HBCUS (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), founding of Black towns and a migration West of African-Americans. 1863 encompasses a lot of what I envision my own journey west to be.
Part of this whole journey is to in part travel the road of my fore bearers. They experienced and forged a whole new world once they threw off shackles of slavery. Yet they never went empty handed because they were vessels of creation itself. The current stress across the racial landscape mirrors a lot of what my ancestors went through as they made this journey. It mirrors it because it is an unbroken continuum. What is happening today is just the modern day manifestation of the same system.
Old Skoolie 1863 will literally be a vehicle of change in the physical sense and in the mental sense wherever it touches touches down. It has a mission. It has an agenda. It has the proper tools. It is a determined idea embodied.
Old Skoolie 1863 