Root: An Introduction to Climate on Tap

Tune in for the official introduction of the Climate on Tap series — featuring the team leading and guiding Taproot Earth into the future.

Colette Pichon Battle, Mana Tahaie and Anthony Giancatarino share their origin story and what roots them in this work and to each other. Together, their voices and experiences kick off this 7-day experience — and why they choose each other and their commitment to justice, now.

Transcript

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Welcome to Climate On Tap, Rituals of Remembrance and Restoration. My name is Colette Pichon Battle, and I'm honored to be your guide through this seven day virtual experience. We're excited to introduce you to Taproot Earth. Building on 17 years of Southern organizing as the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy. We are boldly stepping out as a new global organization committed to advancing climate justice from the Gulf South to the global South. This is our central question— what will it take to build a world where we can all live, rest, and thrive in the places we love? Throughout the next seven days, we'll connect virtually across communities, states and continents to remember, reckon, reclaim, repair, resource, restore, rise, and rest— collectively. We invite you to tune in daily for this series. We've assembled a lineup of some of our most sacred relationships who will take you on a journey through our past, tell you about our most fundamental values, and invite you to dream with us to build our collective future. Featuring the voices of frontline leaders taking on and advancing solutions to the climate, economic, and political crisis of our times. This seven day journey is grounded in Black liberation, Indigenous leadership, and the honoring of frontline solutions. Beginning with a sacred remembrance of the impacts of Hurricane Katrina and Ida, Climate On Tap will feature conversations and reflections that show the collective power of frontline communities to rise up and meet the moment we are in right now. Remember, restore, and reimagine with us. Each day we'll feature an introduction, and then we'll pass the mic. From there, we invite you to listen in and to tap into an embodied practice or ritual. We hope you tune in while walking in nature or sharing a meal with comrades or loved ones.[laughter] I wonder if this story is going to start off with how I yelled at Anthony. How did we come together? How I yelled at Anthony. I was gonna say that. Well I yell at everyone is the real origin story. Back during Katrina recovery, so many people were coming to just take from us like vultures. You know, we're down. We're on our knees. We're not at our best. And so many people were coming to the region to really just pick our bones it was so sickening. And I just developed this real attitude for anybody who came down. You're going to have to prove to me that you are not here to cause harm. And so I think by the time I'm finally meeting Anthony, I believe the story is I yelled at him. But prior to the yelling at Anthony's story was Maya Wiley really working with I believe it was the Ford Foundation to get some resources down here. She found three of us, myself in Louisiana, a woman in Mississippi, and a woman in Alabama to do an assessment after Katrina as consultants, and to offer that assessment back into the field. And so there was a real trust. She helped us develop our leadership and our strength and our vision in the region. And so there was a lot of trust in the Center for Social Inclusion and Maya Wiley's leadership. But still, a Colette attitude to anybody who was coming anywhere to the region. I don't even remember what I yelled at you for, Anthony. Do you remember? I do. It was right after the BP oil disaster, and I had just started at CSI, I was very excited. I was an eager, young, post-grad school kid coming in. And I was working with my colleague, and we were doing a report around five years after Katrina and the BP oil disaster hit. And so the whole report was like, Katrina interrupted, and it was like a deep policy and law analysis. And I remember going to my colleague, I was like,"We should have voices from the community." It's big no-no. At the time, I didn't know what I was doing. And so I was like,"We should have voices from the community," after the report was done, which was a major mistake. And so we called you up asking for a quote, and you laid in to us, as you should, around,"You all come and do a report about our community without us having a say of how the report looks like, what we need research on?" And at the end of the line, you were like,"If it was not for Maya, I would hang up the phone right now. But because you're with Maya, I'm going to give you this, and never do that again." And I thought I was going to lose my job because I was like,"Oh my God, I totally stepped in it, like I stepped in it." And I was like,"Maya is getting so mad." And, you know, Maya corrected us as she does in her very firm and also loving way. And then a couple of months later, it was in person that we met, and that was around health care training work. And I had already learned quite quickly how to start showing up in space. And after that, you offered you know, it was like"If you're going to show up after you learn, and be committed, then you're good." So, it's been a learning journey, but that was my first experience with Colette. And I was like,"Oh, man." It was a great learning experience. My general attitude is people are going to mess up. If they can take the correction and come back, then maybe they're worth dealing with, right? I mean, how many people can really come work in a Southern Black community and not take correction? What do you think is about to happen to you? You're not going to make it very long. What a great metaphor for a just transition.[laughter] So true. You're gonna screw up, but how do you recover? Yeah, right. How do you recover? I just want to say, I didn't have to yell at Mana ever cause Mana's perfect.[laughter] I'm still waiting, I feel like there's a gigantic OSHA-style countdown of like when I get yelled at by Colette. I feel like it's a rite of passage that I haven't yet experienced, so... I remember our board member Kate Barron-Alicante moving to Oklahoma. She moved to Oklahoma from New Jersey. And she was just looking for like-minded, progressive, like-minded individuals in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And she said,"I found this woman, her name is Mana and we're going to go have coffee." I was like,"You're just finding people, random people, and go and have coffee?" And she sure did. That's her superpower.[laughter] And I just remember her talking so highly about you Mana, she doesn't do that. And she was like,"No, this woman is the real deal." And I was like,"Really? In Tulsa, Oklahoma?" Do you remember talking with her? Oh my gosh, yes. It was such a transformative moment. Yeah. I was a baby racial justice organizer in Tulsa. And I got, you know, one of these emails that you get that's like,"Hello, here is my resume. I am new, I would like to meet you." You know, very professional and all that. And I was like starstruck immediately because, you know, it's Kate. And so I looked at her documents and I was like,"You wanna talk to me? Yes, come talk to me." So we have a formal business meeting that turned into like a three hour hangout. And I said,"Will you be my new best friend?" And I said,"How did you find me?" And she said,"I went on LinkedIn and I looked at Tulsa and racism."[laughter] I was like,"Well, that's a method." Still to this day the only good thing LinkedIn has ever brought me. And we became fast friends. You know, she literally called me like a week after, and she was like,"Hey, I need someone to... I need a nonreligious officiant for my wedding." I was like, "Oh, yeah, when are you getting married?" She was like,"Oh, like three weeks or so." And I was like,"Okay, here we go." So, yeah, I helped her out with that. We became really good friends. We organized together a bit, and she kept talking about her friend Coco."Oh my gosh. You've got to meet Coco. She's so great. I met her in post-Katrina recovery. She's really amazing." Coco this, Coco that. And one day I was like,"Wait a minute." Because part of my organizing work was around immigrants' rights. And I was like,"Is your friend Coco," your buddy over here,"is that Colette Pichon Battle? Who sends me Black immigrant network emails, and is like convening like, wait a minute."[laughter]"That's your buddy?""That's just like your girlfriend over here?" And she's like,"Oh, yeah!" And I was starstruck again. And, yeah. So I distinctly remember that day. I remember hearing more of her friend Coco. And I remember the first time you came to visit Tulsa. I remember hanging out in her living room, and you called your mom and spoke French to your mom. And I was like,"Layers. There are layers."[laughter] And listen, in that phone call to my mom, she was correcting like every word, by the way. My mom was a teacher for 47 years. Just making it works. Moms are going to Mom. And then you showed up for me. I fell in love with you in Atlanta. We were doing a big conference. And I remember the conference in Atlanta, I remember thinking,"I need some help, but nobody can really keep up with me." And I remember that conference in Atlanta. You were like four steps ahead of me at all times. I was so amazed, I was like,"How does she know what's going to happen? She's got it. She is like really together. She understands what we're doing. She's four steps ahead. She's making it happen." I would have fallen on my face if it weren't for you in Atlanta. I fell in love with you then. I did. I didn't have to yell at you, Mana. I just had to hug you and say thank you.[laughter] Hug you and say thank you. Oh my gosh. Your ability to see the board, your ability to anticipate the moves, your ability to just be ready for whatever was astounding to me. Really, it still is. I remember you calling me up a couple of years ago and saying,"Hey, I think this thing that I'm doing is going to get bigger, I think I need some help with doing it." And like pitching me on a job. And I was like,"Wait a minute.""Why are you pitching me?" I was like,"Wait, no Colette, I'll read your junk mail. You don't convince me about anything." After I met you, I was like,"Listen, I've got two people in my head Anthony Giancatarino and Mana Tahaie. These are my team. I have no idea what else is about to happen here, but I know who I want to move with, I know who I want to roll with. Word up. Yeah, and then Anthony and I were, I think, instant I felt like it was really instant. It was. I was really nervous though because Colette was like,"So there's this person, Mana." And I was like,"Okay." And I went on LinkedIn, and I was intimidated. I was like,"Oh, man. Mana's like the real deal." I was like,"I don't know..." But I remember being really nervous on the call. I think we just had a call. I think Colette you email connected us, and then Mana and I just talked. And I felt like I was talking to my sister. I was like,"Oh, this is going to work. This is going to work out really well." So I think it did flow. And so despite being maybe like ten months older, I am a little brother in this situation. As is my role in life. Somehow you're the little brother and the granny. Yes. Well, I would say this, I was born an old soul. And I think I'm just waiting to live into that at some point. You were really explicit, Colette, when we spoke. You were like,"We need to build something brand new. You know, GCCLP has done what it needed to do, it's time for something brand new." And so you had a very clear sense of something that needed to be cultivated and birthed. So what was going through your head? Yeah, I mean, you know, disaster recovery is it's actually a temporal way of speaking about the thing that I was understanding. There is a disaster, you must recover, but that's not the point. There's something bigger happening here. There's not just oil and gas drilling that's accelerating a climate crisis and bringing stronger storms. There is a system of inequity and extraction that has to be transformed globally. And I was really proud of the work post-Katrina, and I am still very proud of that disaster recovery work. It has taught me so much about housing, about immigration, about gender, about health care. It was like a whole other level of degree learning that I got from that process. I am not here to respond to what other people do to us, I'm here to help transform what we all do for ourselves, and how we all live on this planet. And so my vision was put the little bat down, and let's go pick up something much bigger, so that we can make a bigger impact. And my vision has really been, what does this mean for our history? What does this mean for our future? What is this moment we're in, right? Here we are confronted by everything at one time. Confronted by colonization and imperialism. Confronted by the future of energy, the future of technology. This is the moment. We will not get another one like this. And so, I didn't have a clear vision I just had a very clear feeling and direction inside of me. And it is... It was up to me, to find other folks who could just link up and go there with me without even knowing. Sorry y'all. Without even knowing. You know, but you don't know. I learned that from the democracy thing. You know the people have the answer, but you don't know what their answer is gonna be. But that's part of the work and that's part of the journey. And getting free, being free, making our own decisions. That's the ballgame. And now we have to do it with technology bombarding us with algorithm based information. How do you get free when everything you're being fed is based on your Google searches? You know? The challenge is much more difficult now, but I think it is still the same challenge. How do we all get free? And not just me, not just my people. You know, there's a lot of peoples that are not free right now. And I knew if we get Black people free, we could help free a lot of people. Anthony, you left CSI and you were independent for what seven years before you were willing to come back inside? Yeah, I was, I was searching for a place to be my you know they say political home, my home, my work home. I've got a wonderful family at home with three great kids. But I left CSI after being there for over seven years, and the organization went through some transitions and shifts and it was just time for me, you know, as all things are, there's natural life cycles and there's natural times to kind of move on. It was it was my turn to kind of move on. And I was just trying to find for me it was like, I'm always going to bring basketball in, I'm going to bring it in right now. We're in the transition, right? I don't know if we as a people and society are ready to accept that we're in the transition, but we are in the transition. And it's a transition to what is the big question. And in the game of basketball, most games are won or lost in the transition game. How well can you transition back on defense or transition on offense? And I have been looking for who's thinking that way? Who's got it? There's some really good organizations that are kind of hitting pieces of it. Just not one where I felt myself comfortable and whole. Now, I always feel like I've always been a bridge since I've been a kid, have always been in this bridging role my entire life and not one place really felt that way. And I would say about four or five years ago, I just remember being on a call with Colette maybe early into my transition out of CSI and just kind of holding steady at MSC, I was trying to figure things out. MSC being Moving Strategy Center. And just being like,"Colette, whenever you're ready, just let me know." Like that was kinda... I was like, I know I want to work with Colette. No one was resourcing Colette despite all the brilliant work that was happening. And we had a family, so I couldn't work for free. At that point we had one kid and another one on the way. I was like,"I can't really work for free, but just let me know when you're ready." So we always just stayed in touch. We found ourselves in strategy meetings, we've found ourselves in spaces and I was like,"Colette knows we're in a transition, and Colette knows where we need to go. and I'm going to trust that." So I had been just kind of waiting and looking and biding my time and trying different things and did some really good local stuff here in Philly. But also, again, I just felt not at home. And so when Colette called about two years ago, or however long it was now. I was just like,"I'm ready." She's like,"What are you doing?" I'm like,"I'm working for you."[laughter] I was like,"You don't have to convince me." I'm like,"I know you have an idea, and I want to run the court with Colette." So that is kind of... It was a feeling, it was a gut instinct. I find that as someone who suffers from gut issues, it's hard for me to trust my gut. And yet, when I do trust my gut, it's the right move. And this is a gut call. I know. Why would you even trust us? I think the big jump off the cliff here might have been yours cause everyone else just waded into the ocean here. Well, we've already mentioned that Kate was kind of the tie that binds, and she's someone I trust implicitly. She'd been saying for years,"One day.""One day there's going to be something, and all three of us are going to be making trouble together. And we're not sure what that looks like yet." And I was like,"I believe you." I, similarly to Anthony, had left my sort of formal full time work several years before, and I really went through a period of grief. You know, it was like a, I was really mourning because I think had become really disenchanted by the nonprofit industrial complex and being inside institutions that were trying to preserve the status quo while using all of the language of change and it was really demoralizing. And all I wanted was to be somewhere that was unapologetic and making things happen. Not worrying about the implications, not worrying about the optics, not worrying about outcomes, measurements, and all of the arbitrary things that way us down in this field that kind of keep us locked inside the systems that we're trying to blow up to try and liberate. And I can just feel it. I mean, talk about go with your gut. I could just feel that we want to make something real happen here. And I don't even know what it is, I don't even know. I don't have answers for climate change. But what I do know is that liberation does not look like apologizing. It does not look like making small, trying to build a six month program where you count beans at the end of it and and do a fancy little report that says,"This is how many beans we counted." So for me, it was that. It was about wanting to be someplace that was transformative, unapologetic, you know, rooted in liberation. It was really easy. It was actually a very easy call, I had zero anguish.[laughing] It was a good jump. Well, I'm thinking about how we're really putting this liberation into practice. I mean, look at us as Taproot Earth now. Whooh. And I can tell every time we talk to a funder or a new ally, when we tell them what we're doing they like... We made a few people cry because they thought the vision was so beautiful. We made people really nervous because they were like,"Are y'all really going to do that?" And I think what we see taking shape right now are three very committed, courageous folks running the court together. Running toward really big vision. And we're starting to see how hard our local work, our regional work is shifting into national work. How that national work is connecting into global work. These networks that we're used to building from all three of our perspectives, right? Organizationally, really sort of from the policy side, on the ground. We're building these networks that are really turning into they remind me of the brain, you know how the brain there's always like the picture of the like the little flashes in the brain because all of the lines are connected. It looks like the brain when you see the connectors, you're like,"That doesn't look like a straight line." And in fact, it is not, right? That lattice work that sort of like flashes here, flashes there, flashes here feels like we're really building that nerve center that network. We're practicing democracy while democracy is really being challenged. We're really trying to root our work, our people, our vision in a practice of self-governance and democracy and decision making. And we're watching our entire country and other countries really struggle with that. Join the conversation online by using the hashtag#ClimateOnTap across all social media platforms. While we cannot be together in person, we're excited to feel our collective energy, harvesting the world as we build it right now.