Remembering Nayo

Sista Love

2008-01-28T10:03:00.000-08:00

Sista loved
Sista loved being loved
Sista loved loving loved ones in need of love
Sista loved loving those that love forgot

Sista loved children
Sista had a bunch of children
Sista’s children had children
Sista taught and took care of her children and her children’s children
Sista surrounded herself with children of all ages, ethnicities, abilities, and denominations

Cause Sista loved to listen
Sista loved listening to the words of those seldom heard
Sista would sit and listen, think, respond with wisdom aged and steeped in worldly study and experience, think some more then lay on one the heaviest most simple thoughts that one could ever receive

Cause this sista was gifted
Blessed with the gift of teaching teachers to trust and teach themselves
And Sista gave her gifts willingly and unselfishly
Sista spoke her mind and stood strong on her beliefs
Sista was strong

Sista loved sports
Sista loved sipping a brew and watching the game like one of the guys in the gang
Sista loved talking about the NFL, NBA, NCAA
Sista knew more about sports than most men do
Sista since you’re up there could you say a few words for my Giants next week I know you’ll be watching the Super Bowl

Sista loved life
Sista loved living and giving her all to those in need
Sista was a gift to our communities
Sista loved planting seeds
Sista would nurture seeds and plants give love to those in need of that love nutrition getting her work together for the harvest

Sista will be remembered and her work continued cause

Sista loved
Sista loved being loved
Sista loved loving loved ones in need of love
Sista loved loving those that love forgot
Sista we love you

Written by Carlton Turner in memory of Sista Nayo Watkins

a higher call

2008-01-25T19:41:00.000-08:00

PRESS RELEASE
A HIGHER CALL

In every life there comes a time when we hear the call to a greater purpose; NAYO BARBARA MALCOLM WATKINS answered her call January 20, 2008 at 4:30 pm. A phenomenal woman, devoted mother, and cultural arts activist are just a few of the accolades of NAYO. She was to everyone that knew her so much more.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, she fondly referred to herself as a "Grady baby." She graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. Several years later she and her children moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she became intrigued by the movement of civil rights activists, having been raised in the south and migrating north. She enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh in a new African American Studies program where she implemented the Community Action Program. It was the 60²s and Barbara¹s rebirth as NAYO had begun. With a move to New Orleans in 1968 she approached the turmoil of that era with what became her signature response: life is an expression of Art. NAYO was catapulted into a life of implementing social change through the use of cultural arts. She also accepted Islam as a way of life and with a move to Jackson Mississippi again she found a new task, a greater purpose and realized that by answering the call to serve her people and the universe, her life was no longer her own.

Her work for the next 3 decades established her as author, playright, writer, fundraiser, community activist, social revolutionary, more than anything she in-acted change. People could not be introduced to NAYO and not be struck with a need to do some personal inventory. She published her first work in 1968 entitled I want me a Home. Moving to Jackson Mississippi she was an intrinsic mover and shaker of the Mississippi Cultural Arts Coalition. She served for a period as Directress of Clara Muhammad University in Jackson, Mississippi where her love for children and her passion for education merged to become her mission. After a brief stop at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, where she studied and taught African-American studies, she continued her mission with At The Foot of the Mountain in Minneapolis, Minnesota as the Executive Director. Her network
expands to the Highlander Center, the Hayti Center, Alternate Roots and Southern Regional Development Institute, SpiritHouse NC, among just a few. Her life¹s work allowed her travel to the Motherland to Kenya, Africa and to Central America to Nicaragua. But her most special travels were trips taken with her grandchildren.

Her life's journey would reach a climactic purpose with the death of her youngest son, Nyamekye Akil Malcolm. NAYO's healing from one death gave birth to a new mission that immediately drove her into her destiny as founder of the Mekye Fund and the eventual establishment of the Mekye Center where she served as Executive Director. Still for those of us who call her mother, grandmother, Mama Nayo, sister, aunt, wife, friend, and co-laborer in the movement she was so, so much more. On January 20, 2008 at 4:30 pm NAYO answered purpose of a Higher Call. For those who love her, respect her, supported her, believed in her, and called her Mama NAYO, she now belongs to the ancestors whom have gone before her. More information on Nayo Watkins can be found on the World Wide Web.

In her transition to the next phase of her journey she leaves to celebrate her life those who call her Mama: Donna "Dara" Hubbard of Atlanta, GA; Denise "Dee" Thompson Hogan, wife of Sidney Thompson Hogan of Potomac, Maryland; James "Sanjulu" Brown, husband of Stephanie Brown of Raleigh, NC; Kimberly "Kai Kai" Brown of Jackson, MS; Stacy "Fumi" Brown of Durham, NC; John "YaYah" Watkins, husband of Desiree Watkins of Greensboro, NC; Hollis "Hadi" Watkins, Jr., husband of Asha Watkins of Raleigh, NC; and Nyamekye Akil Malcolm (transitioned). Her life is celebrated by her sisters Ann Juanita Roberts of Washington D.C. and Elizabeth Goolsby of Silver Spring, Maryland. Among her loved ones are her companions through life's journey Charlie Hubbard, James Woodrow Brown, and Hollis Watkins, Sr. Her spirit lives on in her grandchildren, great grandchildren, great, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and in her spiritual daughters and sons.

The viewing will take place Friday evening at 7pm at Burthey Funeral Services 1510 Fayetteville St. Durham, North Carolina, (919) 682-0327, and her life will be remembered Saturday January 26, 2008 at 3pm, at Burthey. A Home-going Celebration with food and offerings of artistic expressions will take place at Goodson Chapel in Duke University's Divinity School, Durham, NC at 5pm. The Nayo Barbara Malcolm Watkins Memorial Fund has been established to support the home-going celebration and her continued work, at the Triangle Community Foundation of Durham. Donations in lieu of flowers are being accepted at www.trianglecf.org.

Nayo's magical insight

2008-01-24T06:18:00.000-08:00

In the spring of 1992, when I was hired as the Community Artists Partnership Project Director, and ROOTS' first African American staff member, Nayo became the on-site project coordinator and was based at the Durham Arts Council. She was awesome in the role, immediately helping to craft a process for attracting and engaging area individual artists and community-based organizations. This was work that our mutual brother/artist/friend Walter Norflett, now deceased, had dreamed would come to Durham. There was now funding to support a range of projects for artists and communities, many Nayo knew personally through her own work in the community. The first year was a tremendous success, and not just for her paid work in Durham, but also for her ongoing dialogue about power and dominance, troubling for me in my role as the token staff member. Nayo had been down this road before and provided excellent navigation for me, as I was completely unfamiliar with the culture of such an organization as ROOTS, which had no peer--then, or now. My previous administrative positions with both the Georgia Council for the Arts and Fulton County Arts Council had not prepared me for the complexity of ROOTS. While I missed a lot of landmines with Nayo's guidance, 15 months of walking the line was enough experimentation and growth for this artist.

We shared a love for the mighty word, the Deep South and a strong belief in working to overcome racism. A particularly big bonus for me was a trip to Brazil, engineered by Nayo, who wrote the grant, and funded through Black Artists South, a loose-knit artist collaborative and the NEA. I returned from Brazil a changed man, empowered, and determined to rise to my higher self, the self that was re-born and redirected toward the Black community when I had a traditional reading by a Yoruba Priestess in Bahia. With a thunderstone in my right pocket, I was forced to move on.

Nayo and I kept our connection through email, and infrequent phone calls, some lasting for hours. She was a thinker (and doer) poised and precise in her conversation; a trait I truly loved and appreciated. And it was only recently, two weeks ago, that I phoned for one of those enlightening and illuminating conversations, and was sadly informed by Hollis Jr. that she was asleep and unable to receive the call. For the time of day, mid-afternoon, this was not good news. I assumed she was preparing to take flight; receiving a greater call, a call to the light she could not in all her brilliance negotiate.

I bid you good-night, Queen/Sista; your jeweled crown awaits you. Strength to the family, and thank-you for sharing her with us.

With love, appreciation and R-E-S-P-E-C-T,

Felton Eaddy, poet, artist, educator
Stone Mountain, GA

article about Nayo on CAN

2008-01-24T06:15:00.000-08:00

Article on the CAN website that I borrowed that fabulous picture from...

http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2003/04/nayo_watkins_cr.php

Nayo Watkins Presente!

2008-01-24T06:10:00.000-08:00

Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:33:01 -0500
Subject: [altroots] Fwd: Nayo Watkins Presente!

Hello folks,
Like many, I have spent the day mourning Nayo's passing, and giving profound, deep thanks to the universe for putting her in my/our path, and for the wisdom she shared and showed. I thought you might like reading these words from an entirely different network of folks who loved Nayo too. I don't know the woman who wrote this, but I like knowing that all over the country, there are invisible lines of connection among so many of us. What might happen if all those lines became visible, shining and vibrating with the possibility of True Change?

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:17:58 EST
Subject: Nayo Watkins Presente!

Dear Kathie:

Please read what a friend wrote who was with Nayo. Could you let others know?

Greetings of Love to All,

This e-mail is to let you know that our dear Sistah/friend/comrade/Warrior Queen Nayo Barbara Watkins (Mama Nayo) transitioned to her next great adventure on yesterday-- January 20 at about 4 p.m in the afternoon. I hope you can excuse me for using this medium of communication; however, it is the best for me at this moment.

Mama Nayo moved on with grace and beauty, particularly in light of her body having lung cancer; she never gasped for breath in the end. She just floated on out of this physical plane. I had the honor of coming to know her through the introduction of Quo Vadis when i came to Durham. I can say that it was/is a divine connection. One day i will tell the story of how through our brief yet profound relationship, she was so instrumental in my coming to the true meaning of trust.

When i become aware of the funeral arrangements i will share them with you. For now continue to lift her and her family in love and peace as they go through this life experience.

Giving Thanks,
Nana Anoa

"Nangare" (Yoruba: spread good)
NANGARE !!! "We are the ones we've been waiting for." (from June Jordan's "Poem for South African Women", ca. 1980)

The children have lost a great champion

2008-01-24T06:09:00.000-08:00

Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:29:19 -0800 (PST)
From: Eleanor Brownfield

I am so deeply grieved to learn from Carolyn of Nayo's passing. The children have lost a great champion. Eleanor

Remembering Nayo

2008-01-24T06:01:00.000-08:00

From: Allen Welty-Green
Subject: [altroots] Remembering Nayo
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:47:40 -0500

Just got the news of Nayo's transition. Probably a bigger loss than
many ROOTers realize. Her's was always the voice of compassion
tempered with common sense. She had a way of seeing through all the subtleties and nuances of a situation and getting right to the heart of the matter. She was a true gift to our organization, as well as being a gentle and spiritual presence, and she will be dearly missed.

AWG

New Orleans remembering Nayo

2008-01-24T05:48:00.000-08:00

Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:46:19 -0500
Subject: [altroots] New Orleans remembering Nayo

A substantial group of ROOTers gathered in New Orleans last night, at the home of Mat Schwarzman and Mimi Zarsky, to remember Nayo. John and Bertha O'Neal, Kathy Randels, Bruce France, Nick Slie, Ashley Sparks, Kathie deNobriga, MK Wegmann and myself offered stories, a few songs, many laughs and some tears to commemorate the passing of a woman who had a profound effect on us all. John told of how Nayo moved to New Orleans unexpectedly, into his apartment, with four children in tow. Nick remembered asking Nayo her age and being dressed down vehemently, and feeling like it was sort of an honor to get that kind of a talking-to. We laughed long and hard about Nayo and Andrea Assaf marching on the ExComm at the first ROOTS meeting at Lutheridge, leading a group of people with post-it notes on their heads ("we marched on ourselves!). Kathy noted that Nayo's passing means that we all have to speak up more, since she's no longer here to do it for us.

Many other remembrances passed around the room, and it was a time to honor other ROOTers who have left us as well Adora Dupree, Kenneth Raphael, Ronnog Seaberg, and Nayo's son, Mekye Malcolm. Much praise was given for the foresight of honoring Nayo on the opening night of the 2007 ROOTS meeting. "Give me the roses while I live," as the old song says.

She was a force, Mama Nayo. I know I'm a better human for having known her.

Peace and much love.
Lisa

article from CAN website

2008-01-22T06:44:00.000-08:00

To get us started, I thought I would provide a link to this article about Nayo on the CAN website, since that's where I absconded with the photograph from:
http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2003/04/nayo_watkins_cr.php

In the spring of 1992, when I was hired as the Community Artists Partnership Project Director, and ROOTS' first African American staff member, Nayo became the on-site project coordinator and was based at the Durham Arts Council. She was awesome in the role, immediately helping to craft a process for attracting and engaging area individual artists and community-based organizations. This was work that our mutual brother/artist/friend Walter Norflett, now deceased, had dreamed would come to Durham. There was now funding to support a range of projects for artists and communities, many Nayo knew personally through her own work in the community. The first year was a tremendous success, and not just for her paid work in Durham, but also for her ongoing dialogue about power and dominance, troubling for me in my role as the token staff member. Nayo had been down this road before and provided excellent navigation for me, as I was completely unfamiliar with the culture of such an organization as ROOTS, which had no peer--then, or now. My previous administrative positions with both the Georgia Council for the Arts and Fulton County Arts Council had not prepared me for the complexity of ROOTS. While I missed a lot of landmines with Nayo's guidance, 15 months of walking the line was enough experimentation and growth for this artist.

We shared a love for the mighty word, the Deep South and a strong belief in working to overcome racism. A particularly big bonus for me was a trip to Brazil, engineered by Nayo, who wrote the grant, and funded through Black Artists South, a loose-knit artist collaborative and the NEA. I returned from Brazil a changed man, empowered, and determined to rise to my higher self, the self that was re-born and redirected toward the Black community when I had a traditional reading by a Yoruba Priestess in Bahia. With a thunderstone in my right pocket, I was forced to move on.

Nayo and I kept our connection through email, and infrequent phone calls, some lasting for hours. She was a thinker (and doer) poised and precise in her conversation; a trait I truly loved and appreciated. And it was only recently, two weeks ago, that I phoned for one of those enlightening and illuminating conversations, and was sadly informed by Hollis Jr. that she was asleep and unable to receive the call. For the time of day, mid-afternoon, this was not good news. I assumed she was preparing to take flight; receiving a greater call, a call to the light she could not in all her brilliance negotiate.

I bid you good-night, Queen/Sista; your jeweled crown awaits you. Strength to the family, and thank-you for sharing her with us.

With love, appreciation and R-E-S-P-E-C-T,

Felton Eaddy, poet, artist, educator
Stone Mountain, GA