ASHA

Asha Grant is an educator, writer, and researcher committed to holistic social justice advocacy work, particularly as it pertains to Black women, femmes, and girls. Asha formally began her journey to telling men no and reclaiming her time at the birthplace of Black Girl Magic - Spelman College - and continued through her Master of Arts program at Columbia University, Teachers College. She is currently living out Season 4 of Insecure in her hometown of Los Angeles, serving as the Director of The Free Black Women’s Library - Los Angeles and a freelance digital media producer.

BUMMAH: Please give a brief introduction of yourself.

ASHA: My name is Asha Grant. I am the director of The Free Black Women's Library here in Los Angeles. I also am a freelance digital media producer for small orgs and companies, so I get to create fun graphics and designs that reflect my values and my community. And if you want to know even more about me, you can reference the show Insecure which I'm pretty sure is based off of my life.

ALMA: My name is Alma Thomas. My grandkids call me Gram. I don’t care to be called Granny or Grandma or anything like that haha. I love Los Angeles. When I talk with my older older sister now, Edie, she reminded me that I had a lot of friends here, which I do. And we'd go on trips and we'd travel. So I thought about what she said and I decided to stay here. And I'm glad I did. I've been here in this house since '75...We used to have a lot of parties here and I still like to have a formal dinner here for Thanksgiving or Christmas. So I just enjoy myself here and my grandkids and my friends. I just like being here.

BUMMAH: Asha, you are originally from LA?

ASHA: I was actually born in Ohio and I moved to LA when I was in the first grade. So I do claim LA to be my hometown just because this is the place of my formative years. And when I first moved back to LA I did move into Gram’s house with my mom. So my mom and I lived here for a few years before we moved to Inglewood, which was like our first home-our first mommy and me home in Los Angeles. So yeah, I've been I've been here my formative years, I left for school, and now I'm back.

BUMMAH: So how did being around Gram influence you?

ASHA: Being around Gram influenced me in a lot of ways. One thing I do remember growing up here in this house was Gram saying there's no such thing as being bored. She didn't like the word bored. If I said, I was bored she would say, “Why don't you, think of something to do, or use your imagination, or read, or write, or draw? There's tons of things that you can do with your time.” And so I think as an only child that really influenced me to pursue my own dreams without needing anyone necessarily but myself, to propel myself forward in that way. So that was a big influence and I still kind of lean on that today.

I think also just seeing Gram as a person who has always prioritized her self-care has influenced me a lot. I can remember growing up and her saying, “I need to take 10 minutes to do my quiet time”, which was her time to meditate alone in her room with her Altar and her things and making that a practice. I had never really seen anyone step away in that way where it wasn't like "Oh, I can't do this anymore". Just like you remove yourself from my situation. She actively sort of removed herself from situations and then came back better and just smoother.

So thinking about the ways that she has implemented that in her daily life every single day: she meditates every single day. She has her quiet time every single day. She takes time to do her exercises. And things like that have sort of illustrated ways that I can incorporate whatever my self-care practices look like in a practical way. It doesn't always have to mean, I don't know, going out shopping or whatever the commercialized self-care movement is, which usually involves treating yourself with food or clothes. It can be something as small as just taking 10 minutes to be quiet. So yeah, that was a big influence for me.

ALMA: Well, I'm glad to hear that because often you don't really know what the children are taking from you, or learning from you. Asha has just been such a fun person in my life. I was so glad her mother would come here almost every summer, and she'd go somewhere else, and then it'd just be Asha and I. I just have enjoyed her so much. She's been a godsend when she came back. When she asked if she could come back here, I mean, of course I wanted her here, but I had no idea she would be as helpful as she was.

BUMMAH: Asha, how did you feel about coming back to LA?

ASHA: So It's funny. I have a very complicated feelings about Los Angeles. LA has always been a place I didn't want to be growing up. I always went to the east coast to visit my family over the summer and I just loved everything about that and I just never felt really truly connected to LA very much like Issa Rae and her like Awkward Black Girl life. I just didn't feel like I represented what people thought LA girls were, or black LA girls were. I felt like I was just sort of like outside of that space. I didn't go to a big popular high school. I wasn't you know a part of a jerking group or whatever. So coming back, it was a little bit anxiety-provoking just because I had spent so much time in Black places, like Atlanta, I lived in Harlem. And LA isn't necessarily a black city by any means. You really have to find black people and find blackness and find pockets of that here. And those things are very important to me. So I was a little nervous, but I knew that if I came back I needed to come back here. This is my favorite place in the world, this house. And so knowing that I could come back here and sort of build a new LA for myself or even find an LA that already existed, but maybe I had never tapped into...Yeah, it's all sort of connected to here, I guess. So, that's really what made that feel possible and feel comfortable for me.

BUMMAH: Do you feel like you've been able to gain that connection back at this point? 

ASHA:Yeah, I think so and I think a lot of it has come from me making the decision to make LA a place that is truly my home. And it's a very active Journey. So, you know, we were saying earlier that things don't usually come upon you in LA. You sort of have to find them. So for an example the Pan-African Film Festival that's happening: If you didn't know already that it was happening, you're not going to necessarily run into it. Like there are no flyers up, I haven't seen any promotion really. You just have to sort of be in the know. So I've made it a point to be in the know. And in being in the know, LA is opening up a lot and showing me that no, we are here. We’re creating things, we're building things, we’re showcasing things. And when I say we I mean black people. So the short answer is yes, I have been able to sort of reconnect and build things for myself that have helped me to find all the things that I love everywhere else here too.

BUMMAH: How do you define home?

ASHA: Hmm. That's a great question. So I think home is a place where you can be unguarded. I think that's when you know your home when you're either in a place or surrounded by people that you don't feel like you need to sort of like build your walls up around. When you don't have any walls, That's when you're really you. Like the realest you is when you're unguarded or disarmed a little bit and vulnerable. So I think in those places or spaces you're home.

Sidney Schenck, Asha’s cousin and Alma’s nephew, was a black gay painter through the 90s. Schenck, originally from New Jersey, studied at Pratt Institute and the Parson’s School of Design before traveling the world and exhibiting work in cities like Paris, Amsterdam, and cities back home in the US. Schenck’s work has afro-futuristic elements, which he called “fantastic art”, as a way to imagine things that are not real. Schenk passed away due to AIDS, but his legacy lives on in the hearts and homes of his loved ones. The stunning painting behind the couch, is a piece by Sidney Schenk, as are many pieces in their home.

BUMMAH: Gram, I understand that you've been painting for years, and dancing as well. What sparked that interest for you?

ALMA: Central State. I went to Central State, which was an all black college, and the instructors there were very strict on you. They cared about you learning and they had very high standards for us. And actually when I graduated, I was the second highest one in our graduating class. Because I had paid my own way to college and I had to keep moving because they expected you to move. And so I learned to dance there and I kept that interest when I left. I'd danced almost my whole life you know. In fact when I was talking to my brother the other day, an old boyfriend called and he remembered that we had gone dancing at a television station when we were in high school. And I probably shouldn't say this but there weren’t that many black kids in our high school or really all through school. However, when we went to the dance on TV, we won, and we were just shocked that we won. I mean not that we weren't good, but it's like the people who were around us didn't know the moves. That was a big thing for us. Winning that dance contest on TV.

ASHA: How did you get into painting?

ALMA : ...The teacher, she started having me paint pictures on her boards. And so she found out that I had some talents in that. So she kept inspiring me even when I went to high school. She said "Don't worry Alma...I'll make sure that you get to have art classes.” And so I did. And I thought I'd be an art teacher, but once I got to LA I came here as a teacher and I loved it. I loved the kids and everything. Eventually when I retired I was at a principal's level and that was a lot of fun. I mean, my staff were great, my custodian, the cafeteria women. They were all so great. We had a good time. So that's why I like being here.

BUMMAH: Not only did you have a passion for the Arts, but so did other family members. You were showing me quite a few paintings from your nephew. Could you describe what that connection is like and what it means for you to have his paintings in your home?

ALMA: Well, he was just naturally attracted to Art. My mother was also an artist. She would draw sometimes for us, so it seemed to run in our family-some sense of Art. When [my nephew] was in high school, I wanted to know why he wasn't going to Art school. So I went [to his school] and the counselor said he's never come to the office to even ask about going anywhere. I said, “Hasn't he been very artistic here? And I said, “He's just not outgoing enough to come here and say I want to go to college. I don't have any money, I want etc.” So I said, “Well I want you to call him here and I want you to counsel him about going away somewhere”. He ended up going to college in New York and then he decided he'd have a better chance in Europe. 

So he went there and he did exhibits. He got to know the people and he had someone help him put his shows together. So he expanded, you know. I was glad he was able to go and do it. I mean, good as he was when he was here, he even came back and did some shows in New Jersey. But he really liked Europe. In fact, we went to visit him and he took us over to Paris and Italy, and we had a wonderful time. But there are several people still in the family who are very artistic. In fact, my son's daughter Kotey is very artistic. So evidently it must run in my family.

BUMMAH: In what space do you feel the most alive and present?

ASHA: One of them is here at this house, obviously. Another place is the Self-Realization Temple that I also went to growing up. I've gone there ever since I was a baby. Gram has taken me there my whole life. In returning to LA I was like, okay, I'm going to start going. Now I have to admit I don't go as much as I should be going, given that sometimes I'd be asleep on Sundays. But it is a place where I've always just felt really comfortable, and seen, and heard. Everyone who's there is really sweet and nice, and it's a place that has just lots of windows and gardens and it's just a very inspiring, tranquil part of LA that's smack dab in the middle of Hollywood-which is the opposite of tranquil and beautiful. So yeah, that's a place that I think has always sort of supported my growth. Spiritually, obviously, because it's a temple, but also just creatively too. It's really inspiring place to journal, to think, to take note of the things that are happening there, and apply them to other mediums.

BUMMAH: What does creativity look like for you Asha, and how do you find your community in that? How does it contribute to your work and your being?

ASHA: So I would say that I'm not as talented artistically, I guess in the same ways as some of my family. So I don't paint, but I do like to say that I have an eye!...I have an eye for design, I have an eye for color, things like that...I think a lot of my creativity comes in the form of words. I enjoy writing, I enjoy reading. I am a classic English major, just like typical English, Humanities, Women’s Studies girl. I write poetry I love doing research and writing about that research. So those things sort of come together in my search for community. In 1. finding like-minded people who enjoy reading and writing the same things that I do; and 2. most recently a passion project, but it's also sort of turned into a community experience for me, which is bringing The Free Black Women's Library to LA. 

The Free Black Women's Library is a pop-up mobile feminist library that features only black women writers. It was started in New York by OlaRonke Akinmowo. I first went to The Free Black Women's Library Pop Up In Harlem and I was floored by the experience of being in conversation, and being in contact generally with people who are all celebrating the words of black women. 

So in starting that it has helped me see how feminist LA can be, how black LA can be, how intersectional LA can be. It has put me in contact with a lot of like-minded people, and in a lot of spaces where people support that kind of work, and are interested in creating new spaces too. So in that way all of these things sort of come together for me here: the words, the writing, the black women, my politics, the sense of community. That's been a really beautiful thing.

On April 27th, 2019 The Free Black Women’s Library - Los Angeles held their launch party at Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen, a black owned coffee shop that Asha frequents herself, setting the tone for the magic that they continue to curate throughout the year.

Brittney Price heard about the event, and reached out to the team to do a beautiful live painting.

BUMMAH: How specifically have you grown the chapter? Did you establish a sort of process or routine in doing so?

ASHA: The thing about starting up a passion project that requires a lot of time and labor, and being black, and woman is that I don't want to necessarily be a part of a legacy of black women who have run themselves into the ground for free. So as much as I love the work (and it is a lot of work) I'm not afraid to ask for help. And that's another sort of community building moment, reaching out to your community and saying who's here that is interested in this and can sort of share the load and contribute their ideas, and grow this even bigger than it could be before.

I've had to set boundaries for myself. Because this is not necessarily like a 9 to 5 project, but I kind of have to make it a 9 to 5 for me. So after a certain time of the day not checking emails, not checking the Instagram constantly, not always responding within like 10 minutes, or whatever I think is what I should do. So just implementing those boundaries. I have a small team of three, that also work with me on the library, that I reached out to on our library Instagram, and they keep me in check, they keep me accountable. We all sort of do that for each other. So that's been really fun, and they've also been like a cool group to just drink wine with and talk. That's been great, too.

The event featured a lineup of poetry artists including Bridgette Bianca, Amoni Thompson-Jones, Camari Carter Hawkins, Nadia Hunter Bey, Shakirah Peterson, Iman N. Milner, Jessica Gallion AKA YELLAWOMAN, and Shonda Buchanan.

BUMMAH: What are your hopes for the future of The Free Black Women's Library - Los Angeles?

ASHA:  It's funny. I dream about the library every single day. I have two, sort of big hopes. Actually three. The first one is more of an attainable hope. So one is that I hope it just actually pops off and it's actually everything that I want it to be, which is a place where people of all different ages, races, and gender identities can come together and share black women's literature.

My second hope/dream is that I would love for it to be an actual permanent library with a home. The feminist library on Wheels has a home in the Women's Center for Creative work, which is a little bit north of here. And I think that we deserve to have a home too. I mean once it grows, I think that if we could have a permanent space where people could come sit and enjoy, and not necessarily have to constantly travel from place to place to receive the kind of community that we're providing. That would be amazing.

My biggest hope/dream for the library is actually to extend it to be a bookstore. I've been to feminist book stores before and the majority of the work that they have there is written by white feminists. Usually they like to feature black feminist literature and black feminist text in the front kind of, but when you actually get into the store we're not really there. They like to have little, you know, Billie Holiday Posters and stuff, but that's pretty much it. So I would love for us to have a small-even if it's the size of a closet-just a place people can go that's specifically for us by us. So those are my 3 steps and maybe all three will happen.

To support The Free Black Women’s Library - Los Angeles, click here.