We were lucky to catch up with Malcolm Hoover recently and have shared our conversation below.
Malcolm , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
I have the extraordinary fortune to be born into a Black power conscious family and raised in communities that believed in and invested heavily in the children. Having this foundation of being surrounded by love, invested in and believed in gave me a strong foundation. I was told that I was smart, that it was not only okay, but I was expected to be smart. It was expected that I would add whatever my talents and skills to the overall well being ,of the people.
Being on this path of service to the people has been a great voyage for me, I love being a servant of the people and a steward of the land.
Knowing that I am contributing to the well being and future of my people energizes and motivates me beyond my own limitations and reservations. I am in the tradition of Sojourner Truth, Cinque, Mary McCleod Bethune, WEB DuBois, George Washington Carver, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X. I don’t need or want the fame, I want to know that my life is useful and that I will leave this place better than it was when I arrived.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m a GenX baby (1970) so I’ve had some time to do some cool things with my life. I’ve had what’s called a “portfolio career”. I have been a teacher, director, a consultant, a sailor and now I am a farmer. The central theme of my working life has been service to the people. I deeply believe in people and our ability to provide a better world to one another. That can only happen if we work on this every day together. It seems like we are committed to this doom march, a slow plodding to mutual destruction and I know that the world doesn’t have to be this way.
I think the most important thing I do these days is to be a part of the Food Sovereignty movement. Being able to grow your own food, for self and sharing is powerful. I co founded a farm with my wife (www.blackfutures.farm) that contributes in the range of 1200-2000 pounds of food monthly to our community here in Portland. We also teach people to grow their own food, to process and preserve it. We are part of a growing network of land workers, agriculturists, farmers and other people who center Black folks prosperity, happiness and health.
If I have a personal brand, it would probably be something like “community guy”. I really love Black folks! Not enough Black people have ever truly learned the joy of being part of a community that lifts them up and centers them. I have spent most of my life in these places, and when I’m not in those places, I make moves to create them.
I’m currently working on my second book, “Love Poems for war times-a practical handbook for community organizing”. I’m also working on a documentary series about anti racism called “Crenshaw, Shabazz and the Homie Tom” (www.crenshawandshabazz.com, @crenshawshabazz
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I’ve leaned deeply into history, cultural studies and sociology because those toolkits help me to understand how we arrived where we are now, in this historical moment. It’s very important that we stay curious. I’m in my mid fifties now and I’ve seen some very significant changes. I like to share with people that I am the very first person in my family to be born “free”, meaning I was born with the full legal rights of an American citizen. The first in my family even though we were brought here to the Carolinas in the late 1600s. Someone in my family has fought in every war for the United States and we’ve been contributing members of every community we’ve lived in. Knowing how we got to these circumstances, watching the historical ebb and flow of fascism, the erosion of the middle and working class, the racial conflicts, really helps me in my work not just in my local community, but nationally and internationally. It helps me to craft my message and to stay focused on liberation.
I think the best advice I can offer is to be a constant learner, to study multiple sources, read actual books by scholars who did research not just recycle You Tube videos. It’s important that we remain open minded and learn how to sort out propaganda from facts. Reading and annotating are critical tools for me. Asking questions of the text, discussing with other people things I read keep me on top of things and help me to stay informed and sharp.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
The most impactful thing my parents did for me was to give me a very strong knowledge of who I am in historical context; they gave me a knowledge of my family, history and knowledge of my cultural history, not starting in America, but going all the way back to Africa. They also gave me knowledge of the linguistics in the why’s in the wherefore of how Black people thought and communicated. I grew up in houses where the children and adults gathered and had conversations about the philosophies, cultures, history and religions of Black people. I grew up in a community that loved, supported and believed in me. My parents and extended family gave me a childhood that allowed me to be myself; to be curious, to love learning, to be smart and to pursue things like skateboarding, track, Marine Biology, video games and computers. My parents, who grew up under Jim Crow segregation, who saw their friends assassinated, imprisoned, exiled and discredited for fighting for equality, my parents raised me to be free and fearless.
This upbringing then allowed me to conceive of myself as an unlimited person as opposed to a second class or deprived person or poor or some other diminutive. So the most important gift, the most impactful thing my parents did for me was to give me a strong foundation to stand on and very concrete firm things to fill up the foundation and shore me up in life.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.blackfutures.farm
- Instagram: @blackfuturesfarm, @malcolm313
- Facebook: Facebook.com/malcolmhoover
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolmhoover/
Image Credits
Ian Westmoreland, Mirabai Collins
