Exploring the Past and the Future in Oakland: Season 2, Episode 15 of 'Let's Go Together'
Travel + Leisure
As the saying goes, distance makes the heart grow fonder, and this time away from travel has only deepened our appreciation for global adventures.
Travel is finally making a comeback, and with it bringing celebrations, reunions, and bucket list trips back to the forefront. We are just as excited as of all you to get back out there and see all our favorite places again, along with a few new spots, too. We're celebrating all things travel with new episodes of our podcast, Let's Go Together, which highlights how travel changes the way we see ourselves and the world.
In the first season, our pilot and adventurer host, Kellee Edwards, introduced listeners to diverse globe-trotters who showed us that travelers come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life. From the first Black woman to travel to every country on Earth to a man who trekked to Machu Picchu in a wheelchair, we met some incredible folks. And now, in our second season, we are back to introduce you to new people, new places, and new perspectives.
In our latest episode, Edwards chats with Damien McDuffie, Director of Brand Strategy & Archives at the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation in Oakland, CA. Damien shares his favorite spots in Oakland, his experiences preserving the legacy of the Black Panther Party, as well as his work supporting Black art and culture in Oakland through the use of augmented reality technology.
"One of the things I'm most interested in is connecting Black history to travel as well as making sure that there are ways for us to use our archives and our family history in creative ways," McDuffie shares. "My company is Black Terminus. I'm really focused on creating a platform for augmented reality art in the Black cultural archive. And, I think when it comes to monuments and art concerning Black folks, as well as this kind of reckoning that's been happening over the last few years with taking down monuments. The monument's story is about telling real truthful stories. So it's not just about taking down white supremacist monuments, but it's what kind of stories have been told in its place and I just think that the power of individual stories are something that can really impact young people and elders to activate and understand what kind of power we might have."
Hear more from McDuffie on Let's Go Together, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Player.FM, and everywhere podcasts are available.
