My name is Carmen N'Namdi. I'm an educator. I open the Nataki Talibah Schoolhouse of Detroit. Well I always thought it was such a privilege anyway to be African American... I just thought that was a real privilege. That's been my big thing as an educator is the norm... think of yourself as the norm. Let's put it like this... I had a student that came to me one day and she said, “Mrs. N'Namdi, is there a White history month?” And I said, “No, there isn't.” She said, “that's a shame, they've made contributions too.” That's the kind of thinking that I was looking for. Where you think of yourself as the one that is gracious to all and helpful to all because you are your center. You know, Detroit has a soul that I hope people really feel and recognize, because that's the power of it. To me, it's very unique and very progressive in so many ways that I'm not sure that the rest of the country even realizes. I think that the United States has a really difficult time – it's a baby, it's a baby country. I mean, so that's part of it, I guess, really looking at itself. And as a result of that, we don't get to grow nearly as fast as we could. 

Capitalism and Democracy – kind of like struggle with each other. Democracy likes to write and Capitalism likes to make money. And they're married to each other, you know, and it's like an odd kind of couple, because I was thinking about the past... or I was thinking about enslavement... that was capitalism... we need free labor and then democracy knows how to write stuff up to say it should be this way, it should be that way. It's like, yeah, gang. But you're doing two opposite things here, you know? 

So I'd like to see generations that really understand the way the country works and operates. I'd like us to worry about being authentic and being who we say we are. I don't think we give enough time to analyzing ourselves and how we view things and how we do things. It has to start with yourself.