00:00The blackest superstition I have ever heard is step on a crack and break your mama back.
00:05My family, they won't admit it, but they are so superstitious.
00:09No one can put a hat on a bed or a table.
00:13Splitting the pole is like a big thing to me.
00:15I will actually like reverse go backwards and make sure that I unsplit the pole.
00:20Sweeping dust out the front door.
00:22And if you want to get married and you want to have kids, do not let anyone sweep your feet.
00:27Money on the floor means money out the door.
00:29You have to give the bag with money in it.
00:32Otherwise, you won't have money for the year.
00:35Wallets, bags, clutches, if there's no money in it.
00:38I've had people hand, I've had aunts and grandmothers hand me back the wallet.
00:44Like this ain't got no money in it.
00:46You need to fix your life and start again.
00:48She, she, she a little mess.
00:50I will not let my boyfriend buy me shoes or a watch.
00:54Like I just won't do it.
00:55Because the whole idea is that he'll walk out of your life or you'll like run out of time with
01:01him.
01:01So my mom believes that if someone like says a compliment towards your hair or anything, you have to like
01:07instantly put spit in your hair.
01:09I don't necessarily believe about people sweeping my feet, that I won't get married.
01:12I'm also not pressed to be anybody's wife.
01:15But if you sweep my feet, I will be upset.
01:17I'm at my mom's house and she's cleaning or they're cleaning.
01:20And you even happen to touch a toe with a bristle.
01:24You're supposed to spit on it after to kind of like retract what you just did.
01:29So I don't even want you to spit on it.
01:29I want you to like hawk-a-loogie on that shit.
01:31Because I'm looking for love.
01:33I'm talking to my mama.
01:34If your left palm itches, you have to use it to scratch your butt because then the money will come.
01:40I'm definitely eating black eyed peas on New Year's.
01:43And right at midnight, the man of the house has to like go out and come back in.
01:50Don't get me started.
01:50But that's what the tradition is.
01:54A person of color in general has a long history of superstitions.
01:58I think that we have an entire lineage of like witchcraft and voodoo that is positive.
02:04I am of a certain skin color that allows me to not have ultimate control over my life and what
02:10may happen to me out in the world.
02:11But if I carry these learned ideologies with me outside that, you know, my grandmother has armed me with, that
02:18my mom has armed me with,
02:20then I feel like I have something to hold on to.
02:22I don't think it's negative to adhere to superstitions that like I've heard of or that I grew up to
02:28because I feel like most of them are trying to keep you away from the negativity.
02:35They don't want anything to go wrong.
02:36Just, we just have a lot of things that have happened to us.
02:38It's just something that's passed down through generations.
02:41Like great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother.
02:45Who am I to not listen to generations that have come before me?
02:48So I feel like she has loads of stories that honestly don't make sense to me.
02:53If I ever have children, I don't really plan on telling them the crazy things that go on in my
03:01mind.
03:01You know, I mean, I'm sure I'm going to go out and step on the crack and hopefully my mom
03:05will be okay.
03:05I'll see you next time, babe.
