She is a singer, songwriter, and performer whose ability to transcend genres echoes the
tradition of her mother, musical icon and pioneer Nina Simone. Blessed with a rich vocal range and
innate skill for lyrical interpretation and soul-deep understanding of music as a means of
healing, empowerment, and celebration, Ms. Kelly is very much her mother's daughter and is most
assuredly a multi-talented artist in her own right. Our second panelist is Ms. Deanna Brown Thomas,
who is a radio and TV personality, actress, humanitarian, and daughter of Mr. James Brown,
the godfather of soul. Our third panelist is Ms. Ruby Nell Sales. Ms. Sales is a deeply committed
social activist, scholar, administrator, manager, and educator in the areas of civil, gender, and
human rights. She has spoken around the country on race, class, gender, and reconciliation and she
has done groundbreaking work on community and non-violence formation. Being Nina Simone's
daughter, well, where to start? Many people have asked me what it's like, what it was like, and living
with a larger-than-life personality in the house. For me, since the day I was born, I was Nina Simone's
daughter, so it really wasn't a big deal because that's just what I was born into. I find that when
I go to various places, because my mother has affected so many people's lives and so many various
ways, whether that's through the civil rights movement, whether that's through other political
activism or music, her message, or any encounters that one might have had with her. Women, I have
found it in my travels that many people just have so many things to say to me with regards to how
she has healed them, if they were going through a rough time. Even President Clinton, I found out
when he was having a hard time making a decision, he would lock himself in one of his rooms and play
my mother's music and then he would come out and have made a decision that he was happy with.
That makes me feel good. My mother's music has helped to heal many who have car accidents, family
problems, emotional issues, issues with their kids, issues in their society. My mother's music has
helped many people, myself, having been born on the other side of the railroad tracks in 1933 and having
become a child prodigy at the age of three and graduating valedictorian, skipping two grades,
practicing eight to twelve hours a day, which I'm like, okay, I'm an hours a day, but apparently she
did that because she played piano. It was perfection. I don't know if I could have done that. And when
my mom passed away on April 21st, 2003, and I stepped into her shoes, ever since then, coming up on
seven years, I'm getting a huge dose in what it was like to walk in her shoes. No, I'm not a civil
rights activist. No, I'm not marching. No, I'm not speaking out or singing about the same things that
she did. But as they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. I'm very proud to
stand here as Nina Simone's daughter, proud to have her blood running through my veins. And I make no
apologies to whites, blacks, or otherwise for anything my mother said or did, but there was a
reason for it, whether it was personal, whether it was her own personal demons that she had to deal
with and never overcame, such as the morning of Carolina being told that her skin was too dark, her
nose was too big, her lips were too thick, that she was ugly. And then becoming a woman and leading so
many in fashion. How does that happen if those things are really true? But these are some of the
things that my mother dealt with on a daily basis, even though when she was on stage, one would never
know. How many people here saw her before? Oh, my goodness. Yes, yes. I am so glad. It's so happy.
It's so related to be part of the Nina Simone experience. Anthony Page, who has picked up a heavy
bag and is carrying and been working very hard with Lisa on this Nina Simone experience. And I
congratulate Anthony, asked me to come and be a part of this and wanted me to meet with Lisa. And Miss
Sales X, did you all just meet? Well, we just met Friday. There's something how kindred spirits, you
know, you can tell you can just feel we've known each other a long time. Her mother was born the
same year my father was born in 1933. One thing I can say is that Miss Simone, along with her father,
and those kind of legendary artists, they had messages in their music, strong messages in their
music, and the messages that were in their music still hold strong for her today and still need
something today. But I'll say hello, everybody. First of all, I'm so happy to be here with you to
celebrate an activist singer who meant so much to my generation. I can't tell you how many times
I played young, gifted and black. I can't tell you how many times I played now that the king of
nonviolences did. These were songs that not only belong to Nina Simone, but they represented the
consciousness of a nation that was on the move towards freedom. And that culture taught you how
to navigate and have values in a dominating white supremacist culture without becoming broken wing
birds. There's a thread. And one is the exploitation of that talent. The other one is, I read somewhere
when Nina Simone said that if she had her way, she would be called a folk singer. That there was
this notion to categorize black women or black people within certain genres, like black jazz
and blues, even if you were not doing that. And so you were limited and restricted.
I see Hughes, James Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry was my godmother. I was present and accounted for
when my mother wrote to be young, gifted and black. I was 11 years old. She looked at me and said,
you need to know who you are and where you come from. She was hoping that that song would one day
take the place of lift every voice and sing. Malcolm X, then she bought us with my godparents.
I was raised with Malcolm X daughters. And there were so many figures, Bob Olatunji, at the time
none of them chose to be revolutionaries. None of them chose or knew that their destiny, excuse me,
would include civil rights. They were motivated to jump in with both feet because of their own
experiences, because of the social political environment at the time. Her goal was to be a
classical pianist, ladies and gentlemen, period. And for the time that her gifts were recognized
at the age of three, she was pushed to practice, to perfect, and to become one with the piano so
that she could go to the illustrious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. By the time
she had graduated valedictorian from the Allen School for Girls and applied to the Curtis Institute
in auditioned, she was rejected. Not because of her lack of talent, but because of the color of
her skin. Well, she believed that there was a certain respect that all artists should have,
that she demanded no matter where she was. So no matter where she played, she expected all
of her audience to be silent, to pay respect, and to pay attention. Don't get up and go to the
bathroom, because she's calling out. Nina Simone was a 20th century race woman. She really had the
interest of the race at heart, and she belonged to a tradition of black women that went all the way
back to the 19th century who were race women. So we call them activists today because we say that
race is dead. So we don't talk about race women, but really black women in the 21st century have
lost our grounding, lost our legs, because how do you do your work as a race woman to provide the
backups that younger people need and the race needs in order to advance itself, in order to
preserve our rights and to educate our youth. When people tell you that race doesn't exist and the
problems that your young people are having, they come, the core issues is systemic racism. So black
women have not figured out a way since the last race women we had were in the 60s, and once
integration came, there was no more race women. As many of her colleagues were either assassinated,
left the country, or just lost their steam, my mother felt as if she was one of the last
Mohicans with regards to what they were standing up for at the time, and she felt that integration, quote
unquote, was just a term that was not necessarily being applied. It was theoretical, more theoretical
than it was actual reality. I mean, even now, when you think about it, you know, there are certain
things that are still taking place in our country. It just has a different name. It just has a
different color, but it's still the same result.
