EDUCATION
Interactively Speaking How Taharka Sankara is helping change the storyteller genre By Mi chae l J . Pa l l e r i no
S ega Dreamcast. Nintendo 64. Pick one of those old home arcade games, any one, and you can bet Taharka Sankara had it in tow. Growing up in Merced, California, in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, Sankara was a wonder kid of the impending interactive media landscape. And it was not just all those cool video games—Super Mario 64, Mario Karts, Donkey Kong, and the like. Sankara was enthralled about what made them tick. He read all the magazines about
storytelling into the masses. CINEMA is a transformative workforce development initiative that trains and provides opportunities for 18 to 24-year-olds disconnected from work and/or education. “I believe storytelling is important today because humanity is losing its way and is in desperate need of a road map. Storytelling can provide humanity with the historical context that it needs to move into the future. That history must be one that encompasses the histories of all people.
Stories are arguably humanity’s first information ex- change technology. My hope is that people will continue to utilize the technology of stories to lift one another up, understand one another, and inspire each other to create an amazing society.” Part of CINEMA’s mission statement is to help young people get entry-level jobs in Information Com- munications Technology (ICT) fields like digital media, and film and TV production. “Employers tell me they’re looking for dependability
the developers and how they envisioned these consoles could someday change the world. His love of video games was equal to his love of a good story. Getting lost in the films of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, James Cameron, and Robert Zemeckis, he was a hardcore sci-fi aficionado. It was not until he saw the work of Spike Lee that the course of his future would take a sharp turn. Lee’s ability to use character archetypes fascinated the storytelling protégé in waiting. Lee’s writing, directing, and use of music convinced Sankara that storytelling was his future. “My dad took my brother and me to see Malcolm X when we were kids, and I remember seeing a theater
and consistency. Soft skills are a big focus. The logic is that many of the technical skills today are changing sometimes with a quarterly frequency. The technical and aesthetic skills can be learned and re- learned as one goes through their employment process. A lack of soft skills, on the other hand, can impede any process. Employers want people who can communicate well with the people they are around all day, and they want people who are consistent.” Sankara believes CINEMA will be a game changer for today’s young visionaries. He recalls the story of a student working the graveyard shift loading a truck in a ware- house while taking classes at
Nadia Belchick interviews Taharka Sankara on Georgia Hollywood Review TV
of African-American fathers and their children. There was an energy of solidarity and togetherness that I will never forget.” Sankara’s penchant for storytelling is well docu- mented. As a young child, his mother gave him a book of illustrations in which he had to create his own story. He ended up writing a detective yarn about him and his father. But as Sankara admits, there was something miss- ing—something that would end up launching his arc as a storyteller. “I didn’t like that every character in the book was automatically white. There weren’t any versions with blue or orange characters, or something more inclusive or ambiguous. It basically forced you to write a story exclusively about white characters. From there, I started writing stories without the help of illustrations that could include characters that looked like me and my family.” As the Program Director for CINEMA at Georgia State University, Sankara has set out to instill the power of
CINEMA. He witnessed the burden of trying to do both first-hand. Not long ago the student ran into Sankara’s office and said that upon graduation he presented his employer with his graduation certificate. He was promot- ed on the spot. “For African American, Latino, and marginalized young people, they must understand and embrace the fact that while we are all playing the same game, the rules will always be different for them. Their work ethic must be the first virtue they present to the world. Resilience in mind, spirit and body is critical. Meditate, pray, and look inward often. Trust your vision and never stop learning.”
Storytelling can provide humanity with the historical context that it needs to move into the future. That history must be one that encompasses the histories of all people. ”
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IG: @taharka.sankara | Twitter: @Taharkafy
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