Interview with Barnard Sims, June 22, 2022

Partial Transcript: I'm ready when you ready.

Segment Synopsis: Breeding thanks Sims for his time and mentions what he hopes Sims will talk about during the interview.

Subjects: Athens Black history

Partial Transcript: Alright, my name is Barnard Sims.

Segment Synopsis: Sims talks about his parents, being born to a family of four, and the insulation from racism that he experienced growing up. Once he began to interact with others outside of the family unit and as he got older, he started to “filter through a society… that wasn’t designed” for people who looked like him.

Keywords: Barney Roscoe Sims; Barrow County, Ga.; Ida Sims; Malcom X; football; institutionalized racism; prejudice; segregation

Partial Transcript: I started to notice differences.

Segment Synopsis: Sims explains that there were different expectations for students depending on their race; students of color were not given the same encouragement and support as the white students. He recounts playing as pitcher in school and his fastballs, but in his last year playing, a new coach was put into place who wanted Sims to spend practice time doing mundane tasks. As an adult, he recognizes that the coach wanted Sims to know his “rightful place” as a Black person, even as a child.

Keywords: NAACP; Randall Cunningham; baseball; educational inequality; football; microaggressions; race relations

Partial Transcript: I stopped playing after recreation.

Segment Synopsis: Sims elaborates upon how Black students and workers are discriminated against, damaging their morale and willingness to develop professionally. He explains that the education system focused only on white history and narratives that he couldn’t relate to, as well as the system’s singular approach to educating their students. He shares that once he got to Athens Tech, a counselor managed to connect with him and efficiently demand better of him, inspiring Sims to do better for himself.

Keywords: Athens Technical College; George Washington; Harry Washington; Malcom X; Organized Black Students Encouraging Unity and Excellence; cultural conditioning; institutionalized racism; microaggressions; prejudice; race relations; slavery; terrorism

Partial Transcript: Growing up, they used to, you know, dark-skinned Black men, they used to call them ‘bubba’.

Segment Synopsis: Sims explains that there are opportunities to engage with racism and that he thinks there are rational people who can be made to see their errors. He discusses irrational logic and the logic behind the insurrection on January 6, 2021 and the Blue Lives Matter movement.

Keywords: January 6th, 2021; microaggressions; race relations; racism

Partial Transcript: You were saying you were at Athens Tech.

Segment Synopsis: Sims emphasizes that he had to re-frame his perception of school in order to commit himself to it. He talks about how the same counselor who originally encouraged him convinced him to go back to Athens Tech once Sims finished his cosmetology program in order to get his associate’s. Because of this, Sims ended up filling in for a professor for two years while she was ill, simultaneously running his own business.

Keywords: Athens Technical College; integration; segregation; soft skills

Partial Transcript: The Southern Awakening, I felt, is necessary...

Segment Synopsis: Sims compares the awakening brought about by Trump to a different kind of awakening that needs to happen within the Black community. He elaborates upon historical figures such as Nat Turner who have paved the way for Black rebellion and liberation. He uses the obstacles thrown at Obama during his presidency to prove his “American-ness” compared to the easily accepted mediocrity of Trump to illustrate how there are impediments to Black success even today.

Keywords: Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement; Barack Obama; Donald Trump; Joe Biden; Michelle Obama; Three-Fifths Compromise; racism; terrorism; white nationalism; white supremacy

Partial Transcript: My father was a man's man.

Segment Synopsis: Sims describes the manner of his father, that he was a man of his word and that he always meant what he said. He says that his father taught him to do what is expected of you and then a little more. Sims explains that his father never saw the success of others as a threat to his own success but as a gain for the community as a whole.

Keywords: childhood development; collective economics; work ethic

Partial Transcript: There's another thing that you wrote here.

Segment Synopsis: Sims stresses the importance of learning from mistakes and the reality that failure will happen, but that holding oneself to another’s standard is not sustainable. He says that there are pressures to conform to certain standards and perform certain tasks, but the originality and genuine nature of your passions will define your own success.

Keywords: authenticity; childhood development; community relations; community support; generational advice

Partial Transcript: I don't mind getting in trouble on this one.

Segment Synopsis: Sims describes the ministry as being “asleep at the wheel” because of the off-hand approach it has taken towards community development. He says that there is a literacy crisis in the Black community and that the church has stood idly by while community programs are being supported by unorthodox and unexpected crowds. He elaborates upon the perceived differences between races and how that influences their education.

Keywords: Barrow County, Ga.; Chess and Community; Leap for Literacy; Stan Tucker; churches; cultural conditioning; educational inequality; institutionalized racism; internalized racism

Partial Transcript: To your point, did you know they just did, like a year ago, they had to start paying Black athletes…

Segment Synopsis: Sims discusses the different standards Black and white athletes are held to when it comes to evaluating brain damage and physical injuries.

Keywords: chronic traumatic encephalopathy; medical racism

Partial Transcript: Now I want that last part, that's what I'm focusing on.

Segment Synopsis: Sims uses his experience from working in construction to illustrate how it assisted him in understanding academic material in a nontraditional way, but that he minimized his own talent to keep himself unnoticed. He notes that socialized behavior has stuck with the Black community, such as sitting towards the back of facilities, but that progression is possible. He says that the community needs to keep pushing if they want that progress to be made and it cannot continue to shrink itself.

Keywords: Lao Tzu; cultural conditioning; institutionalized racism; internalized racism

Partial Transcript: Yes, yes, yes, because we had been told so many times “pray about it, pray about it, pray about it”.

Segment Synopsis: Sims emphasizes that prayer is a good start for change, but it cannot be the finish line. Activists should be more hands-on and focused on bringing about results for Black people.

Keywords: Edward DuBose; NAACP; churches; police brutality

Partial Transcript: A postulate, just in simple terms, is like an educated guess.

Segment Synopsis: Sims gives context to some of the postulates that he has written. He elaborates on what he wants for the South, in place of it being “an eyesore”. He explains the disservice that has been done to people of color for generations through unpaid and uncompensated labor, and he illustrates how he tries to go above and beyond to support businesses run by people of color.

Keywords: collective economics; community relations; cultural conditioning; institutionalized racism; race relations; reparations; segregation; slavery; spirituality

Partial Transcript: Tell me about some of your mentors.

Segment Synopsis: Sims emphasizes the impact various individuals had on him within his lifetime, whether they be relatives or otherwise. He shares the experiences of his uncle, who fought in the Korean War and was a high-ranking military official, but once he returned to the United States, he couldn't retain his social status.

Keywords: John Smith; NAACP; family; institutionalized racism; military service

Partial Transcript: I am aware, from listening to social media...

Segment Synopsis: Sims relates how the obstacles people of color have to overcome in order to participate in their own government has not changed over time. He emphasizes that the barriers that are put in place to discourage people of color from voting should be evidence enough that they should vote because those votes must have power.

Keywords: John Lewis; elections; federal government; local government; politics

Partial Transcript: First I’m going to ask , is there anything we didn’t cover that needs to go on this first version…

Segment Synopsis: Sims gives advice to his younger self, which is the last thing his father told him: “Get up, boy.” He emphasizes that the world we live in is not designed for Black people and that it is necessary to keep pushing against that sentiment, even though it’s hard, because the current generation is what their ancestors dreamed about.

Keywords: Charlayne Hunter-Gault; generational advice; institutionalized racism