Historically Frederick Douglass always talked of agitation, one of his actual quotes was, “Agitate, Agitate, Agitate.” The present depiction of women of color and what they are capable of is very limited. In fact so limited the representation in all media outlets are the only things that young women of color believe they are to aspire to be. The AGYTATORS are here to say that young women have a voice and choice and with multiple avenues to displaying and attaining certain goals in life, besides in front of a camera wearing next to nothing hoping that some agent in Hollywood will recognize you only for you to become the most demanded “video vixen” in the market which results in you’re first movie roll where the woman’s sexiness gets her ahead in life. Tasha from London and Melanie from South Carolina who both recieved post secondary education from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY where they met are here to dispell all myths without you even knowing. For them thats ok, its less about the fame and more about the powerful silent movement that has begun and these young women have picked up the torch where Frederick Douglass, Fanie Lou Hamer and Sojourner Truth have left off.

Scheme: Tasha what was that experience like being overseas and what did you take back to the states?

Tasha: My perspective has changed a lot in the couple of years that I’ve been here. In London race is not at the forefront of people’s minds, as in it’s not spoken about, and people don’t address it and they want you not to think about it so it doesn’t become an issue. Also London had a huge migration of non-UK citizens for the last 50-60 years, so this whole idea of being a country of many races is a very new thing. When I came here I felt like African-Americans victimized themselves which is a view that many people from London do have, but when you actually live in it people don’t see you as a Black person from London, they see you as African-American by default and they treat you that way. I learned on a first hand basis how it is in the Upper Westside of New York around mostly White people and every single day its really hard to just leave my house and see the certain kinds of looks that I get. Like how could I be living here and all these different questions and these are things I never really dealt with in London because I guess people are really good at hiding it.

Scheme: Mel what was your experience like growing up in the South?

Melanie: It was really racist and oppressive. Where I’m from is one of the worst counties in terms of everything being positive. My hometown has this thing called family swim and there’s a swimming pool that is paid for by public money. They put the public money into building it and it was supposed to be for everybody but then the public works department sold it to a White citizen for $1 dollar. So now family swim is where only White people can go and Black people can’t.

Scheme: And that still exists today?

Melanie: Yes it still exists today. (Laughs) So I’m coming from some sh*t like that and that’s just the base. That’s not even talking about how they demean Black kids in school and how they have an academy that is a school for all White kids but is supported by public money.

Scheme: So you do you ever see yourself taking Tasha back down there(South) and doing something on that?

Melanie: I feel like I’m not the in the trenches type of activist I’m more of putting the idea to together so you can get the attention and funds without being on the radar as an established program.

Scheme: How did you guys meet?

Tasha: We met at college I was working on my senior film. I had met Melanie two years before and we hadn’t worked together before and I saw her film portfolio which was really dope. So I asked her to help with my film and we ended up shooting it together and editing it together and that just started a long term working relationship.

Scheme: So how did you come up with the name the AGYTATORS?

Melanie: Ok, so I’m taking this Black Liberation class and we’ve seen a lot of literature on the subject and people trying to liberate themselves specifically African-Americans, and we kept seeing these documentaries where Black people were getting beat down, hung and all kinds of crazy stuff, and the people who Black people were trying to get it to stop every time their name was brought up in legislation all the White people would call them the agitators because their doing this, their doing that, so being descendants of those people we decided to be a continuation and pay homage to it, or for people to continue to do those types of things so we can go to an institution like Sarah Lawerence.

“Even when we tell them what it means I don’t think it has the same sort of relevance or importance to them, I think they just think it’s a cool concept.”

Scheme: When was the first big break when did people start to recognize you as a tandem?

Tasha: I’d say when we aligned with Kareem Black he’s the photographer for LRG and we actually were his students. Since we do film and he’s breaking into film right now he completed his first film it will be out this summer its called Twinja, he wanted us to add on to his whole aesthetic and look. He wanted us to shoot him shooting the LRG photo shoot for their spring summer line, so that’s the first thing we did with him and we met a whole bunch of people there. I actually don’t even think we were named the AGYTATORS at that time, it’s something that happened in the last four months or so we’ve just been working with him a lot on article in URB Magazine-’Young URB for the Entrepreneurs’ and then we started doing our own photo shoot because basically we do visuals, we do photography and film.

Melanie: Audio visual.

Tasha: Yeah, we’re breaking into music right now so we’re just putting our stuff into many different things, but I guess the biggest break has been working with Kareem.

Scheme: What is it like breaking into the industry with a name like the AGYTATORS and what that stands for as well as being two Black women?

Tasha: We have to break it down for people a lot of the time because people think its very cool and then we tell them and I know the majority of the people we mix with are New York City downtown predominantly White so they don’t have the knowledge of that history the way we do. Even when we tell them what it means I don’t think it has the same sort of relevance or importance to them, I think they just think it’s a cool concept.

Melanie: We are still defining what we do we’re at the fetal stages and we’ve gotten our tongues and lips wet on what we’ve been doing but now we’re able to concentrate more and go to the next level with it.

“…New York, that whole culture is having a renaissance right now and there are a lot of talented people who are bringing their work to the forefront, we want to be a part of that movement, but also to let it be known that we don’t want to be put in a box…”

Scheme: I know you’re getting started but do you have a vision of where you want to be?

Melanie: That’s a tough question of course you could say you have a loose sketch. We want our voices ultimately be heard and be able to support our families and we want to be able to give back not only to our families and the people around us.

Tasha: Also we want to be a part of this new wave of artists; we are basically immersed in an art crowd with not only people who do photography but people who do clothing, jewelry and just every medium in between. Especially downtown New York, that whole culture is having a renaissance right now and there are a lot of talented people who are bringing their work to the forefront, we want to be a part of that movement, but also to let it be known that we don’t want to be put in a box, we don’t want to be filmmakers or photographers but most people are good at many things. I go crazy doing one thing and I’m sure Melanie does to.

Scheme: What has that experience been like working with women, because I hear talk of a lot of women that work easier with men and it’s very hard to work in a business like setting with women?

Tasha: It’s funny that you say that because we haven’t really worked with women, except one and well… (Laughs). I went to an all girl’s catholic school and I was always around women and I always got along better with men than I did with women because there is like this cattiness in women. Women are less welcoming to see other women succeed where as a guy would be more welcome to be like your work is dope.

Melanie: The tables are changing because dudes are having those issues to. Like their ego if a woman is working with them, sometimes they feel some type of way about that.

Scheme: How do you guys feel about the current images of women of color more specifically Black and Latina women who are represented through each and every medium and what do you see yourselves doing to try and change that or at least give a certain perspective?

Melanie: I feel that there are a few ways that you can address that. Me personally, when you address issues like that you also have to think about the powers that be that are imposing those images upon us and why there are imposing them upon you and that all leads back to economics and how they are able to manipulate people and pawn them out of their money and dependent on the way that you try to change that image. For example my roommate brought me this paper today about people who are signing demands. Like we demand that we have more positive airplay on this radio station, but I don’t really feel that it should be done that way because historically when people do it that way they get shut down. I feel like you have to take a different roundabout approach to secure some type of economic stability and then you’ll be able to have more say on what type of stuff that you can put out where on a more underground level you can put stuff out. There is a way to get that stuff together while not addressing that specifically.

Scheme: So basically you have to get control from these corporate companies that have control of the images of what are being put out there.

Melanie: Yeah, without that you are fighting a battle that you are not going to win.

Tasha: On the simple level regarding to us as being Black women and the whole arena of how Black women are being portrayed in the media I think it’s a big matter of where you align yourself with. A lot of women choose to be that woman in the video or you choose to be portrayed as the angry Black woman and all those stereotypes that have been place upon you and to a certain extent it’s in our power to change that. We feel like we don’t have to be put in that category because that’s not even where our minds are we not even contemplating people seeing us in that light.

Melanie: The main thing is changing other people’s minds, like when Lauryn Hill’s first cd came out that changed a whole bunch of people’s minds and she didn’t necessarily go through the whole I’m a woman I’m a Black woman this is my plight and the way she was doing was very different.

Scheme: Do you find yourself having a lot of support, i.e. what were your expectations breaking into this industry and have they been met or have you had to develop a new approach to meet those goals?

Tasha: It’s a mixed pot I think, we’ve had a lot of people really take us under their wing and giving us a chance and have been completely supportive. Then I guess to address the question you asked before about being a woman in this industry in a predominantly male oriented environment there are a lot of people who try and take advantage and its hard to do business in those circumstances so we have to pick and choose who we would work on and who we would work with. We meet every single person before we work with them so we can have that reap or and vibe because a lot of people don’t have your best intentions sometimes especially when you’re really young and new to it and don’t know the best procedure for every single circumstance.

Scheme: What is your Scheme for the rest of 2007?

Melanie: Structuring the Agytators and really getting into the trenches of developing our own voice because a lot of people are still unclear about what we do and we’re in at the same time that we’re putting it out there. Everyday we’re doing something different from a shoot, networking and just building.

For more info on the AGYTATORS head to www.myspace.com/theagytators or www.theagytators.com.