/ We’re exploring Black Joy on West Dayton Stories, and this week community producer Omopé Carter-Daboiku, known to many as Mama O, tells of a lifetime of dipping into that deep well of spirit and pride. As a child I was taught that joy expressed externally, except church or a sporting event, was pretentious and dangerous. Anyone who despised you would steal your joy: take your body without your permission, sell or hospitalize your child, put you in debt and steal your land, or just plain whip you for smiling and skipping. However, I suspect those kidnapped Africans experienced some sense of joy when finally reaching land and were not eaten by the