 Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Welcome to Urban Bridge Woman's 2017 culminating performance of our Summer Leadership Institute. Our culminating performance is the way that we share and integrate the learning that we've been in in the past eight days into performance. So on July 28th, we all gathered for the first time as a group, about 100 of us. We gathered and we began our process of the Summer Leadership Institute, which includes Urban Bridge Woman's entering, building and exiting community workshop where we look at the values of how we come into community, what we do and what we leave. We then go into our process of People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, understanding and undoing racism workshop. And that's where we gather the principles and learn about what does it mean to be an anti-racist organizer. What does it mean to look at systemic racism and how it shows up in our arts practices, how it shows up in how we organize our power structures in meetings, in curriculums, all of the ways that we maybe don't look at that closely. And we look at that through two lens, internalized racial inferiority for black folks, people of color, internalized racial superiority for white folks. And we deeply examine how those power structures play out and those forms of internalized racial oppression play out in the work that we do. Then we go into a process called asset mapping, where we gather the research that we've been involved in before the Institute and the research that has surfaced while we're here. And from the assets of the group, we create the performance. I'm going to say that again. From the asset of the group, assets of the group, we create the performance. This performance did not exist until a couple of days ago. We integrate the learning. And we start that process on about day six. I think it is where we start building performance. And it is because we've done the process of entering, building, exiting, dancing together, conditioning, yoga, that we have the People's Institute work, that we have a common vocabulary that we can create quickly. 95% of what you will see has been created by the participants in these last couple of days. So I want to invite you to share the learning with us of our 2017 Summer Leadership Institute. Welcome. And Susan, give me a chance to get up to the back before you take the lights out. We're going to sit with Vincent. And we're going to be kind of informal because we at home. Oh, at home. Let me thank NYU for our Summer Leadership Institute has been held here. And I want, this has really been amazing to be in a space with so many studios and so much access to infrastructure and restaurants in the area. So thank you, NYU. And now I'm going to my seat. Crossroads in this world of possibilities, of choice, of knowing where three become one, where past, present and future meet, where everyone must make a decision as a child, as an old man, as an old woman, as the trickster. We stand at the crossroads of the human and the divine. We are the messengers mediating our existence while we resolve within ourselves our heavens, our hells, our hidden, our dreams, our heavens, our hells, our visions, our dreams. Go to the mountain top, pick a cloud, go to the mountain top, pick a cloud, go to the mountain top, pick a cloud, put it in a crowd, don't you touch that tree, it's got to stay a while, hells and purity, never bend our style, go on and hit that road, you better be prepared, hold on to your soul, don't you put in the fear, got your mama's love, go break it down, down, down. Party people, from all over, get your butt up and let's get down. We more than rough, we calling you, let's see what you working with, let's find out who's, come on, come on, come on, come on. I'm a good student, I'm attentive. She cut one of my, like cut it, like, oh no she did, yeah she cut my hair. She kind of left with it. You know the boys started paying attention to me then because you know your hair get long, looking pretty and then I cut it all off. Yeah, I cut it all off. I was bald for like two years and everybody's like yo you tripping, you crazy, why would you cut your hair? And I was like because I can't, it's my hair. It's gonna be, I'm sorry, Saturday was gonna be dance class so what she used to do is take a broom and turn on movimental sexy, right? So she used to go, ready, here we go. Suavecito para abajo. And at my mom's house or as my nieces call it, la casa de Alvedita we'll be cooking or cleaning in the kitchen and that's where we always teach them how to dance. My little baby girls out there, we tell them, mueve los bonfils, mueve los bonfils, mueve los bonfils. I'm gonna share a few phrases with y'all, okay? What I'm telling you, you'll find out directly worth a wooden nipple. So what's the nipple you do? Don't be no educated fool. Cause you crack up like homebrew. Oh yo, come on in. We got plenty of room. Cause you can always sleep on the floor and cover with the dough. My family is sitting right over there. Our Jews originally from the Ukraine and while we've lost a lot of our heritage over the years, there's one thing that all Jews don't know how to do. And that's the horror. So the one Yiddish word that I learned in context I learned from my grandfather when I was very young. I was very low to the ground and he was this big rotund man and he would chase me around saying, I'm gonna give you a patch in the tachis. Hold up, hold up, hold up. See, I'm from New Orleans. The seventh war to be specific. And on Sundays, there will be a second line going down right by my house on Sabanar Avenue. I could see it from the porch. I never knew when they were coming, but I will always hear this song. Military purchases, acquisitions, annex, displacement of brown and indigenous people. What does patriotism look like when the state sanctions violence against you, your family, your ancestors? Change. Change. Change. Can't quite name the change. Losing the spirit of aloha. Well, you know how the young people say good morning to their elders? Home. Home. I just want to go home. My house over there, that yellow house, that used to be where Mrs. Jones lived. Oh, she had. She got stated jolly ranchers. It was real hot. You had the old lady on the stupor, her icy stairs set up. Where you can go get some money. Where will we go? Home. Home. I just want to go home. We can't afford to go back home. Where will all the brown people live? Living in the memories of my abuelitas, arroz con plátano, rice with bananas. The only thing I get right is the bananas, except when they're green. My rice is always mushy. Living in the memories of the colonia parties, the whole block of party. This house is not a home. Where's the influx of people running, singing, dancing, smiling? That coffee shop? That's not a home. Where's my mother's wake-up call? Yabaja de sayuner. Speak the colonizer's language. Twice colonized, twice removed. We can't afford to not go home. How will all the brown people live? My great-great-grandparents on my mother's side kept enslaved peoples on their estate in Maryland. I remember seeing the slave quarters. I remember my grandmother being impressed by the architecture. On my father's side, my great-grandfather, he never told a soul where my Jewish family actually immigrated from. He was protecting my whiteness. So if I wanted to, I could never follow my tracks back. There is no consequence, no risk in my white vacuum. I could literally break a window on purpose, and people would be like, are you okay? We know it was an accident. This is not an accident. To tarry with whiteness, to hold or be with something much past comfort. This discomfort, this is the medicine. Alright, Negroes, do I have all my Negroes here? Yes, yes, yes, everyone? Great. We're just about to get started for the audition, so I hope you all have your sides with you. We'll bring you right in, you'll meet our team, and then we'll be getting one by one. So come on in, come on in. I'll introduce the production team here. We're super excited to be bringing James Baldwin's I Am Not Your Negro to the Great White Way. It's going to be fantastic. So I'm Harriet Chusong, I'm the lead writer, and we have our dramaturg, Miss Vanessa Threadgill, Harris Jones Wood, and we also have our resident Negro specialist, Miss Ola Bente Jackson. But none of this would be possible without our amazing producer, director, Stephen. Stephen, would you say a few words? Hi, thank you so much for gathering here today. After I saw the James Bond movie, I, James Baldwin movie, I was so struck by his story that I knew I had to tell it. And we've received numerous awards, residencies, we're going to be going on an extended tour, and all of that can be yours if you'll be our Negro. Thank you. I'd like our dramaturg and historian to just give you a little sense of what we're looking for in a Negro. Okay, what I would like you guys to do when you're preparing for the role, for your audition, is to think about what we would like in our Negro. We would like our Negro to be classic, but contemporary. We would like our Negro to have gravitas and humor. Our Negro needs to be profound yet accessible, and of course, our Negro needs to be urban and suburban. Yes, we need you to be universal, yet unique, and appealing, but off-putting. Okay, so you should have the James Baldwin quotes prepared. You can all go outside and we'll call you in one by one and get started. Sound good? Thank you very much. Four of your books in high school, but who was white, Mr. Baldwin? prestigious white. I was the token black to go with all those coins. Same question you asked. Why? Why us? The chosen ones. The white man Cinderella. The source of free labor. The social scapegoats. The reliable guinea pigs. We're a reminder of power. A measure of progress. And that is the secret of selling the Negro. Quotes from James Baldwin. Our days where you wonder what your role is in this country and your future in it. I'm terrified by the moral apathy at the death of the heart that is happening in my country. It's a terrible thing for an entire people to surrender to the notion that one ninth of its population is beneath them. And until that moment, until the moment comes when we, the American people, are able to accept the fact that I've had to accept, for example, that my ancestors are both white and black. That on this continent we are trying to forge a new identity for which we need each other. And that I am not a ward of America. I am not the object of missionary charity. I am one of the people who built this country. Until this moment there's scarcely any hope for the American dream. Because the people who are deemed participant in it by their very presence will wreck it. Trauma. Trauma. I'd hate to say I was born with this trauma, this fear, this weight, this anger. Or maybe it's not anger. More like sadness. This internalized racial oppression, marginalization, depression that has been passed down. This need to be comforted, to be loved on. This touch, that connection between a baby relying on, reaching for her mother's breast. I knew she'd come for me. I knew she'd nurture me. I knew my orisha would guide me, heal me. But what am I missing? What am I missing? Sit. They say sit in it, but I'm tired of sitting. I have been sitting. Move. Move. Movement. Move. Movement. Move. Move. You know this practice. This practice of movement, the traditional practice of movement, healing, conjuring of medicines embedded within these cells. This body. This body we've come to call you. Me. We. We are the healers. It's time we take our bodies back. Our next Negro. Are you ready? Hello? Interesting. Okay. He's written his own piece. Like skin and tall, but I am more than a mere physical representation and a specific personality trait. I'm everything and everywhere. And everything and everywhere is in me. My messy bed. My tired eyes. My quiet yet unnerving pets. My laquacious friends. My erratic siblings. My neurotic parents. The joyful relatives. The people that I meet along my journey. The wild sea wind. The compacting rain. Can I just borrow your hood? Yeah. Could you put this hoodie on for me? We just want to see something. We're just trying to see something. Okay. And could you try and be a little more black? You know, give us some edge. Can you begin also? Just grab your groin a little bit. Just give us like a hmm. Just enough. I'm black, light skin and tall, but I am more than a mere physical representation and a specific personality trait. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Do you want this back? Yes. Yeah. Next. One more. Is he too young? Is he too young? I'm not sure. Let's ask Steven. Is he too young for the role? I think we can audition him as an adult. Okay. Great. Our trapped in history. And history is trapped in them. Thank you very much. We'll be in touch. You did a wonderful job. Thank you. Okay. I think we all need a coffee break. Oh. We have just a few more to go. Racial progress is measured by how fast I... Especially like the fact that you have a very classic black female body. Your hair, it's a lot. It's a lot. If you were to become our Negro, would you consider straightening your hair? All right. Next. My dreams have been true. My days have been made. They redefined my city lines because they like to play a game of seek and find. See, within my blocks, I am labeled a state of con, conflict, to conspire, to connect those minds. So they take in minds. That's their daily grind. It's greed that I need what they feed. They don't ask me for my thoughts. They just give it and say proceed. Gentrify my hood and then ask for no permission. They ask for forgiveness after the dirt has been issued. So I say, when they look at me with their judgmental ways, I look at them and I say, Your outreach needs toilet tissue.