Performance: Lincoln Center July 27th & 28th
Sooooooooo.... In just a few days, I'm offering song and poetry at the Lincoln Center in Lunaphokin / Lenapehoking / New York City.
I've been really really shy about sharing this piece of news with y'all because I don't believe that the success of the work rests in recognition by historically/majority white institutions.
The work I'm invested in is the well-being, vitality, liberation and self-determination of my peoples, land, and waters. And that does not happen by recentering the institutions that perpetuate our oppression.
Last week, I was having a conversation with my friend Mi'jan about what it means when one of us - those who were never supposed to make it inside the walls of these institutions - gets invited in.
This never happens because of one individual's work.
These moment's happen because there's a legacy of people working to dismantle systems of oppression. People committed to building justice, compassion, love, truth, and balance where institutions of violence are thriving even while they're crashing down.
And so when one of us makes it inside the walls that were built to keep us out... I know it needs to be acknowledged. This is an opportunity to uplift the legacies of our people's resilience, brilliance, and undeniable faith in who we are.
Migai Ma'Ã¥se to Latasha Diggs for believing in this work, dropping my name in the hat, and bringing this work into the circle.
I am incredibly humbled to be representing my ancestors, my people, my language, my relatives in a way that our ancestors have always done ... through poetry, song, and dance.
To my relatives back home in LÃ¥gua' yan GÃ¥ni - I want you to know that I will use this opportunity to speak about what the military is doing and trying to do to our land and our people. I will speak about how beautiful you all are as you face such harsh oppression with hope, power, integrity, and faith.
Here's the Facebook Event for the performance on July 27th: https://www.facebook.com/events/2250827591912635/ Here's the Facebook Event for the performance on July 28th: https://www.facebook.com/events/2351876221716428/