The Vital Importance of Documenting the Moment
uh
get your hands up get on the ground
don’t move
that’s what i’ve heard what i’ve seen
and what folks who look like me
experience
on a daily basis we’ve been saying
yelling screaming
they do this to us all the time but now
people are seeing it
in this moment right here right now we
have a responsibility
the responsibility is to make sure the
history is written and the truth is told
for generations that are coming after us
to fight the lies the spin zone and the
narrative that being black
automatically means criminal how do we
do that
by documentation my first two books were
about people
real everyday folks i would sit with
them in a coffee shop or grab lunch and
just listen to them
i loved it the stories it tells the
anecdotes
what they had to say how they would say
it why they would say it
such a beautiful thing in my life i’ve
been continuously inspired by author
studs terkel
he once said storytelling is a form of
history
of immortality it goes from one
generation
to another coming from that one of my
main philosophies in
writing has always been for the truth to
be presented no matter the cost
when we don’t do this so much is lost
the grit of the truth and the rawness of
the people gets sanitized or trashed
and replaced with lies how can we learn
about black wall street in school
marsha p johnson who kicked off
stonewall why don’t we
all know how great it be wells is or
that the reverend dr martin luther king
pressed the united states for
reparations no we got a different
history
that is what is happening today
throughout history
black people have been unjustly viewed
as violent criminals the birth of a
nation portrayed us as mindless brutes
various texts have described
african-americans as primal beings
our lives totally misrepresented and
fabricated
when i realized i have a passion for
writing and begin to talk about my life
and everything that’s unfolding around
me i vow that i would be one of the
scribes that makes it known to the world
what being black is all about i would be
a beacon
for the truth i realized how important
documentation was
in 2012 trayvon martin the young black
man walking home was stalked
attacked and killed by a racist coward
when the story hit the news
many people automatically jumped to the
conclusion that trayvon had to be doing
something wrong
that trayvon had to be committing some
crime that trayvon had to be at the
newspapers columnist everyday folks
painting him as a violent criminal
when he was just walking home i knew it
was our responsibility to challenge the
narrative
of a young black man not being seen as a
happy smart high achieving student
but as an angry criminal i knew we had
to get our point of view out and let
people in the world know that this ain’t
nothing new
we’ve been going through this since we
were brought here now however
we’re picking up the pin and recording
what’s happening with our phones
in 2020 we’ve seen an uprising an
eruption of rage and anger
people wanting justice for an unarmed
black man killed george floyd
snuffed out in front of eyes and what
some may say
oh they’re using the excuse to write a
loot the difference is
we control the narrative we are in
charge of our essays film songs and
photographs
we are writing the story what’s
happening right now can’t be
tossed twisted or erased all around the
world people coming face to face with
racism why because we’re documented
what people are seeing reading and
hearing about cannot be disputed
not only is our experience being seen
but we’re part of the reason why
when we turn on the news browse the
internet and read the daily news you
realize there’s so much misinformation
out there
people being misrepresented words being
twisted
facts being omitted and just straight up
the way we’re going to counter this
tidal wave of lies is with the truth
how do we get the truth but
documentation is absolutely vital
how do we capture the moment
documentation how do we properly teach
the youth documentation how do we save
the past and present it as a gift to the
future
by documentation we’re not going to
fight the lies and propaganda with
moralized propaganda
no we’re going to fight it with
documentation the great malcolm x said
that the truth
is on the side of the oppressed and we
have that
but we must be deliberate and purposeful
about capture the moment we should not
we cannot leave it for chance
in this moment right here right now we
are witnessing history
it is literally being made before our
eyes and it’s up to us to capture it
memories deserve to be saved the
generation after us needs to see this
hear this read this and experiences
i don’t want my story our story to be
wiped away and replaced with something
that is not true
you know there are people out there that
are doing things like trying to write
slavery out of textbooks
it’s a little crazy they’re attempting
to tell you that men like
stanley tukey williams were nothing but
criminals and not flawed men who love
their community
they’re suggesting that george floyd
eric garner philando castillo jacob
blake and brianna taylor were resisting
that is why the police shot them they’re
literally trying to change what happened
it sounds ridiculous i know but it is
being attempted before our very eyes
i cannot stress enough how important
this moment is i want people to look
back on this moment and see what
occurred how we were really living
how life really unfolded
sir journal truth once said truth is
power and it prevails
and i think about that being in a world
of fake news and disregarding anyone’s
experience who doesn’t fit into this box
of white and privilege
i realize we all have responsibility and
ownership in this
so that means we got to start writing
making movies creating music
giving talks and documenting our life we
have to cut
we have to challenge the narrative
because if we don’t
the real history will not be told we got
to shout over this current wave the
silences
we have to document our experience as if
our life depends on it because well
it does thank you
[Applause]