What's up, everybody?

I'm Myra Flynn, creator of Homegoings, the Vermont Public Podcast, featuring candid conversations about race with artists of color.

The artists I interviewed are so prolific and so talented that earlier this year we put two and two together and asked ourselves, why don't we stage a live performance so folks can see some of this art?

We did just that.

And of course, we filmed it.

You cant escape it now, can you you know I am the only one In the spirit of curiosity, we topped off the evening with an open discussion that was, in fact, incredibly open.

No topic was off the table, and there was no such thing as going too deep.

These are the conversations that are our birthright to have and the stories we are lucky to hear.

This is Homegoings.

Welcome home.

Senayit Tomlinsons sound is described as unapologetically genreless.

Her musical comparisons range from Florence and The Machine to Led Zeppelin.

So you know, that.

A Homegoing is actually a funeral.

It's an African-American tradition where we send our loved ones who passed on home.

That's the belief they're going home.

While we were creating the series, it was just too big and too much to talk about all of black grief all at the time.

So we decided to build a house.

The house has these pillars.

Grief or mourning, right?

Joy, rage and healing.

Because that is the way that black people grieve.

It is not one way.

It is all of those things walking alongside one another.

And Senayit, I asked her, Do you identify with grief, rage, joy or healing as if those are the only options?

And she said, all of them, of course.

And then she invited another one.

She said, I want to, I want to invite numbness.

Numbness, yeah.

Perhaps.

That's the door to this house, because that's how we get through.

Senayit Tomlinson, everyone.

So I guess you're all aware now that you're not at a performance.

Yeah?

As Myra said, welcome to our ceremony.

We have an altar set up over here.

We have the water for the ancestors.

So my set is dedicated to those we have lost.

And the badass black musicians and artists and poets that you will be hanging out with tonight.

Baby, my baby.

My baby, my darling.

I will be, I will be, I will be waiting for waiting for waiting for you to come home.

Baby, my baby.

My baby, my darling.

I will be, I will be, I will be waiting for waiting for waiting for you to come home.

(Music) (Music) You put your arms up, I pulled your pants down you made me sweat, I made you bow so in this harsh land, if the parched ground finds you on your knees, oh you call on your angel you call on me call on your angel, you call on your angel, oh you call on me (Music) With your hands held, that head high your straight back, this battle cry so in this wild land, if the scorched earth finds you on your knees, you call on your angel you call on me call on your angel, call on your angel, you call on me (Music) (Music) Khonsu X on the violin!

You caught me by surprise, spread me wide and now our blood burns, bodies collide so on this shoreline, if the high tide finds you on your knees, oh you call on your angel you call on me call on your angel, you call on your angel, you call on me (Music) (Music) You know that Ill find it, in the ways that I always do and I will make this my own, love you know its the path I must choose you run away, it finds you you walk, you crawl, you hide, you cant escape it now, can you you know I am the only one I want you so badly, I can feel it all over me and you feel it so strongly, you know Im the only one only one, only one, only one (Music) (Music) (Music) Spanky Roman on the drums!

You know that you have it all the ways I do for you and you can call this youre own but you know its the path we both choose and I run away, it finds me I walk, I crawl, I hide, I cant escape it now, can I I know youre the only one and you want me so badly, and I can feel it all over you and you see it so strongly, I know youre the only one only one, only one, only one (improvised singing) (improvised singing) We have one more for you.

(Music) Its my children, my cousin, father, my mother, my aunts uncle, my brother and my sisters they suffer And she stands up, she stands out with grace and with ease despite the war machines, to spite the war machines well, look at what they have done to leave us only this and images, that sound and I think, “ _ _ _ _ it ” but you pull me into you, for a second or two everything stops and everything stops its so hard, its so hard hard, its so hard, hard, its so hard hard, and here comes the reign our dead haunt the streets, the sidewalks, the trees every day their numbers grow, every day their numbers grow and how many will die before you also scream, “No more!

” before you also scream, “This matters!

” and “NO, NOT ONE MORE ”?

How many will die before the only recourse is burn this down you know I want to burn this down but you pull me into you, for a second or two everything stops and everything stops its hard, its so hard hard, its so hard, hard, its so hard hard, and here comes the reign (Music) (Music) whoever she is looking (Music) (Music) whoever she is looking I'm in love with both these men!

Now you pull me into you, for a second or two everything stops and everything stops Thank you.

This community here, we may be small, but we are mighty and we do not shut the _ _ _ _ up.

And every single black person on this stage tonight has put themselves out in a way that has hurt friends, relationships with friends, relationship with family, relationship all over.

As we use our platforms to provide a space for those who cannot speak, those who cannot speak because of their jobs and those who cannot speak because they are dead.

We are tired.

We are tired, tired, tired.

It's time for us to actually be able to pull back and not in a segregated way, in a way that like we take care of our own and then we can come back together and then we can come back together.

So you turn inwards on your community and you fix your cousins, your uncles, your fathers, your mothers, your aunts, your sisters, your third cousin, four times removed.

So that we can, like, hang out of my house so I can make them Ethiopian food and we can, like, take a breath.

Thanks so much for joining us.

If you want to continue to be a part of the homegoings family, stay in touch at homegoings.co and subscribe to the Homegoings podcast wherever you listen.

Take good care.