-Hey Homegoings Fam.

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

-The artists -I interview are so prolific -and so talented that -for a second year in a row -we've staged -a live performance -with them -for a heartfelt night -of music, -dancing, storytelling, -and in this case, -a hybrid of sorts.

-With no terms of endearment -or forgiveness -racism, misogyny -white supremacy, capitalism, -oppression, genocide -I see you for who you are -and what you really are -In the homgoings tradition -we topped off the evening -with a Q&A session: -vulnerability personified.

-This is Homegoings.

-Welcome home.

-Kiah Morris!

-I said, -KIAH MORRIS!

-(cheering) -Ive gotten to know -Kiah over the years, better.

-And what's really cool -about Kiah is that she -is someone who always speaks -truth.

-Everything she says is worthy -of being believed.

-And this is likely because -she's had a lot of life.

-Kiah has done a lot and often -I'm asking myself, what has -Kiah not done?

-She's an artist.

-She's an author.

-She's a poet, -an advocate, a leader, -a mother, a sister.

-A former Democratic member -of the Vermont House -of Representatives -and commissioner for Vermont -Commission for Women.

-You know, between sleeping.

-(laughing) -She's also a singer.

-She's a singer.

-And she was featured -in our episode, Black Beauty: -What does it mean -to be beautiful?

-So up next, -Kiah is going to add -being a songwriter -and a singer -to her list of excellence.

-Please give it up for Kiah -Morris, -who is Black beauty -personified.

-(applause) -Good evening, friends.

-I'm so pleased -to be able to be here tonight -with you all to share -this work.

-And I'm accompanied -by some amazing folks -who have been a part -of my life and my -journey here in Vermont, -!coming back into my own voice.

-And one of the things -that happens when you create -your own book of poetry -is it becomes a thing -that other people can -then hold, becomes a thing -that people can read, -connect with, critique.

-And it's kind of terrifying -because you pour your heart -and soul into your words.

-And each and every -word is precious, right?

-I've been fortunate.

-I've been fortunate that -!my music, my words, my rhythm, -they speak so today on bass, -we have Joe Wiley, -(applause) -Dov Schiller -Nick Char -So these are some pieces -from my book.

-The first one we're going to -do is called, Anthem.

-(bluesy music) -My, you seem angry -white supremacy says -with a snarky, sadistic grin -as it presses its hand down -upon my face -crushing my upturned nose -and my chin, see -this is the only way -that business -works, the business of world -domination -and we've determined -that your participation -is just an important part -of submission -into the manipulation -of determining -your place in this nation -for your citizenship -is conditional.

-See, there's -no true birthrights -to respect or humanity, -firstly -because of your race.

-We owned -you before you were born -!a legacy in a system that sees -you never as truly human -equal to none and inferior -to all, inferior to all -so don't tell me that your -life matters, girly -because it doesn't.

-All lives matter -it says, not Black lives, -all lives matter -because acknowledging -your place in this world -requires a recognition -of a unique human experience -that we've determined is -not worthy of recognition.

-How dare you even breathe -with such grace?

-And each conversation -must be dank, heated -and heavy -in order to be legitimate.

-A true bloody battle of words -but we will never fight -fair, it says.

-We gleefully paint ourselves -with your spilled blood -as the victims of your evil, -your truth -telling, your interruptions -to our superior trains -of thought.

-See, I was once -told that you do not have to -go to every battle -that you are invited to.

-So why is my existence -such the site of -so much spiritual warfare?

-So we will talk over you.

-We will dismiss you.

-We will repackage your ideas, -call them our own, -name it -diversity and then profit -richly on your name.

-As we are known to do.

-And then Corporate America -chimes in a sneer -and it says, your hair is -just a little too -revolutionary.

-It's so unkempt -and so nonwhite.

-See, the time has come -again and again -that promotions in my career -sink perfectly upon -when I actually adorn -and move into -assimilating whiteness.

-I have to prove my worthiness -to enter my commitment -to become other, -to ascend beyond.

-All of my hard work -and accomplishments are still -beholden to the whims -of someone else's grace, -someone else's willingness -!to give me what I have earned.

-See, and I live in -liminality, -never really sure that I fit -their twisted tribal team.

-Fit, family, culture, -exclusionary, -whatever the human resources -catch -phrase of the day is that -determines my -professional marginalization.

-See, I just keep demanding -acceptance into the places -they tell me -that I don't belong.

-And see the gatekeepers, -they hold tight the keys -and as they were -trained to do and -and they smile in your face -and say -you deserve but a penance -and will receive far less -until you prove -your worthiness again -and again and again.

-You will do more.

-You will make a way out of -no way.

-You will absorb -all the psychic baggage -and physical destruction -that that exclusion causes.

-See, -because you have been bred -through slavery, -unatural selection -!to have a supernatural ability -to endure too much.

-You will dance, -you will produce -until your fingers bleed, -and you collapse -from the sweat equity of the -Black American nightmare.

-And so I pull the food -from my child's mouth -to pay the exorbitant -price of admission -that's promised through -credentials -and accreditations -and degrees -and professional development -and more commitment -than others are ever expected -to give.

-It was all conditional.

-It was all laid out -in legalese.

-!I just didn't read between the -fine lines -over the print my life -I, I trusted in -the goodwill of the powerful -and now I'm left -spent crushed and quivering.

-And so I fight back -with the strength -of a -hundred dark skinned -Queens -who were told they were -pretty, for a Black girl -I speak louder with a -conviction and -the ferocity of a thousand -servant women -who are told that -they are poor -because they are lazy.

-I blatantly call out -systems of oppression -with tactical acuity -of women warriors -like Nzinga, Tubman, -Nannie and Shakur.

-And they turn on me.

-They scream in my face.

-They say, foolish girl, -it was you all along.

-It is you -who has wounded our pride.

-And you need to make us -whole again.

-And then I fight back tears, -exhausted from so many -!daily battles, tired and worn, -my defeat is what they want.

-My acquiescence -is what they need -in order to put things back -into their rightful order.

-But I know that I -I cannot be beaten -unless I allow it -and no longer a conscientious -objector to participating -in this war for my soul, -here and now.

-And the agony, -the agony -that is concealed -within cannot be held back.

-I start to feel -the dignity of -my foremothers being -pulled out of whack, -my spine stacked high -with historical memories -of warriors and goddesses -who bowed to no one.

-And thus begins -my transformation -into my real self.

-My skin tears at the mask -that I wear -when I choose to hide.

-Torn off with no sense of -natural pride, skin -reddened and weary -eyes hot and tired -from tears crying hours -!on end, tears a thousand years -in the making -blinding tears -and my body -in all consuming agony, -there is nowhere left to go -other than to leave -this fallacy.

-I look at my complicity in -fostering this repression.

-I see the carnage -brought by this oppression.

-I look at the photo album -of my memories and I realize -that my -smile has always been there, -but only for a moment -and not real.

-And it all becomes too much.

-Blood rushes forth.

-And I choose, -I choose today -to call you out by name -with no terms of endearment -or forgiveness, -racism, misogyny, -white supremacy, capitalism, -oppression, genocide.

-I see you for who you are -and what you really are.

-And I will not accept you -or any of your relatives -on this blood -stained family tree.

-I will not leave this legacy -to our children.

-I will not let them -believe for a -moment that this -must be their truth, -their reality.

-See, because mine is mine -to create.

-My life is mine.

-And I will rise.

-I will rise.

-(improvised singing) -oh, no.

-I will rise -I will rise -I will, I will rise.

-I will rise.

You will rise.

-We will rise.

-We will rise.

-We will rise.

-We will rise.

-We will rise.

-(improvised singing) -We, we will rise.

-It's terrifying to feel like -you can tap into the place -that you start -to articulate the pain -that you might be holding, -as well as the hopes -that you have -for what will happen -once you produce -that piece of art, -as well -as whether or not anyone's -going to actually get it.

-Are you going to feel -the depth of that?

-Are you going to understand -what that was like?

-But there's a healing -that always comes -because someone else -can relate to that, right?

-Someone else can hear -those words.

-They can understand -where you were going -when you chose to add -those particular intonations -to the music.

-They get it when you're -coming with that inside joke, -they get into the joke -and now they're an insider.

-Like those -are all those things -that the movements -that you'll do, -!you're like, I felt you there.

-I felt you as you moved.

-I felt the wind.

-I felt the spirit.

-That's, thats what helps.

-Thats what helps.

-But healing, you know, as -we know, is not linear.

-So neither is creative work.

-This next piece -is a compilation -in honor of genocides -that took place in Honduras -and El Salvador, -following a trip that I took -with Oxfam America.

-!I, I saw the places they died.

-I saw the places they died.

-I saw the blood on the -wall as if it were fresh.

-I saw the -bullets pierce their flesh.

-I saw the places they died -and their spirits went on -to a heavenly place, far -from a war torn country -of our design, -which orchestrated their -very demise.

-Brick walls, -splashed with stucco -metal bars on windows, -each home a fortress -to the violence that lies -in wait across thresholds.

-I saw the places they died -and the tears -behind the eyes of a priest -who saw too much.

-Mental memorials -to the expressions of horror -and the sadness -on the face of a mother -who died trying to save her -daughter's life.

-Their state sanctioned orders -to leave -no witnesses behind -told them to fillet her face -!so that no one might recognize -their own -mothers -gaze in her frozen stare.

-I saw the places they died -where children -were not spared.

-No life too precious -to halt corruption -and gang warfare.

-Daily genocides -where there are no places -to hide.

-These weary hands that -hold -life and death in the same -breath -A pain, a pain -no mother should know -and a violence that -has no depth -(improvised singing) -Oh why?

-Oh why, Mother -Earth, she cries -because we've turned our eyes -from genocide.

-!Oh, I saw the places they died -in the cobblestone streets -where the people are pawns -in a corruptors end game -!and the depths of the violence, -it has no shame.

-I saw the places they died -when I heard the women speak -!of the violence that they face -every day, every week.

-The dignity decimated.

-The beatings meant to break -and the constant earthquakes -which break -the fragile state.

-The normalcy of rape.

-And I saw the places they -died and the hopeful -smiles of the proud feminists -who wear their burdens of -their sisters like a shield -to protect the dignity -of their sisters, who -is too often forced to yield.

-I saw the places they died.

-Float off into still air -!laden with promises and hidden -ambitions laid bare.

-And so I craft pedal -with poems -to form a book dropped off -in a history of genocide, -in the hopes -that the roses -will display and will -propagate a garden in -honor of the many, -many places that they died.

-(improvised singing) -These weary hands -that hold -they hold life -and death -in the same breath.

-Oh, and the pain -no mother should know -It's a shame, its a shame -that has no name.

-Oh why?

-Oh why?

-Mother earth, Mother -earth, she must cry -Oh why?

-Because, -because we've -all closed our eyes -to genocide.

-She entered the dialog -like a rush of wind, carrying -the stories -that only remain in the woven -threads -of the traditional garments -held by Turistas -at the side of the road.

-Each handcrafted -flower and colorful flourish -the remnants of a tongue -that she never knew, -but a presence -that demanded visibility.

-In one breath, they said, -no one remained.

-Their presence reduced -to a spectral chapter, -one from which -the audience was too -inept to acknowledge.

-And she made it clear -she lives.

-They live.

-(singing in Spanish) -(singing in Spanish) -(singing in Spanish) -(singing in Spanish) -And the tears -they flowed -like a cleansing rain -that falls on -to our clumsy -foot path carved -by colonial mentalities -and a -history of genocide -that linked her world -to mine, -her lineage to mine.

-And they call us mestizo.

-They call us mulatto.

-They call us colored, -they call us indigeno.

-We are here.

We are here.

-We are, we are.

-Weve always, always, -always, always been -here -and these hands, -these hands -that hold -life and death -in the same breath -and the tears, the tears, -the tears -that no mother should know.

-And a shame, -a shame, a shame -that has no depth.

-Oh why, oh why?

-See Mother Earth, -she cries, she cries, -she cries.

-Oh, tell me why.

-Why?

-Because weve -closed our eyes to -genocide.

-(applause) -Thank you, thank you, -thank you.

-Thank you.

-!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.