KINGSTON – TMI Project’s Black Stories Matter

Additional Information

Join TMI Project for the first ever intergenerational production of Black Stories Matter. The performance will feature radically candid true stories from local people of color, from high school students to respected elders and many in between.

STORYTELLERS

Shawaine Davis
Shawaine started in a place where she was in the majority; but now, she lives in a place where she's the minority. At 7, she left Jamaica and moved to the USA, where she quickly learned that racism, ignorance, and fear are synonymous words.

Ashley St. Hubert
As a child, Ashley struggled to understand the color of her skin, bringing her mother a crayon to argue that ‘Black’ did not accurately describe the color of her skin. As an early teenager, she began to realize that her racial identity was hers, and only hers to define. She now defines herself as a beautiful, melanin goddess.

Eddie Hillje
Eddie wasn't prepared for his grandfather's suicide; and when his grandfather died, Eddie quickly had to learn how to take care of things, without realizing he had to take care of himself too.

Gopal Harrington
Gopal decides to unveil his dark secret: compulsive lying. Through true storytelling, Gopal triumphs in conquering his secretive past-- and begins a new, truthful chapter.

Erin Barreto
As Erin grows older and learns about cultural "standards" of beauty, she remembers a bouquet of yellow flowers that her father gifted her as a child-- and how that gesture came to define her own standard of what love and kindness truly mean.

Beetle Bailey
Beetle always struggled with gender: she doesn’t always feel like a girl, but she also doesn’t always feel like a guy. After meeting a trans woman named Christina, Beetle’s eyes are opened to a new word that describes how she’s always felt: gender-queer.

Freedom Walker
There are two sides to the gentrification coin: creation and destruction. Freedom Walker sees both when she’s forced to leave her family home in Harlem, NYC, to a new life in Kingston, NY, where she fears it could happen all over again.

Dara Lurie
Dara Lurie spent years searching for ways to commune with the spirits of her African ancestors, only to discover she had the language all along; dance.

Odell Winfield
In 3rd grade, Odell Winfield is told by his teacher that it will be 150 years before a black American will become president. Though Odell loses interest in school after this, he never loses interest in learning history of his people. Writing his own story, becoming a ‘word-speaker’ for the first time, Odell is seeing how much his own life trajectory reflects the larger story reflects the larger story of the Black American experience.

This is a special presentation during Black History Month In Kingston.

Can't make it to the main event?

This event will be live streamed right here on Facebook thanks to our partner Radio Kingston, and a real-time viewing party will also be held at Rough Draft Bar & Books.

You can also bring this Black Stories Matter storytelling performance to your organization, church group or home by hosting a viewing party. Fill-out our form to access our Stories from Across Generations Viewing and Discussion Guide!

Sign-up to host here: https://www.tmiproject.org/host-a-viewing-party/