Powerstories Theatre stages true stories to open minds and hearts and inspire action worldwide.
Stories are powerful. They are moving and create genuine emotions. They are authentic human experiences that engage, connect and inspire us. And it is undeniable that the most powerful ones demonstrate conflict and then resolution.
THIS IS THE TIME TO INSPIRE OTHERS BY SHARING A POWERFUL STORY…A POWERSTORY.
Normally, we share submissions that bring a smile to our faces and joy to our hearts, but this time we asked our global family to dig deep and share stories, videos, poems, art pieces that inspire us to TAKE ACTION AND IMAGINE A BETTER TOMORROW.
What is causing your pain? How are you feeling? What are you doing? For the love of everything holy, WHAT CAN WE DO TOGETHER?
Below are the responses to our call.
Story Submitted By Amy C. Ragg
As I continue to reflect on my own unconscious biases and confront my own insensitivities, I realize that by looking to my friends of color to help me know how I can help, I am adding to the problem. It is not up to people of color to tell white people how to be anti-racist. It is up to us to do the research ourselves and provide support. I have to do the work. Read. Research. Share. Call out mistakes when I make them. Sit in the discomfort. Apologize for the mistakes. Learn to be better and do better. I am sorry for my lack of sensitivity in the last post. I am going to keep listening, reading, watching, learning and trying. I will be part of the solution, not part of the problem. I hope you will be too.
Peace and love.
………………………
As a privileged white woman, I feel wholeheartedly unqualified to speak about the horrifying killings of George Floyd and of Ahmaud Arbery, but silence is not an option.
How is this still happening? How? How is it possible that men of color continue to put their lives on the line just by leaving their houses every, single day? How is it that still today, in 2020, every mother of a black boy has to teach him how to speak, how to stand, how to respond, in the event that he his stopped by law enforcement, to keep him from being killed?
We have to be better. We have to do better.
I want to write something profound and moving, but my words are stuck around the lump in my throat.
I look to my friends of color to help me learn how I can help. Please, tell me what I can do to help be part of the solution, not part of the silence.
We are all we have, my friends. We have to be better.
Please be kind to each other.
Stay safe and be well.
Peace & Love
Story Submitted By Janice Creneti
I had lived most of my life before I understood the reality of white privilege. I had seen the reality of racism from a very early age as the neighborhood bully spat in my friend, Michael Ann’s face and snarled, “If I punched you, would you get a white eye?” At 8 years old, I was horrified and angry that someone could be so mean to another person. Michael Ann, on the other hand, seemed to let it roll off her back. Shortly after Trayvon Martin’s murder, I was having a conversation with 2 colleagues – both mothers of teen age sons, both African American. “Didn’t his parents ever have the talk with him?” Janet said. “What does the Birds and the Bees have to do with someone getting shot? I countered. Keisha looked at me at said patiently, “Different talk, Janice, different talk.” In my world the sex talk was the only talk there was. I didn’t know there was another world where parents talked to their sons about what to do WHEN they got pulled over by a cop, how to behave if they found themselves in a neighborhood not their own, confronted by someone that didn’t look like them, what they should and shouldn’t wear on their heads if they wanted to stay alive. I didn’t know because I’d never heard of that talk. My parents never had it with my brother because he’s white, because they are white. I looked at my colleagues and saw on their faces a pain I would never have to feel. I saw their shoulders slumped with a weight I would never have to carry – because I’m white. I thought again about the incident with Michael Ann and understood that the reason she seemed calmed, almost unaffected by the bully’s words was not because it didn’t bother her, but because, at the tender age of 8, she was already being trained to handle the racist insults that would be hurled at her for the rest of her life. And I realized it wasn’t enough for me to be horrified, to be angry. That alone wasn’t going to change things for people I loved. I realized I had a lot to do, a lot to learn to become a true ally. I had learned about the history of racism in our country, but was just beginning to examine my privilege. I voted in every election but needed to get active in protecting that right for others. I had done a lot of talking but not enough listening. So now I try to lead with listening, to examine my personal experiences and uncover my biases, to look for more ways to use the power that comes with my privilege. There’s a lot of work for me to do. But I’m committed to working on myself so I can do more work in the world.
Past Performer
Numerous Productions
Video and Photos Submitted by Claire Eli
Poem and Photo Submitted By Jim Yerman
What if the Gods created the most beautiful planet
and filled it with valleys and mountains and trees
with wildflowers that bloom in Spring
with fishes, and birds and bees.
What if they added waterfalls…and ladybugs…an occasional butterfly
and sunrises and sunsets so colorful they kaleidoscope the sky.
And what if once they were finished the Gods were so elated
with the beauty and magnificence of the planet they created
they decided this beauty needed to be experienced to be felt…and thus
what if the Gods created people to enjoy it…what if the Gods created us.
What if the Gods hoped we’d not only appreciate the love and beauty that surround us
but spread that love and beauty to everyone and everything around us.
What if the Gods never dreamed anything bad would happen
What if the Gods were wrong…
What if the people tainted the beauty the Gods created
What if the people could not get along.
And what if now every time the Gods look down on us
every time they realize their mistake…
their tears fall as rain from the heavens
filling our oceans our rivers…our lakes.
What if the Gods created the most beautiful planet
with but one hope…that we’d enjoy it…
What if the Gods created the most beautiful planet…
and all we did…was destroy it.
Regular Patron of Powerstories
Story Submitted By Mark Ferguson-Nokham
Racism. Yeah, I seen it, and spoke out against my whole life. From leaving in Cleveland, Ohio, to Chicago, and now here in Tampa, Florida. At a early age my parents shown me the importance of treating everyone as equal. I never cared about how someone looked like, or the color of their skin. I accept everyone for who they are, and treating each other with mutual respect. But here we are today, the riots that have taken place lately is because of continuing treatment people have received from not being treated as equal. And the constant evidence of that comes from a behavior breed by hate. When I was a child I lived in a beautiful neighborhood community where every family was from a diverse background. I had neighborhood friends who were Black, Native American, Hispanic, Asian, and every spectrum of the world. In college, I found out just how much hate would go and it forever open my eyes. As Student President of the Ball State University Religious Council I was invited to march with the Student President of the Multicultural Affairs Council during the first ever MLK march at Ball State University. What was shocking was that cold day walking down McKinley Avenue was very little police presence, along with a handful of college students along the side of the streets. I was marching with at least 400 black students and leaders of the community. Needless to say I was excited, and a little bit uncomfortable as we approached Riverside Avenue. Men in white sheets, and hoods. It was the KKK. And their main office in Knightstown, Indiana is very close to Ball State. They just stared at me with looks of hate that made my chest, and heart get tight. I was told by one of the leaders marching beside me to not respond. As we marched past them one of them looked at me and yelled “We know who are N lover, and know where you live.” Shocked, I had my first real experience of how far hate from others was like. The next day walking home late from evening classes I found the place where I was staying at vandalized. Everything I owned was vandalized, rug soaked in urine, and my pet cats missing. I was scared and I immediately called the police department who never showed up. My first experience ever being a target of hate. Through out my college years I moved from place to place. Never publishing my phone number, or address. I cut back from student activities on campus. But I will never forget my first time ever dealing with racism. My Senior year I decided to no longer fear get the best of me, and to be more of advocate for Diversity, and culture. That’s the way I been since college. Lastly, Racism has no place in our society. We must not be afraid to speak out against it. What I did back then was stayed silent because I was living in fear of what could happen next to me. Those who are racist towards someone is a learned behavior, meaning they were not born to hate. We must put aside the fear and become learn to accept each other as equals. If we could do that with open minds, and hearts so much can be achieved together. Maybe what has happened this past week will open up a dialogue where we can to begin to heal, and learn to accept one another as equals? One can hope.
Poem Submitted by RAin Christi
Where is the answer
In all of this?
White Amerikkka choking
On stolen bliss
Black America fighting
Just to be free
White Americans
Take time to refuse to see
Liberty and Justice
Never been for all
We were created equal
Then came the Fall
Colonialism needed
Power to thrive
Stole the peace of living
From every Black life
Winding up for something
What will come next?
How many peaceful protests
Got no respect?
White man resting
On a black man’s neck
What type of values
Does this system protect?
Rising up the anger
Rising up the lies
White man’s knowledge
Has never been right
Sifting through the facts
Makes it hard to decide
What pathway to peace
Can we embark on tonight?
Strategic miseducation
Of an entire population
Distracting a nation
They got them chasing sensation
So they miss all the truth
Right in front of their faces
Sit in their comfiest chairs
And yet they feeling complacent
They only see the anger
Not the lives that were taken
They witness the system
And would never trade places
Whispering hatred
Inside of their bones
They don’t know how to leave
Racism alone
They act like they’re better
Because they aren’t out in the streets
But they missing the point
Try escaping the heat
Judgement is coming
It cannot be escaped
Babylon is America
And the whore must pay
Playing with fire
And you’re bound to get burned
Read in between the pages
And you’re bound to learn
The victor tells the story
It rarely ever is fact
So take American history
And rewind it back
Black history began
Long before the slaves
And Amerikkka should begin
With every unmarked grave
Every soul they took
Without permission
Every family torn apart
With no remission
Forty acres and a mule
Could never bring forgiveness
Let’s all begin
Supporting black owned business
May every conscious soul
Stop feeding the system
May we all take time
To truly stop and listen
To the anger, the pain
The injustice, the wisdom
May we fight the injustice
Release them all from this prison
We are one human race
All deserve to be free
May the pathway to peace
Begin with me
Curated from Twitter, WFLA, TBT, & CarlosEats.com
Fire rescue crews this morning at Fowler Plaza South. Champs store is destroyed. Saigon Vietnamese restaurant, too pic.twitter.com/CM1LI3Ax0M
— Amy Hollyfield (@amy_hollyfield) May 31, 2020
.@USFFootball QB @Jordan_McCloud3 and brother @RMIII_34 helped organize a huge group of Tampa Bay Area football alumni to help cleanup a burned down storefront along Fowler Ave. on Sunday afternoon:https://t.co/UJDB3EsQXR
— Bulls247.com (@Bulls247) June 1, 2020
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