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Script

Truth Be Told

PRELUDE – #YOLO (Land of the Thieves)

 

Jordan: Soldiers die, warriors cry, and time flies

we sit back and witness our own genocide

Its time to put our fear aside

Pick up our pride and tell the world we won’t comply

No more sittin witness

Its time to handle business

An ain’t no such thing

As being finished

It’s time we understand nothin’s ever free

Except for death would you like a receipt

And black bodies the officers favorite hobby,

Trip Over Trigga,

Facial expressions you can’t configure

Only 17 reported dead on his seventeenth,

Is it still the land of the free

if they took everything from me then blamed me

Is this the american dream?

Is this the land of the free?

Or is it the supremacy nightmare

In the land of the thieves.

KEITH/MICHAEL RAY RAP/LAMAR MONOLOGUE

 (with body percussion)

IDEAL DAY

 

June: It's a summer afternoon, I'm walking on the beach, feeling the softness and warmth of sand on my feet. The sun is bright and the temperature is just right. The waves are softly brushing up against the shore -- worries I no longer have anymore. I'm calm and at peace. * I'm enjoying the sunshine. I'm surrounded by many people who are also having a great time. I have been anticipating this day for a long time. But unfortunately, my ideal day is just a dream of mine. Life is precious and full of trial and error. Bad choices do not define ones character. Healing does exist.** (repeat)

*Denisse: My Ideal day would be picking up my wonderful daughters Alara and Alani so we can go on our first Father-Daughter date. Ever since they were babies I envisioned this day. This day is a rare opportunity to provide an experience of what a 'man' should be like. Also, model how a man should treat women. This is my opportunity to break the cycle. The painful cycle of deadbeat dads, absent fathers and domestic violence. I am in front of my ow house, preparing to pick up my girls and I laugh to myself. Here I am, 32 years old and nervous before a date with a 7 and 8 year old. Talk about palms and forehead being sweaty. A lot is riding on this. Here we go. This is my motivation to keep going.

**Jackson: I see a chameleon color sky: purple, hot orange. I smell fresh air and I touch shells, clear water. I feel soft sand. I am on an island with my family watching a sunset.

Troy (June and Gabe dancing): It's a summer afternoon, I'm walking on the beach, feeling the softness and warmth of sand on my feet. The sun is bright and the temperature is just right. The waves are softly brushing up against the shore -- worries I no longer have anymore. I'm calm and at peace. * I'm enjoying the sunshine. I'm surrounded by many people who are also having a great time. I have been anticipating this day for a long time. But unfortunately, my ideal day is just a dream of mine. Life is precious and full of trial and error. Bad choices do not define ones character. Healing does exist.

Lamar (Red and Denisse dancing): My Ideal day would be picking up my wonderful daughters Alara and Alani so we can go on our first Father-Daughter date. Ever since they were babies I envisioned this day. This day is a rare opportunity to provide an experience of what a 'man' should be like. Also, model how a man should treat women. This is my opportunity to break the cycle. The painful cycle of deadbeat dads, absent fathers and domestic violence. I am in front of my ow house, preparing to pick up my girls and I laugh to myself. Here I am, 32 years old and nervous before a date with a 7 and 8 year old. Talk about palms and forehead being sweaty. A lot is riding on this. Here we go. This is my motivation to keep going.

Willie E (Jackson/June/Denisse and Chunky/ Drew/Dante dancing): I see a chameleon color sky: purple, hot orange. I smell fresh air and I touch shells, clear water. I feel soft sand. I am on an island with my family watching a sunset.

 

Alasia (Marion dancing): My ideal day: I see huge closed gigantic doors with every imaginable lock, opening. Rusty hinges cracking, dust coming off the door. A door that has never been opened, is now opening for me. I am walking through this great door and I can feel its coldness from keeping many men like me mass incarcerated. It's well-oiled steel always cold like a wintery day. As I am opening this door that has been closed all my life, I feel the sun hit my face and surround me with its powerful love. I smell all the wonderful smells that urban life can bring. I smell pastries freshly baked, fresh coffee being brewed and a candy store with all the assortments. And then I feel my loved ones hugging and kissing me with their long lost love.

(All RSVP movers and YAAWs flocking)

 

THE WAY IT IS

 

Alasia: The block is where family is

Full of the richly broke

All out to get the newest J’s

No focus on the future

Focus on the now

The next dollar

The next ickup bruh you know wassup

No one’s telling what to do or how to do it

Just forced to keep moving

Striving? No surviving!

Fried foods and top ramen miracles

use what you got

But when you’re given scraps and opps not much can be achieved 

Still waking up like the rents due

More like passed due

Little know of the obstacles that are faced

Cause people stay fitted

Whether it’s stolen or crimes are committed

GUILT AND INNOCENCE

 

Audio voiceover (June dancing):

Criminal Building

neither friendly or unfriendly

I did watch an orientation video, which to me seemed dated and forced

I mostly felt relieved

it was an easy, stress free experience

I feel like I keep getting out of it

people who have the most respect for the jury system

people who wear red are perceived as more aggressive

less likely to be picked for a jury

giving a right or wrong answer,whatever that meant

expect the worse

living in this constant state of limbo

thoughtful

progressive

liberal

the law can often be confusing and cases can be complicated

gut feelings

the hard part is doing this without bias

the standard walk through the metal detector

not involving emotions

the guard working the x-ray machine flagged my backpack for manual search

accusatory look

everyone had the look of resignation

audience chamber behind glass partitions

the defending lawyer was charismatic

reluctant to serve

wondering what the story was with the city’s attorney

work-life balance

psychologically challenging

very inconvenient

illuminating

savvy about the rhetorical techniques of lawyers

many people milling around

the scene was familiar to me

I knew the expected behavior

empty pockets

tension throughout the room that never goes away

“I did and do feel that jury duty is extremely important and one of the thing that our country is founded on”

those that have complaints about the justice system but don’t participate or do their part to be involved in it

selection is first and foremost based on look

some on purpose and some subconsciously

who am I representing?

what result do I want?

impartial and empirical

patriotic images

to not be swayed by emotional arguments or other people’s opinions

See through the bullshit and find the truth

I always go for the underdog

cultural defense

He also said, since I was in custody that I had to be guilty

the DA got desperate because she was losing

deliberating room

the DA accused the woman juror and myself that we were making flirtatious smiles and eyes at one another

it was not true

never did I make eye contact or smiles at this female or did she do that to me

I am mumbling a prayer the whole time to myself

a paid lawyer

trust

what I am facing today

with you

 WHAT HE KNEW WAS ENOUGH

Jackson: The walls arched

Blue and white trapezoids

Jack walked in, free to move about

the woman lay motionless

He heard a baby crying

Room 319, that was it

But there was no human nascency, just IT

He could only look at the scene with emotions that were crippled and arched

Jack had seen through the doorway—the intense but jubilant crying

There was life but he didn’t know it (all he saw were trapezoids)

humans system sitting motionless

Jack left for Sacramento at 5 o’ clock about

He drove through black headlit highways and thought “so this is what prison is about”

The pantsuit women, men, stereotypes, stereotypes, stereotypes, he, she, it

hunger pain, purples blues, fucked, thought things that people had already thought, she was

motionless

Lena stood on the corner, the sidewalk spreading in ways that were stringent and arched

She was even bigger than that, bigger than Jack’s trapezoids

Lena had a daughter fell in love saw her best friend die and it went from happy to crying, happy

to crying

He saw her, followed her, saw what her life was all about

The cycles lie, subtle stupid trickery by me, incised by edges of trapezoids

Jack saw her selling drugs, he saw her patting her daughter on her head, and that was it

Until she cleaned his hotel room, the towel sat on the silver spool, arched

He dropped it and stood there motionless

They acknowledged each other and Jack left, walking over the hallway’s embroidered trapezoids

Jack’s last case: he had pieced together all the job’s trapezoids

The next of the motionless

When Jack looked at the body, he remembered it

He stared with the emotion of endless crying

Jack had seen the woman laying before him move and it was then that he noticed that he was still

able to move about

The wall started to move from all direction inwards to a position that was purely arched

The last case, the last trapezoid puzzle, was Lena, the one who went from happy to crying, happy

to crying

His system changed what it was all about

Lena’s motionless back was arched

 

FLY

 

(Denisse dancing)

WE HAVE TO REMEMBER

 

Mariluz: We Have to Remember

What do you do when the world turns its back against you?
You go to a place where your name and face may be forgotten.
Do you let it help you?

               or

                     ruin you?

Darkness surrounds your body,

and the space around you.

Yet you feel warmth hug you,

the rays of light creep, caress, and kiss your face.

Everything is blurry and becomes clear.
 A rush of joy starts at the smallest of your toes,

up to the crown of your head.
Subconsciously thinking, “Today I will…”
Your muscles elongate as a reminder that --

You are awake.

You are alive.
You are free.



Walking along side them,

those who stand by you.

Regardless of how you may seem.
Their smiles fill your heart more than

cake fills a child.

With their ringing laughter in your ears,

all troubles you ever had are no longer near.
Walking hand in hand,
step by step you see,

A tall strong man walking past in a navy colored uniform.
(insert city here) Police Department.
Security and a sense of pride beams in your dream
An idol who serves his nation by protecting it’s core.
but…

What happens when the core rots?



Inside this fruit,
a seed of corruption is being born.
A hierarchical society hidden from the people.
We begin feeding an organism,

thriving on the sadness and suffering of others.
Social scientist have named it the PIC,
 observing it wondering what it wants.



All of a sudden you are stripped.
What is left?
An echo of their voice,
goosebumps where they touched,
and an ache in your heart.

 Justice was evil, unfair, vengeful, and oppressive
Unaware targets lost behind cold walls.
Caught in cycle of what is considered “crime”
Risking their freedom for a family.
A misunderstanding between two people.
Or simply a bad decision.

People are being taken away.
To a place where they’re supposed to rehabilitate,
but then places give up on rehabilitating.
What can you do?

There’s an expectation of change,
but how if there’s no support.
Stop funding jails,
start funding programs.



Take the logic,
“Get them while they’re young”
Take the target groups off the streets,
and introduce a passion

Let’s open the rusted door.

Remember…

Awareness + Action = Change



 BOXES

Before Speakers:

Keith: (during grid walking) Truth be told, ever since I was a kid I only knew about the police but I had no idea where the police would take someone after arrest. I remember being arrested at 15 years old with two of my fiends. We had no idea where we were going or what was going to happen. I remember thinking that the police were taking us somewhere to do us harm, or even kill us.  I thought to myself that it was time to start to fight for my survival.

K. Lake: (during beginning of box sequence) Before I came to jail I used to think to myself as I was growing up that I never want to end up in there. While I was 15 or 16 I attended a tour of San Quentin State Prison and listened to all the lifers and other spokesman talk to the youth about how it is behind the walls and they tried to instill fear in us. Then at 19 years old I found myself being brought back into the prison to stay. They gave me one of the small rooms I remember seeing on the tour as a youth. When I stepped foot into the small cell I hated it right away.

Alasia: (during partner sculpture) Before YAAW, I did actually know about the Prison Industrial system. Growing up, it was always present, with cops outside in my neighborhood and people constantly being arrested or harassed by police. After we learned the statistics, I was shocked but soon after began to see people I grew up with getting locked down. It was really crazy. The truth is that statistics, but hey that’s what happens when you’re in a system working against your favor.”

Anthony: (during partner measuring section) Before going through the system I thought it was a place where people can get swept under the carpet and forgotten. I feel like the PIC is a huge business that is really trying to break up our communities.

Lamar: (during passing of boxes) The Prison Industrial Complex was a distant vacation spot that I aspired to go to. Once I started gang banging, prison was discussed frequently amongst the older members'; the OG's or the Big Homies. I knew they had committed drive ups, robbed, shot guns, jumped rival gang members, done other things that at the age of 12 were fascinating to me. I was ready to do anything to be like them or better. I was ready to do anything in order to be the baddest, and going to jail (or juvenile) would only help my cause. It was a rite of passage.

Denisse: (during Chunky/Keith Box statue, June box tower) “Before moving here I lived in Mexico, a country that has gotten more and more violent and dangerous over time. I lost all my faith and trust in the government and believed that people who made mistakes should be locked up. I saw people ending other people’s lives, I saw people stealing, and other efforts, I saw terrible things happen to those surrounding me, and my mind closed. I didn’t understand that situations that could have lead them to such mistakes, or the consequences of being locked up… or rather, I think I preferred to ignore it.”

AFTER SPEAKERS:

Jackson (alone on stage during Tariq solo) : There is no denying that people are profiting of prisons. It’s not some big conspiracy. There is a whole private security industry that thrives on locking people up with quotas to fill beds. The connection between lawmakers, prison officials and private benefit is kept more secretive but it doesn’t matter because no matter what people are profiting off prisons and the war on drugs.”

Dante: (during walk down the center line) When I was still learning the ways of the world, the War on Drugs took my father away from my sister and I for trying to feed our family. This "system" has added to my family's economic hardship. So justice appeared evil, unfair, vengeful and oppressive. I think its very sad that a lot of the men that are lost in these places were targets and didn't even know it. Policing in Urban America was made to fill these beds. The irony of it is when you take one man's freedom, you are paying for another's retirement.

June: (during prayer phrase variations) Basically, after being informed I knew that jails and prisons have innocent people in them.  I used to think prisons were supposed to keep dangerous people away; now I know that they are taking non-dangerous people away more. I learned that the US has the most people incarcerated than any country in the world. The land of the free is not so free after all.”

Mike Ray: (during prayer phrase variations) I only have a few things I can say and that is, Jail can only help or ruin a person. SO if you ever go to jail, use it to the best of you because if you don't it'll eat up your life."

Boxes break apart -- everyone disperses

Troy: (alone on stage surrounded by broken boxes) For a long time, I contributed to the problem of the PIC. I have been enslaved by tendencies that land me in jail. I hung onto resentments, anger, and blame, creating a negative attitude. Feeling victimized, I set myself up with a sense of entitlement and lowered moral standards. In order to rise above my thinking, I had to do some soul searching, which has enabled me to free myself from the insanity. Awareness + Action = CHANGE."

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