By Button Poetry
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Farah Habad, performing at Honey in Minneapolis, MN.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:02
In some alternate universe,
00:04
I know and I have lived joy.
00:07
This joy was a warm joy,
00:09
a full platter seasoned by Grandma’s hands,
00:12
Bill Withers songs blaring through the speakers
00:14
like we’re hearing them for the first time.
00:17
In this reality,
00:18
Beyoncé and Billie Holiday’s duets sit atop the Billboard charts
00:22
for 116 weeks,
00:24
but this week they were unseated
00:26
by Nipsey and Tupac’s remix of “California Love.”
00:29
Here, we don’t dance to colonial gaze. We don’t scratch to survive.
00:34
“Bling bling” is still a phrase
00:37
because our culture gets to live here without white people killing it,
00:43
on its own terms.
00:45
And, on this side, the grass is really greener.
00:47
It’s full of seasoned meats, mustard-based potato salad,
00:51
a whole village two-stepping in unison.
00:54
Because the Electric Slide powers our buildings.
00:57
The DJ is Neptune.
00:59
The way that she controls the waves sends us into a six-hour swag surf.
01:03
And, in this world, our heros do this crazy thing
01:08
called “reaching old age.”
01:12
They pass down rhythm, and wisdom, and wealth.
01:15
Here, there was no Homestead Act.
01:18
Land is not a commodity, but a public good.
01:22
We practice radical vulnerability around these parts, cuz.
01:25
Two Black boys are yelling on the corner
01:28
because they’re human and have a disagreement.
01:31
Their arms move to punctuate passion,
01:34
but no one mistakes their passion for a smoking gun here.
01:38
Because here, Black boys can be soft,
01:40
and confused, and frustrated, and it’s okay,
01:43
because no one polices our humanity.
01:48
And what a world this is–
01:50
a place where joy is ubiquitous and accessible,
01:55
a place where my Blackness is not a superpower or a fatal flaw,
01:59
it just is.
02:03
(cheers and applause)
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video
