[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
an echo can be defined as something
repeated or reverberate ‘add after the
original sound to stopped I think of
myself like that I picture myself in my
mind like like a sound it started
thousands of years ago in the Garden of
Eden all right
then carried on to the shores of Africa
resound it loudly through the streets of
Birmingham those same drumbeats the
played on those African villages they
beat in my chest today those protest
songs still reverberate through my soul
lately the echoes of the darkest parts
of ourselves have gotten louder and it’s
forcing us to deal with some significant
trauma you see if I’m an echo then I
carry within me all the pain of my
ancestors but within that pain I believe
there’s something more and so tonight
I’d like to share with you what I found
in my echo now when I was a kid my
mother was my world she’s my everything
my father you know he’s great but I’m a
mama’s boy
yeah I remember my favorite thing to do
with her we’d make brownies all right
she mixed the batter
she let me pour the batter into the tray
we licked the bowl clean together yeah
she’s the reason I love feeder
she gave me my curiosity for reading she
would go on to have four more kids after
me but I’d always be her favorite
yeah I was her Hawaiian island her Maui
my mother was always my favorite person
so when my mother got lost in a world of
abuse of men and crack cocaine I began
to lose my way too
you know suddenly my siblings and I
weren’t enough she was walling herself
off to us and we all felt the
my mother would sometimes disappear for
days it’s a bunch weeks but this time
those weeks turned into months and those
months turned into years I did the best
I could take care of my siblings but if
I’m being honest when she left the
lights went out for me I gave up on my
dreams got my GED dived into workforce
with no particular aim or goal you see I
didn’t see any value in my story I
didn’t see myself as an asset meanwhile
my mom was somewhere lost in the haze
and used by men men that looked like me
for pleasure and affirmation for their
perceived dominance she slept on the
streets and dens of inequity she was
beaten raped by low men with lower
morals Marian Hatcher the woman who gave
me life was gone no years later after my
siblings had grown up and I had nobody
else left to take care of I found myself
with an all-time low it got to the point
that I couldn’t go home I slept in my
car I contemplated suicide no one would
care anyway right I just wanted my story
to end
but here’s the thing my mother’s story
did not end with abuse and drugs
she got out I got out she got clean I
got clean she used her story I’ve used
my story
I got pardoned I’ve helped thousands of
women changed the world
I used the pain the abuse and the
failure to save others from that
I’m the chronicler of my story now while
my mom was turning her life around I was
still in that victim space but the power
of her story once again began to shake
up my life as it had when I was young
except this time instead of pushing me
into the darkness it was pulling me into
the life she inspired me to redefine my
life on my terms and live my life like
it mattered and like my big beautiful
black life matters
that’s right but I realize other stories
matter too right whoa even as my own
narrative was being marginalized
I was marginalizing others so I started
to listen to other narratives that goes
of their pain and their potential I
started going to village board meetings
protest anywhere anywhere where people
were demanding to be heard I started to
listen for the first time it’s true that
life is big and mean and it often isn’t
fair and is really true the dominate
culture tries to write our narratives
but the deeper truth is that we can tell
it better we can echo love
into the world it means we choose what
we leave behind if generational trauma
is real
so is generational love right I carry my
ancestors pain I also carry their
triumphs and the cool thing is once you
start to do that
you affect everyone around you right you
change the frequency and as you shift
from a minor tone to a major tone our
collective song changes right Trayvon
told his story from beyond the grave
and inspired to generation to people to
continue the fight the eminent Navy
SEALs started decades ago right a bunch
of high school students from Florida
used a survivor’s tale to create a
seismic shift in our country and show
adults the power children’s voices
tirana Burke used two words to tell her
story today it’s a worldwide movement
scores of women use though too
those two words it’s a time is up on top
of masculinity and sexual abuse
generations of women we have the courage
to speak up and a generation of men will
Marion Hatcher the drug addled
prostitute changed national conversation
on sex trafficking she used her darkest
days to save
all of our lives have been filled with
systemic oppression racism sexism ageism
ableism all the isms ugliness but we did
not let our story in there so show up
use your story
use your marginalized story to show
people that we are defined by more than
just the pain that we carry find other
people who believe that their story
doesn’t matter and pass on that love
filled knowledge into their hearts you
never know whose life you can save whose
heart you can touch and all that you do
that goal of now I like to end this talk
with something a bit personal I’m not a
father yet 37 years old not a father yet
I’m not the spring chicken I used to be
but it is something that always believed
God wanted for me something’s been
holding me back I’m working on this talk
forced me to examine that now this is a
dear echo I’m sorry I’m sorry for the
wait I’m obligated to pass on to you you
will be born innocent and limitless in
your potential and my first act as a
father will be to traumatize you with
the burden of being black in a white
world it is not my intention to do this
I’m sorry that you will go through life
being marginalized by people they do not
see all of you
I’m sorry you’ll be ignored by your
teachers when you ask to be seen I’m
sorry people will regard your pain as
fantasy
and I’m sorry that the world can be so
cruel mostly though I’m sorry that I let
all of those other things keep us from
meeting each other I’m sorry that I did
not see all the amazing things I would
pass on to you you will be so strong
because of your heritage you come from
Grand traditions of Queens and slaves
who found ways to exist and live and
laugh and create all while being lynched
and raped you come from a legacy of
inventors and doctors and activists who
changed the world with love all while
being bombed and killed I’m sorry it
took me the better part of 40 years to
realize that I can’t wait to meet you I
hope you can forgive me for my
foolishness and delaying our meeting I
can’t wait to see the person you become
I can’t wait to see how you find ways to
be free in the world that would shackle
you and I can’t wait to see what you
will leave behind and what kind of echo
you will be with love and resistance dad
thank you
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
an echo can be defined as something
repeated or reverberate ‘add after the
original sound to stopped I think of
myself like that I picture myself in my
mind like like a sound it started
thousands of years ago in the Garden of
Eden all right
then carried on to the shores of Africa
resound it loudly through the streets of
Birmingham those same drumbeats the
played on those African villages they
beat in my chest today those protest
songs still reverberate through my soul
lately the echoes of the darkest parts
of ourselves have gotten louder and it’s
forcing us to deal with some significant
trauma you see if I’m an echo then I
carry within me all the pain of my
ancestors but within that pain I believe
there’s something more and so tonight
I’d like to share with you what I found
in my echo now when I was a kid my
mother was my world she’s my everything
my father you know he’s great but I’m a
mama’s boy
yeah I remember my favorite thing to do
with her we’d make brownies all right
she mixed the batter
she let me pour the batter into the tray
we licked the bowl clean together yeah
she’s the reason I love feeder
she gave me my curiosity for reading she
would go on to have four more kids after
me but I’d always be her favorite
yeah I was her Hawaiian island her Maui
my mother was always my favorite person
so when my mother got lost in a world of
abuse of men and crack cocaine I began
to lose my way too
you know suddenly my siblings and I
weren’t enough she was walling herself
off to us and we all felt the
my mother would sometimes disappear for
days it’s a bunch weeks but this time
those weeks turned into months and those
months turned into years I did the best
I could take care of my siblings but if
I’m being honest when she left the
lights went out for me I gave up on my
dreams got my GED dived into workforce
with no particular aim or goal you see I
didn’t see any value in my story I
didn’t see myself as an asset meanwhile
my mom was somewhere lost in the haze
and used by men men that looked like me
for pleasure and affirmation for their
perceived dominance she slept on the
streets and dens of inequity she was
beaten raped by low men with lower
morals Marian Hatcher the woman who gave
me life was gone no years later after my
siblings had grown up and I had nobody
else left to take care of I found myself
with an all-time low it got to the point
that I couldn’t go home I slept in my
car I contemplated suicide no one would
care anyway right I just wanted my story
to end
but here’s the thing my mother’s story
did not end with abuse and drugs
she got out I got out she got clean I
got clean she used her story I’ve used
my story
I got pardoned I’ve helped thousands of
women changed the world
I used the pain the abuse and the
failure to save others from that
I’m the chronicler of my story now while
my mom was turning her life around I was
still in that victim space but the power
of her story once again began to shake
up my life as it had when I was young
except this time instead of pushing me
into the darkness it was pulling me into
the life she inspired me to redefine my
life on my terms and live my life like
it mattered and like my big beautiful
black life matters
that’s right but I realize other stories
matter too right whoa even as my own
narrative was being marginalized
I was marginalizing others so I started
to listen to other narratives that goes
of their pain and their potential I
started going to village board meetings
protest anywhere anywhere where people
were demanding to be heard I started to
listen for the first time it’s true that
life is big and mean and it often isn’t
fair and is really true the dominate
culture tries to write our narratives
but the deeper truth is that we can tell
it better we can echo love
into the world it means we choose what
we leave behind if generational trauma
is real
so is generational love right I carry my
ancestors pain I also carry their
triumphs and the cool thing is once you
start to do that
you affect everyone around you right you
change the frequency and as you shift
from a minor tone to a major tone our
collective song changes right Trayvon
told his story from beyond the grave
and inspired to generation to people to
continue the fight the eminent Navy
SEALs started decades ago right a bunch
of high school students from Florida
used a survivor’s tale to create a
seismic shift in our country and show
adults the power children’s voices
tirana Burke used two words to tell her
story today it’s a worldwide movement
scores of women use though too
those two words it’s a time is up on top
of masculinity and sexual abuse
generations of women we have the courage
to speak up and a generation of men will
Marion Hatcher the drug addled
prostitute changed national conversation
on sex trafficking she used her darkest
days to save
all of our lives have been filled with
systemic oppression racism sexism ageism
ableism all the isms ugliness but we did
not let our story in there so show up
use your story
use your marginalized story to show
people that we are defined by more than
just the pain that we carry find other
people who believe that their story
doesn’t matter and pass on that love
filled knowledge into their hearts you
never know whose life you can save whose
heart you can touch and all that you do
that goal of now I like to end this talk
with something a bit personal I’m not a
father yet 37 years old not a father yet
I’m not the spring chicken I used to be
but it is something that always believed
God wanted for me something’s been
holding me back I’m working on this talk
forced me to examine that now this is a
dear echo I’m sorry I’m sorry for the
wait I’m obligated to pass on to you you
will be born innocent and limitless in
your potential and my first act as a
father will be to traumatize you with
the burden of being black in a white
world it is not my intention to do this
I’m sorry that you will go through life
being marginalized by people they do not
see all of you
I’m sorry you’ll be ignored by your
teachers when you ask to be seen I’m
sorry people will regard your pain as
fantasy
and I’m sorry that the world can be so
cruel mostly though I’m sorry that I let
all of those other things keep us from
meeting each other I’m sorry that I did
not see all the amazing things I would
pass on to you you will be so strong
because of your heritage you come from
Grand traditions of Queens and slaves
who found ways to exist and live and
laugh and create all while being lynched
and raped you come from a legacy of
inventors and doctors and activists who
changed the world with love all while
being bombed and killed I’m sorry it
took me the better part of 40 years to
realize that I can’t wait to meet you I
hope you can forgive me for my
foolishness and delaying our meeting I
can’t wait to see the person you become
I can’t wait to see how you find ways to
be free in the world that would shackle
you and I can’t wait to see what you
will leave behind and what kind of echo
you will be with love and resistance dad
thank you
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]
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