Race

       Last night, I attended the multi-media solo performance of my writing coach, Anika Nailah. Her performance blended poetry with images, film clips, audio recordings, and music, to raise awareness on racism. It was a powerful and moving show on a topic that I rarely give much attention to. But it worked. Because I've been thinking about it a lot since last night.
       After her performance, the experience got interactive, as Anika and someone from the Amherst College Multicultural Resource Center took questions and talked about prejudice, discrimination, and racism. The audience then went to another room and had access to all sorts of art supplies, where we were asked to create something based on what got moved in us by the performance. Then we got to share that up on stage if we wanted.
       Experiencing what people wrote and drew and created as a result of the show was as impactful as the performance itself. The whole experience has raised my awareness about my own prejudices, and how those translate into my life. Thank you, Anika, thank you everyone who participated in the evening, for helping me wake up to some of my own bullshit.     

RACE

The Human Race
is just that

A Race

trying to get somewhere
as fast as we can

We Just Don’t Know
WHERE
The Fuck That Is

sometimes i wish we were all the same

all the same color
all the same height
all the same weight
all the same speed

then we wouldn’t race would we?

sure we would

So Let’s Not Change
The Human

Let’s Change
The Race

let’s start racing towards each other
instead of away from each other

I Will Not Push You Away
Just Because You Are Different Than Me
I Will Move Towards You

that’s
MY
Race


©2014 Clint Piatelli, MuscleHeart LLC, and Red F Publishing. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Anika Nailah]

You're welcome, Clint. So special to have you there. Your energy was vibrant yet humble, and I loved how you just went with the flow. Looking forward to hearing what personal insights came to you post-performance. TY again for being my buddy, my advocate, my client, and my photographer for the event. You're a special human being.

[Clint Piatelli]

Anika, it was my pleasure to be at your service. I really enjoyed not only working the event but participating in it. Your performance inspired me and touched me. I'm so fortunate to have you in my life.

Clint