LABOR, A Short Film

Covered by KQED, Labor is a short film commissioned by the Center for Cultural Power and directed by Niema Jordan.

The day I wrote Labor the police officer who murdered Breonna Taylor was indicted on the much lighter charge of "wanton endangerment".  Suffering from outrage fatigue, I wasn't surprised at the verdict.  I was once again experiencing the height of disgust for the way the justice system continues to mishandle and forgive the gross overreaches of law enforcement when it comes to black people - the creative ways they manage to justify murder, while concurrently revoking any benefit of doubt when it comes to our proceedings.  The urgency of this piece is inspired by the myriad calls for works of art to explain what is simply a heinous disregard for the humanity (nevermind the divinity) of black folks.  While I am inspired by the many murals, poems, and songs that have come from this season of uprising, I am discouraged that they must exist at all, seemingly in order to help explain what feels obvious to me - the unwillingness of this nation to admit to or overcome its original sins of racism and the many ways it has and continues to profit from it.  Since before the time black folks had a grasp on the language of this land, we have been singing, reciting, moaning, sculpting and dancing, litigating, negotiating and punditing the same message - demanding our freedom, equality and equity in this country.  Our voices have been categorically and intentionally ignored.  The labor of our creations trampled upon.  

As a mother of a black child, I oscillate between the overwhelming pride of seeing the being who was created within me becoming his own person and the paralyzing fear of knowing how fragile his existence in this country is. My greatest work of art is  and forever will be my child.  We are all someone's masterpiece.  Some of us are afforded the opportunity to be admired for the effort it took to make us lovely. Too many of us are cast into the flames before we ever have a chance to be seen.  But Labor is not a dirge, or even a plea for recognition.  To those of us who have ever birthed a thing it is a reminder of our own divinity, and an assurance that in God there is always justice.