Creation Story

A storm surges in my spirit.

Just as I had watched the nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds of a man's life flow from his body, I now watched his killer stand trial for his murder. I needed to bear witness. I needed to see what the jury saw so that I could steel myself in preparation for what we as People of Color knew had a high percentage of being reality; that another police officer would be declared innocent.

In the aftermath of Mister Floyd's death, I had wanted to be out in the streets protesting with the masses but was precluded from doing so due to health concerns. I wished that I were more politically savvy as I feel the most impactful way to bring about change is by having more People of Color in the halls of government. But I am an artist--an actor, writer, director--those were the tools at my disposal.

Several years back, I watched the news as hurricanes devastated Texas, Florida, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. I had lived in Houston for many years, and I watched as neighborhoods, businesses, restaurants, homes that I had frequented; my friends and people that I did not know were being flooded out.

My spirit grew restless with a need to do...something. As I do whenever my spirit is activated and I have one of my "notions", I called my friend and co-conspirator T. Mychael Rambo. T. Mychael hails from Texas; we commiserated about what was happening down South. Being the enabler that he is, he allowed me to think aloud about my need to support the people and the idea I had percolating in my mind. We banded together with a group of Twin Cities musicians and theater folks to produce a concert to raise funds for humanitarian relief.

As I watched the Chauvin trial, the more I watched, the more my spirit grew dark with storm. I needed to do, something. I needed an outlet for my grief as well as a call to action. I awoke in the middle of the night to write as I had for Treyvon Martin and others, but there was still a feeling to do more. I wanted an outlet to collectively share with other people whose spirits were in turmoil. That was the seed that became 9:29 - A Write to Breathe. Once again, I called my co-conspirator and enabler, T. Mychael and we got to work. I enlisted my work colleagues Michael Olson, Bailey Aaland, and Luke Mills to provide the website and creatives to support the idea. A special thanks to Bipin Butala who worked up the composition form. T. Mychael and I would also like to thank Tom Wallace and Regina Williams for their photographs.

And now we set this project forth into the world. In honor of Mr. Floyd, Breyona Taylor, Philando Castile, Treyvon Martin, Eric Gardner, and now Ma’Khia Bryant, Andrew Brown Jr., Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo, and the countless others whose lives were so brutally taken.

Say their names.