So a couple of days ago I went to see
a really powerful and intense movie;
it was called 12 Years a Slave.
Watching movies about that, about slavery,
always reminds me how lucky I am to still be alive.
After all of those massacres and being--
just the whole experience.
Just realizing, you know, how fortunate it
is to be here in this moment.
And how I'm here for a reason and every reason
should be taken seriously.
So this is what came out of that.
Out of all the names left hanging on trees.
Out of all the names burned on crosses, torn
at the mercy of animals' teeth.
Out of all the names gunned down in the name of God,
raped out of existence.
Lashings and breaking them into death's skin beautifully.
Out of all the names you couldn't take no more.
Out of all the names, that is kind, that is smart,
that is important.
Out of all the names that killed themselves kindly.
Out of all the names put to silence in false accusations.
Wrongfully executed.
Their swallowed innocence their last supper.
Out of all the names gutted out of the belly
of the brave-like fish.
Cut at the feet and hands are the names that dared to run.
Cut out of the womb of the hanging
are the names that dare to be born again.
Out of all of the names entertained
at picnics, all the people whose stomachs spoiled
in the privilege, didn't quite know what-- didn't quite know
what to say to stop all that bleeding,
but say that they don't see the difference of me
and them today.
Out of all the names plucked to their deaths
with that last line.
See it's at the mercy of pure luck.
It's at the mercy of a little bit of luck and a desire
to believe in tomorrow.
The mercy that I was taught to have on a God that turns
devil so quietly.
After the brutal beating of my own name,
being strung around the South in peach pieces.
Cherishing my rumors as rich history.
Generational telephone games are my legacy.
They call Fowler Chapman in a crowded room.
And carrying on the innocence of a serial killer's last name
and a genocide as my own, I answer.
I am here.
Miss Fowler Chapman has survived.
[CROWD SNAPPING]
[APPLAUSE]