I like to, to be able to carry something of my parents with me.

So this is a scarf that belonged to my mother.

And I've got a there's a beautiful picture of her in the scarf- this is one of her favorite scarves.

When I play my bass, when I'm playing music, that is me carrying something of my father with me all the time.

When I think about the light, the little light that turned on in me when I was nine years old.

First hearing a cello, seeing a cello, and then getting a bass in my hands.

As much as I loved cello, I really wanted the next bigger one.

The bass was really nice.

It's a very visceral thing, you know, you have to really be close to it so you can feel the vibrations of the instrument.

I love my parents.

They never put any limitations on what I should do as a- as a woman.

Never.

I was very determined, and I really loved what I did.

And I think that the love for what I did, my intentionality, was the thing that shone through.

So my first memories of seeing Marion play was at Bert's Place.

I think it was like, 1984, 85.

She used to play at this jam session.

I think the idea of freedom was always embedded in the music when I first got in, because of who I'd learn the music from.

She's worked with so many very fabulous and talented musicians Kenn Cox, Marcus Belgrave, Donald Walden.

She is clearly a singular talent.

She's very involved in the music and she knows how to support every soloist.

My seat as a bass player is a pivotal seat.

The bass is the rudder.

It's the thing that's really controlling from behind, it's the thing that's turning people where they are in the music, in terms of the feel of the music, you know, the sound of the music, all the things pivot off the bass.

One thing about Marian being on the bandstand with her, regardless of how kind-hearted she is, she will firmly correct you [laughing] if you mess up.

It's tough love, and you know, that's kind of the Detroit way.

When Straight Ahead first started, there was a wonderful woman here who lives in New York now, but she really was, was bold enough to put the band together.

Her name is Miche Braden.

The vocalist named Miche Braden, she called me and said "Trying to put a band together".

I said, "Well, that sounds cool.

Who's in the band?"

And she said, "Well, it's Alina Morr on piano and Marion Hayden on bass."

I said, "Oh, I'm in!"

[laughing] The band was just so, so good, so vibrant.

I don't think anybody thought it would last this long.

I've actually done some sets with Straight Ahead and the musicians, and for her to have the vision to do that is also super progressive.

People really, really love the band because we have that Detroit spirit, which is a spirit of being really authentic about whatever sound it is that you approach.

And there's an authenticity that comes from being steeped in black music traditions in this town.

My desire for this was so intense that I really did not pay attention to- to folks that might have been trying to thwart me.

I paid no attention to it whatsoever.

Over the years, so many situations where I was the only woman on the bandstand, but it was not something that ever bothered me because I was there for a reason.

[laughing] I had a bad reason to be there, and that was playing the bass and to hear the music and to be engaged.

And that was... that was what I was about.

She was playing with so many different people, even outside of just that traditional jazz era.

She's never stuck in one lane, in one era, in one decade.

I still have lots of ideas.

I've got...

I've just got plans.

I've got a lot more that's on my mind, and I'm just trying to- I'm trying to encourage myself to be more bold.

If I was bold before, then just be even more bold.

(railroad workers chanting with percussive beats) - Imagine for a moment: what does your Promised Land look like?

I invite you (train horn blows) to imagine yourself in your full power, (light hip hop music) purpose, fully free.

See a new culture, everyone around you, joyful and free.

And what does that place look like?

Taste like?

Smell like?

Sound like?

What does it feel like?

Welcome to the Digital Underground Railroad.

We are The TETRA.

And whatever you pictured is perfect.

If you imagined a full, rich future outside of racism, beautiful.

And if you couldn't see anything, well that's perfectly fine too, because the point of oppression is to block us from ever envisioning ourselves fully free.

So The TETRA invites you into a world of Art and Ritual to lead you on a journey where you are the hero of your own decolonization story, shaking the ghost of oppression, reclaiming your inner earth, fire, water, and air to become your own Promised Land.

(drum sounds) Everything that grows comes from the Black, the earth.

Black is the space where everything is possible and hasn't that rhythm always carried us through?

Let that joy rise.

Arms flailing, intoxicated on your own beauty, dancing to your own Ase'.

- Pardon all this hubris, Judas you just cannot cross for God produces, crucifix your mouth to speak agnostic A Komunyakaa, Shaka Zulu, chakra voodoo, cockadoodle these acapellas.

Hoo!

Gotta come harder than that.

All my life been working from a deficit.

I swear, thrivin' might be the Blackest thing I ever did.

(drum music) Our ancestors code named Detroit as "Midnight" on the Underground Railroad because this is the last stop before freedom.

Everyone we've lost is still right there in the water.

The sea levels rising is us uncivilizing our rage.

There's so many of us still at the bottom of that depth, still churning, that water always running, water always running like Minty and shotgun like Fred's mouth in Chicago, like Detroit - where the Ice wood, and the Blackburn righteous and the Ossian sweet-always running, always running, always running towards freedom.

(hands clap) (peaceful music) - Where's "Midnight" in your body?

- You willing to keep crossing "Midnight" to go back for yourself?

- Breathe in your genius.

- What of yourself are you going back for?

- Breathe out anything that disconnected you from it.

- Beloved, what if you are bigger than oppression?

- Breathe in your worthiness.

- This power is real, but *****, so is yours.

- Breathe out oppression.

- Black, brown, or John Brown, you already know the answer to the question.

Do you know what we do in the dark?

- [Both] We get free.

(peaceful music) (futuristic music) - You can't tell a traditional narrative with projection mapping.

You have to take into account the facade you're doing and the history of the building itself and then whatever event you're doing and you find a way to like merge those two together in that way.

(futuristic music) I get out of college and I get this job in Southfield at this post house.

It's good, it's a great job, I have a great mentor, but it's not like scratching the itch that I have coming outta CCS trying to be a video artist.

But then I see this projection mapping thing happening, right?

This is 2005-ish and I borrow a projector from the place and I'm like doing stuff on the back doors at night trying to figure out the softwares and stuff.

Nobody told me to do it.

There were no lessons how to do it.

And that was basically the start to the whole like, projection mapping arc of my life.

(futuristic music) While I was in college, I was super into raving.

(rave music) I got this group of friends that around Detroit who are throwing parties all the time and like everybody's becoming a DJ, but I'm like, oh, I'm the video guy, so let me start playing around with this.

(upbeat music) I'm doing all these different shaped screens in every gig I do, and DJs just start going, "Yeah, I want you."

(upbeat music) It was never about money really for me back then either.

It was just like, how cool can I absolutely make this project?

(upbeat music) The first real big projection mapping commission I received was DLECTRICITY 2012, and we did the Detroit Public Library.

We tried to tell the history of knowledge in a 20-minute piece.

(dramatic music) We were brought back to DLECTRICITY in 2021 to create the content for the African American Museum.

What the museum was asking for was an ode to Charlie Parker, the jazz musician.

Connecting it to Detroit was the challenge, right?

Yes, he had played some clubs, but it's how do we make this just about Charlie, doesn't feel right, but Detroit had this crazy rich history of jazz clubs in Black Bottom and Paradise Valley.

(jazz music) Once we put that brief together, it's like, hey, we could really rebuild this up into this whole other piece.

(jazz music continues) We owe our careers to Detroit in a very large part, so we feel an obligation to give back to the city and help beautify it in any ways we can.

(jazz music continues) (upbeat whimsical music) (upbeat whimsical music continues) - Okay.

Now, what is Flying Cardboard Theater?

- So, I'm Lindsay McCaw, and Jason Hicks and I are the co-directors of the Flying Cardboard Theater.

The Flying Cardboard Theater seeks to make remarkable puppet shows that hit people over the head like a lightning bolt, and cause them to simultaneously decide that puppetry is the greatest art form ever and we should drop everything and dismantle global capitalism immediately.

(whimsical music) (puppet yodeling) (puppets harmonizing) (cymbal clanging) - I quit!

- So the Flying Cardboard Theater is mostly a small team of, well, Lindsay and I, and a few very patient friends that mostly our goal is to make very amazing puppet shows entirely outta trash.

(trash clanging) - A-ha!

(puppet grunting) Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh yeah.

All right.

Yeah!

(dumpster puppet growling) (puppet screaming) (whimsical music) - We want to make shows that transport people to a funny little world.

Ideally, we're hoping to make things that keep people thinking about them after they're over.

- What if you could have a delicious hot dog without ever having to leave your front lawn?

(audience laughing) Wouldn't that be a dream, huh?

Wouldn't that be a dream?

Say, James, stop it.

Yes, it's a dream!

Well, now your dreams will come true with Coney Island Catapult.

(whimsical music) (audience laughing) - [James] That's right.

- So that's our job, is to make the best puppet shows we can and to just keep doing it until we're dead.

- Ah!

Yeah, mm.

(skeleton puppet vocalizing) - You!

- Who, me?

- Yes, you!

- Well, okay.

So long, cruel world!

(whimsical music) (puppet grunts) Oh, thank you.

(puppet grunting) (skeleton vocalizing) (puppet grunting) (whimsical music) (wind roaring) (Na panting) (footsteps thudding) (traffic roaring) (dog barking) (train rattling) (machinery tapping) (engines roaring) (high-pitched tone chiming) (Na breathing quietly) (Na continuing to breathe quietly) (gentle music) (Na speaks in Korean) - I get overwhelmed easily, especially when I'm in a crowd space.

So it was tough when I was growing up.

When I was in the classroom with a lot of noise and a lot of stimulation, no one was there for me to understand that I need a different type of learning.

I couldn't keep up with the school, and that was my, yeah, basically childhood.

(gentle music) - [Interviewer] Where is home for you now?

- Detroit is my home.

(cat meowing) (cat purring) I use films and photos to tell stories about marginalized individuals.

Because no one knew how to show up for me, I want to show up for others.

My art begins with connecting with people.

Autism taught me to ask questions instead of making assumptions.

Everyone has story.

I wanna take out the stigma of disability and start a conversation about disability justice.

I believe change is possible.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (no audio) (warm gentle harp music) (warm gentle harp music continues) (warm gentle harp music continues) (bright lively harp music) (bright lively harp music continues) (bright lively harp music continues) (bright lively harp music continues) (gentle bright harp music) (gentle bright harp music continues) (gentle lively harp music) (gentle lively harp music continues) (gentle lively harp music continues) (gentle lively harp music continues) (gentle lively harp music continues) (gentle light harp music) (no audio) (relaxed jazz music) - [Juanita] I do think, as artists, whatever discipline, that we have a responsibility to the society that we live in to make our world more beautiful in whatever way we can.

- Our images carry our whole culture.

And to many of us, the classic and the visual arts is more honest, even than the written word.

- [Juanita] And it's interesting because it really took me leaving Detroit to realize how much ingrained Detroit is in my soul and in my spirit.

- [Speaker] Detroit is such a special place to grow up in because it's the epitome of Blackness and all that it encompasses, and Black love.

- [Juanita] I think just in terms of the choice of stories that I tell, it always has to do with what are we not seeing that exists in the world.

I think art, by definition, is an act of activism, and that as artists, we have a responsibility to look at our society, and reflect, critique, firm, acknowledge who we are as human beings.

If somebody tells you no, and you feel it's important, you find a way to make it happen.

I think I am experiencing a rebirth.

I think after all these years, I'm now in a space where I'm really only beginning to realize my full potential as an artist, and realizing that I still have at least a few good films in me and stories that need to be told.

(relaxed jazz music continues) I think that, as an artist, one never tires of creating, and as long as there are stories that inspire, that there are stories that need to be told, and as long I have the physical capacity to do it, I'll be telling those stories.

(upbeat drumming music) - [Sowande] It was 1999.

I was about 13 years old at the time.

My father, my baba, my teacher, King Sundiata Keita, was performing with the Wailers at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit.

I loved being around my father so much, especially when he performed with the stars.

(upbeat drumming music continues) (upbeat drumming music continues) They played their greatest hits that evening.

"No Woman, No Cry," "Get Up, Stand Up," "Exodus," and I could hear the crowd going crazy.

(crowd cheering) The only missing element was Bob Marley himself.

(upbeat drumming music continues) The night was electric.

It was such a privilege to be in the midst of the legends, Family Man, Junior Marvin, my father, the legendary Wailers.

(upbeat drumming music continues) They started playing "War," and I knew it was "War" because of the way the beat sounded, and my father called me on stage to play with him.

And I came out there on the stage, it was so bright I couldn't even see.

It was a full house.

I sat right next beside him, and I played my heart out.

(upbeat drumming music continues) My dad, the Wailers, the crowd they cheered me on.

It was a moment that I knew it was my life purpose and calling.

It was one of my most pivotal moments ever spent with my father.

(upbeat drumming music ending) (no audio) (gentle music) (pencil scratching) - I've always had a noisy brain, full of constant distractions.

Creating is one of the only times I've ever been able to tune out the chaos and live in a world of magic.

After being diagnosed with ADHD at 42, I learned that this zone is called hyperfocus, and if it weren't for the complete neglect of the outside world and my basic physical needs, I'd probably stay there forever.

(gentle music continues) (pages crinkling) I grew up in a family of performers.

I'm a long time musician myself, (upbeat dance music) but I also have social anxiety and sensory issues.

When I was a kid, I had epic fantasies about belting it out in the spotlight, but would freeze on a real stage.

(crickets chirping) (mic squealing) As I got older, I discovered alcohol did wonders for stage fright, but made a mess of everything else.

Animation allows me to perform without feeling perceived.

(dramatic music) I immerse my senses in the time and place of the scenes I'm working on.

I listen to old radio broadcasts, use family heirlooms in fabrication, I've even ordered long discontinued products just for their smell.

(gentle guitar music) It allows me to visit the past and departed loved ones, mostly my grandparents.

They came to the US from Ukraine as displaced people following World War II.

From them, I inherited resilience and a deep love of my heritage, especially music and mythology.

(Tamara singing in Ukrainian) (hut creature clanging) (bells jangling) (crows cawing) (bells jangling) (Baba Yaga speaking in Ukrainian) (hut creature growls) (playful music) (door creaks) (footsteps pattering) (bell rings) (both snapping) (match strikes) (smoker exhaling) (match strikes) (dramatic music) (Baba Yaga exhales) My baba would tell me fantastic stories about Baba Yaga, the best known witch in Slavic mythology.

She's complex, at times ferocious and cannibalistic, yet helpful to the pure of heart.

Whenever her whereabouts are discovered, she and her hut on a chicken foot bounce.

I see her as a funny, cranky introvert who just wants to be left to make magic in the woods.

I can relate.

(flames crackling) Animation has been liberating for me.

(gentle music) (bubbles burbling) I used to feel like a jack of all trades, master of none, until I stumbled upon in this art form that married all my strengths and gives me the means to share my thoughts and begin to finally unmask.

It's equal parts, alchemy, time travel, and therapy.

Pure magic.

(no audio) (camera clicks) - I've been fortunate enough to travel the world doing what I love, performed in all different type of groups, performed every different type of genre, but ultimately, rock and roll is where my heart is.

(instrumental rock music) (musicians vocalize) ♪ We make it feel just ♪ like that-Detroit.

♪ (water sloshes) (wind chimes jangle) When I write music, sometimes it can feel really hard.

Like it's very personal, but I want other people to be able to get it.

(Steffanie vocalizes) (slow piano music) I am the vocalist for Inner City, top writer as well.

♪ And I can't hold ♪ on to the past ♪ I'm the vocalist for Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble.

♪ Right here in the snap oh ♪ I am a music theater artist with Urban Bush Women from time to time, as well as Taylor Mac, (upbeat instrumental music) (Steffanie vocalizes) and I am the vocalist for We Are Scorpio, featuring Jessica Care Moore.

♪ I'm from Detroit ♪ ♪ You better watch your back ♪ I've been singing with so many different groups that I really haven't focused on my own project that much, but that's gonna change this year.

I'm going to a residency tomorrow to develop a project that I'm working on with Chris Giarmo.

My goal for 2025 is to sit and just write a Steffanie Christi'an album.

♪ I hope he don't miss me ♪ ♪ 'Cause when I'm gone ♪ I do my share of wrong ♪ (Steffanie vocalizes) I think the first like real tour that I went on was with the Black Rock Coalition.

We toured France, and I was like, "I could totally get used to this."

♪ When I finally make it home ♪ And then I lost my job.

I was fired.

I got a call from Taylor Mac.

Was like, "We're touring Australia.

You need to come."

I was like, "This is my job now."

Probably been on the road since 2016.

(upbeat electronic music) Honestly, when I travel, people are like, "Oh, you're from Detroit."

Like, "it's really bad out there, right?"

And I'm like, "What?"

That's just what you see on the news.

That's just what you hear from other people.

Like the people who live here, we know what we have.

♪ I ain't got nothing but time ♪ ♪ Baby, I ain't got ♪ nothing but time ♪ I think when you're born and raised here, that it's just so ingrained in you.

It's not that we take it for granted, it's just like we're great and we know that.

Like look at what we produce.

There are legends that come from this city and every day I'm just trying to step up to the plate.

♪ Time ♪ (mid-tempo instrumental music) - Whoo!

(crowd applauds) (upbeat electronic music) (crowd cheers) - So, yeah, history of Jit, that's the question everybody wants to know.

One of the things with Detroit Jit, it was a dance that was not only derived from Detroit, it was from the 70s.

There is a lot of people that talk about like, you know, it came from this or it came from that, but the consensus of pretty much in the hood and the culture is that the Detroit Jit was from the McGhee brothers.

The Mad Dancers were also, you know, some of the major pioneers of the Detroit Jit.

So there's a lot of people that think that Detroit Jit is just like a footwork-style dance, and it's just footwork, and that's like the farthest from it.

When you look at Detroit Jit, it consists of things like ground work, your arm work, different dance styles called like the bisco, and there's a misconception that this dance style is like similar.

It's Chicago footwork, or Jookin or Memphis, you know, all these different dance styles all over the world.

You got this dance style that we do that's, it hits on a certain pocket, a certain cadence of music.

We ride a snare differently when it comes to the dance style that we do.

That's what's special about it and that's what makes it Detroit.

That clap (fingers click) (siren wails) (upbeat electronic music) that people be like twerking on, that's a Detroit thing.

That ghettotech.

Jit has a different energy where it draws crowd.

When you see somebody jitting, it's not like I'm just gonna be dancing and by myself in the corner.

If I'm hitting in the corner, you gonna come over there and everybody else gonna bring theirselves over there and it's gonna get lit.

Like it turns the party up.

♪ Pump it like Detroit ♪ ♪ Jittin' on the floor ♪ ♪ Pump it like Detroit ♪ ♪ Jittin' on the floor ♪ ♪ Pump it, pump ♪ it like Detroit ♪ ♪ Jittin' on the floor ♪ ♪ Pump it, pump ♪ it like Detroit ♪ ♪ Pump it, pump ♪ it like Detroit ♪ (upbeat music continues) (siren wails) (upbeat music continues) - You know, as I was developing Jit Masters, which is, you know, the company that I created, it was really, I kind of started the company to be able to like teach the youth and really to kind of keep myself healthy.

♪ Groovin', I feel ♪ like groovin' ♪ ♪ I feel like groovin' ♪ - Yeah, back in the day, it was different when we built a crew.

When you developed a crew, it was to be like a battle crew.

♪ Let me see your footwork ♪ ♪ Let me see your footwork ♪ ♪ We bang it, bang it, bang it ♪ ♪ Bang it, bang it, bang it ♪ ♪ Bang it, bang it, bang it ♪ ♪ We bang it, bang it, bang it ♪ ♪ Yeah, they call ♪ us Jit Masters ♪ ♪ 'Cause we bang ♪ it with the feet ♪ (rapper vocalizes) - Nobody was really doing anything with it as far as performing, and my thing was, I wanted to create a lane and outlets for people that were already studying the craft to have an opportunity to showcase what they were already studying and learning, and that's all I can hope, is for them to love it just as much as we do, be passionate about it, and that they evolve it into something great.

(upbeat electronic music) ♪ Not really any of ♪ that other crap ♪ ♪ It's, it's ghetto tech.

♪ (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - So, okay.

So, this is what I was thinking, and we can totally play around with like, what feels normal to you.

- Okay.

- But I was thinking, "This election season, stock up on a new detergent," and then this one is, "That's right, get your family ready for the insurrection."

I want you to be like you're telling a secret to a friend.

- Okay.

- This election season, stock up on a new detergent.

- The next line is the reveal.

"With new Tide for MAGA," you know?

- Okay.

Okay.

- In terms of your hair, My recent work, I'm trying to do like, lots of short, digestible, politically comedic pieces.

I recently did a Tide parody.

I jokingly created Tide for MAGA, a mom getting her family ready for the insurrection to get out tiki torch oil, gun grease, and blood, post-insurrection.

- [Announcer] With new Tide for MAGA, get your clothes pure white again.

It's like it never happened!

(upbeat music) - It is a personal project, but we made it look like a real commercial.

I also did a project that was with an electric vehicle, Rivian, and I got to use my kids in it, so I was really excited about that 'cause it was an attempt to see if I could work with my children, (laughs) and they're sort of like baby raccoons, so the camera's just kind of like, following the kids, and we turned it into a commercial, but it looks beautiful and I loved it, and it was a really fun day, shooting it.

♪ The other night, dear ♪ ♪ As I lay sleeping ♪ ♪ I dreamt I held you ♪ in my tired arms ♪ ♪ When I awoke, dear ♪ ♪ I was mistaken ♪ ♪ So I bowed my ♪ head and I cried ♪ Focusing on my own craft, and then also wanting to be a single mom was kind of the reasons that I moved back to Detroit.

I started my career in filmmaking in New York, and then I got into the union as an electrician, which is sort of like a lighting technician.

I was the 27th woman in my union, and got to work on Tina Fey TV shows, which were amazing.

I worked on "30 Rock" and the "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt", and those were so fun.

I would work on these like, $400 million movies sometimes that were just crazy, and I would be, you know, one of 30 people in one department, and then I would work on Sundance movies where it was maybe me and two other people who were the entire department, and it was lots of fun.

I have been really focusing on my own work now.

I feel like I did everybody else's stuff for a while, and now, I'm doing my own work.

(smooth jazz music) (smooth jazz music continues) (smooth jazz music continues) (smooth jazz music continues) (smooth jazz music continues) ♪ I wish days of more solace, ♪ more honest, more modest ♪ ♪ No problems ♪ ♪ Member ♪ ♪ We used to play ♪ cops and robbers ♪ ♪ Now we playing is ♪ the cops behind us ♪ ♪ It's an awkward silence ♪ when we spotting them sirens ♪ ♪ It's either stop ♪ the violence ♪ ♪ Or we fight and we riot ♪ the right to remain quiet ♪ ♪ But they don't proceed ♪ with caution round the body ♪ ♪ Yeah they chalking.

Then ♪ it leads to a coffin.

♪ ♪ Aw damn, they shot my baby ♪ right there where she stand ♪ ♪ Life expectancy in ♪ the hands of the man ♪ ♪ Traffic violation if ♪ they put me in the can ♪ ♪ Hopefully my mugshot ♪ won't look Bland ♪ ♪ Say her name ♪ (smooth jazz music) ♪ Say her name ♪ (smooth jazz music) ♪ Ain't nobody bigger ♪ than the program ♪ ♪ The land that I'm ♪ from is a no man's ♪ ♪ Popos give us no chance ♪ ♪ I don't think all ♪ of 'em is crooked ♪ ♪ But all of them can look it ♪ ♪ 'Cause all of ♪ 'em got bullets ♪ ♪ Yeah, will I get ♪ stopped by one ♪ ♪ Will he cock his gun ♪ ♪ Will I get shot by one ♪ ♪ Damn, it's all terror ♪ ♪ They shoot me, ♪ it's all errors ♪ ♪ They got the right to bear ♪ arms, now we the pallbearers ♪ ♪ I remember the first ♪ time I got pulled over ♪ ♪ I was rocking the hoodie, ♪ you know, a pullover ♪ ♪ Pulled closer, I ♪ ain't know what to do ♪ ♪ But he was calm and was cool ♪ ♪ The exception to the rule ♪ ♪ March 2020, kids was ♪ getting out of school ♪ ♪ We thought it was the flu, ♪ then Corona start to brew ♪ ♪ A lot of lost life ♪ ♪ We all viewed it was cruel ♪ ♪ Then the red and blues slain ♪ Breonna Taylor on the news ♪ ♪ Say her name ♪ (smooth jazz music) ♪ Say her name ♪ (smooth jazz music) ♪ Officer, it was ♪ a prowler outside ♪ ♪ No, I said it was ♪ somebody outside, not me!

♪ ♪ Am I scared?

I might be.

♪ ♪ Why you wanna spite me?

♪ ♪ Afraid of hot water ♪ that's unlikely ♪ ♪ ***** is egregious ♪ ♪ Feel like Ava DuVernay ♪ when they see us ♪ ♪ I rebuke you in ♪ the name of Jesus ♪ ♪Kill me dead for my leisure ♪ ♪ He was scared so he bleed ♪ her.

Strike a threat ♪ ♪ 'Cause my features.

To whom ♪ do we pledge allegiance ♪ ♪ One shot to the head, ♪ now she dead by the feds ♪ ♪ She just took her health ♪ meds, now she murdered pre-med ♪ ♪ Say her name, we said ♪ ♪ Pain deep as the valleys ♪ ♪ Another victim, sadly, ♪ by the name of Sonya ♪ - [Reporter] Massey was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy inside her home on July 6th.

Law enforcement was there because she called 911 to report a prowler.

- [Interviewee] She's a mother, she has children.

That is an impact for generations.

That is gonna be affected, that's gonna be laid upon that family.

- It's Ursula Walker and, "Over the Rainbow."

(upbeat music) - When I first started singing on television, it was, "The Auntie Dee Show."

It was a children's variety show, broadcast from WXYZ.

♪ Somewhere ♪ ♪ Over the rainbow ♪ At that time, we listened to radio, 'cause that's what we had mainly.

And we heard all kinds of music.

If I heard a song that I liked, I would tell my mother, "Oh, I like that song," you know?

And she'd write the title down, take me down to Grinnell's, the music store downtown, Detroit, and buy the sheet music.

She would play it for me and I would sing.

And next performance on, "Auntie Dee's Show," I would sing that song.

♪ Over the rainbow ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ This is just a little samba ♪ ♪ Built upon a single note ♪ ♪ And other notes ♪ are bound to follow ♪ ♪ But the root is ♪ still that note ♪ I was very fortunate to come around at the time where I got a chance to work with some excellent musicians.

♪ Consequence of you ♪ I sang with Jack Brokensha, a vibes player from Australia.

And when I was 19, he asked me to do a concert with him at the DIA.

And then a few years later, he opened a club, Brokensha's down by the Fisher Building, and he asked me to be the vocalist.

♪ And just say nothing ♪ (upbeat music) I did, you know, club dates, I sang at the Caucus Club, the London Chophouse.

Sometimes I got real busy, you know, doing a lot of gigs and sometimes it was a few here and there, you know.

But I never gave up, because it was just something that I loved.

And whenever I got a call, "Okay, Ursula, we want you to do this," I said, "I'll be there."

♪ Please show me through ♪ I liked singing with big bands (camera clicks) All that sound coming up from behind me and everything.

(camera clicks) But I also enjoyed singing with trios, quartets, and...

I mean, I just loved music, you know, that was my life.

That's all I wanted to do was singing.

(upbeat music) ♪ So I looked around ♪ ♪ And I noticed there ♪ wasn't a chair ♪ ♪ Nowhere ♪ ♪ So I sat on a rug ♪ (upbeat music) (jaunty music) (jaunty music continues) (jaunty music continues) (jaunty music continues) (jaunty music continues) (jaunty music continues) (jaunty music continues) (jaunty music continues) (jaunty music continues) (jaunty music continues) (jaunty music continues) (jaunty music continues) (jaunty music continues) (jaunty music continues) (jaunty music fades) (birds chirping) (dogs barking) (bright upbeat music) - My name is Weam Namou, and I was born in Baghdad, Iraq as a minority Christian, Chaldean, who are Neo-Babylonians that still speak Aramaic today.

I left Iraq when I was nine years old and came to the United States by age 10.

Sterling Heights is the setting of many of my stories, especially "Pomegranate," which was turned into a feature film.

It's the first Iraqi American feature film, and it's led by women talent.

Aside from myself, the actors, the main leading actress, is a woman, Sam Rahmani, and her mother, Zain Shami.

(upbeat music) (bystanders speaking indistinctly) - Did you really have to pick Sterling Heights?

Everybody here is Iraqi Christian.

- Niran, we came here because it is called "Little Baghdad."

It reminds us of home.

- What about Dearborn?

That's where Iraqi Muslims live.

Why didn't you pick that?

- What, I should have stayed in Iraq and get bombed?

(intense music) - So, do we have a bet?

- We're getting married.

- Please give me liberty, not death.

- You have no choice, Niran.

(gentle upbeat music) - So when I was approached in 2019 to be the executive director of the Chaldean Cultural Center, I'll never forget the day that I walked through the doors of the museum into the ancient gallery, and I just felt all my ancestors just kind of embracing me and calling out for me to look more into their history, and to value their history, and to learn about it.

So that was a profound experience.

Since I started in 2019, I've been bringing awareness to our stories.

Aside from through my own personal projects, I go to schools and give presentations.

We welcome, we do a lot of outreach.

A lot of schools have field trips at the museum.

People from different communities come to our museum.

(upbeat music) I enjoy working at the Chaldean Cultural Center, but at heart, I'm a storyteller, and my true passion lies in writing and filmmaking.

(upbeat music continues) (ethereal music) (snake sounds) (water gurgles) (ethereal music continues) (snake sounds) (water gurgles) (snake sounds) (ethereal music ) - Solitude.

Free your mind.

One life.

Solitude.

dXKokou Free your mind, One life.

Solitude.

dXKokou Free your mind.

áFTan (ethereal music continues) G'ha dXKokou (ethereal music continues) áFTanG'ha Sssssssssssss (ethereal music continues) Free your, tan!

(ethereal music continues) Huh!

Bell sound (ethereal music continues) áFG'Tanha (ethereal music continues) (gentle beats plating) - Alright, we on.

Oh, ***** that.

Here we go.

(chill beats playing) - Thank y'all so much for coming out and supporting us.

You know we got the BRED Hip-Hop Theater Festival coming next weekend!

Next Saturday!

September 7th.

I was in a fellowship called Aspire Arts Leadership, and a part of the fellowship time, we had to come up with our dream theater.

And because I'm a hip-hop artist too, I was like, "Oh, a hip-hop theater."

And there was something that felt like, really important to just honor the storytelling that's already happening in rap.

My wife was like, "This should be BRED.

You and your brother, y'all produce these events, y'all make music, you're our hip-hop artists.

Why isn't this a BRED event?"

And I was like, "You are exactly right."

♪ Pride versus ego ♪ ♪ No one's my equal ♪ ♪ But then I get on mics and ♪ say I do this for my people ♪ ♪ and say I want ♪ a better world ♪ ♪ And I know where ♪ that leads you, watch ♪ ♪ And when I die, my kids'll ♪ be their mother's sequel ♪ ♪ My mind is racing, you ♪ can catch me if you can ♪ ♪ Black thoughts ♪ ♪ Kind of spacing out ♪ ♪ You ain't got a chance ♪ ♪ And it starts with ♪ these bars, not the Xans ♪ ♪ Still higher than your hands ♪ ♪ when you're in ♪ your man's jam ♪ (chill beat continues) So, I really took on the theater side and had Rich take on the music curation side, and all the artists for the block party, make sure that we had that stage, light, sound, all that good stuff.

- Yeah, that's kind of how it always has been.

We're both musicians, but I just had the pleasure of taking on this particular task for this opportunity.

And here we are.

Day of, people came out, they showed out, they did they thing.

We really are just an extension of all the dope things that are happening on this particular day.

And yeah, that's just really what BRED wants to do, continue to do, is to continue to enhance and emphasize the arts and culture that's happening in the city.

So whether or not the Hip-Hop Theater fest happens again next year, whatever it is, it's gonna be a continuation of celebrating the art, celebrating the artists, and doing what we did today.

Like, just having those opportunities, it's something that we look forward to continuing to do.

(hip-hop music) (gentle music) (upbeat music) (dramatic upbeat music) (dramatic upbeat music continues) (dramatic upbeat music continues) (dramatic upbeat music continues) (dramatic upbeat music continues) (dramatic upbeat music continues) (vocalists singing in foreign language) (vocalists continue singing in foreign language) - I have learned the ancient art, which is 5,000 years old, Bharat Natyam, which is one of the eight classical dance styles of India.

I would do only classical or classical with the folklore and then little bit of Bollywood.

There was one number what we did today, "Ashta-Nayika," that means eight heroines.

I call lovingly to my students, "Eight Darlings."

And that's what we did today, just to show people, because in temple they are not used to see this.

And so they were amazed to see that we can even do that.

And also we can do the, you know, "Naatu, Naatu" number, which means "dance, dance," which was the Oscar-winner last year.

(vocalists singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (audience applauding) I teach yoga and meditation in this place, and I basically am a dancer-choreographer, but we do yoga as our strength, yoga as our breath.

And that's what I have the tagline under my institute's name, Institute of Dance and Yoga, where we say, dance is the rhythm of life.

We do yoga also for disabled people, not just for wheelchair people but also people who are terminally ill. Mudras, are the hand gestures.

So when people are terminally ill, we need to really do something what they can do.

Sometimes they can't even breathe properly, so we just sit with some of the mudras and those are just to be held for a long time and that they can do.

(gentle music) (gentle orchestral music) - [Damien] I'm always grateful that I got involved in music.

I had an elementary music teacher, his name was David Williams.

He was Black, he was a Michigan State grad, older gentleman who was our music teacher.

Our family had been through some tough times, tough times, tough times.

When I was seven years old, and my brother Fred, we had two older brothers that left the house to go to fight some guys at Pershing High School.

And they were both stabbed 17, 18 times.

And my older brother didn't live, he passed away that night.

And my next brother, he passed away in his 30s, but he never got over the guilt of that.

And my mom was the same way, 'cause she was like, "I never asked them where were they going."

So music, Mr. Williams was that first kind of gateway to like, loving school and having a good time.

So that was a good, so that was like those first place where I learned that music could be fun and it could be like this place where you can be free of all the other crap that you had to deal with when you got home, that black cloud.

I know it's kinda cliche in a way, but it's true, it saved my life.

A really good conductor is like anything else in life, it's about connection.

But the very best conductors take you on a deeper journey.

It's like, let's do this together.

And guess what, we're gonna be vulnerable together.

We're gonna jump off the cliff together.

We're gonna allow ourselves to make mistakes, which is unheard of in classical music.

But this is what Bob Reynolds's taught me.

He said, "If you really want the ensemble to really play, how vulnerable can you be?"

(music swells dramatically) So the music becomes more than just the notes and things.

It becomes like this spiritual experience.

(grand orchestral music) (subsiding orchestral music) - What up doe My name is Imani Ma'at AnkhmenRa Amen Taylor, and welcome to my world, my world full of dancing, full of laughter, full of love, full of movement.

(upbeat drumming music) I feel really fortunate to live this life, a life where I'm unmasking the traditions of my ancestor.

I love to embrace myself, and my ancestry through West African drumming and dancing.

Been able to like travel around the world, and bring back the things that I learned abroad, and share them.

(upbeat drumming music) (indistinct talking) I first started dancing at 13.

It's so funny because I didn't want to do it, but I had a teacher who became my godmother, and she just poured so much into me.

That experience was so profound that I just wanted to keep recreating it, you know, feeling that it's so important for me to carry the tradition of my ancestors.

(upbeat drumming music) (indistinct singing) One ancestor I would like to call on is my father, Tehuti AnkhmenRa Amen Taylor.

My father has left a profound legacy for me.

He took African, you know, philosophies and ideologies, and he shared them with so many people around the world.

And I find myself sharing these same ideologies with my young people but just through culture, art, music, and dance.

(upbeat drumming music continues) I find myself with a beautiful legacy in my hands, and wanting to share this with my beautiful young people that I have the pleasure of working with at Detroit School of Art.

I feel very fortunate to be here where I am doing what I love, and sharing, and learning, and holding space, holistic space where we can tap into the things that make us creative, the things that make us beautiful, and utilize it as our magic because all of these things, I feel like are our birthright.

It's something that we can pull into.

It'll help expand our consciousness, and the consciousness of others so that we can carry forward all of this beautiful work to the next generation.

(upbeat drumming music) (indistinct singing) - I think my identity as an immigrant, as a Muslim, play a major role in what motivates me to do the work I do.

We've experienced a lot of stereotypes about our community.

I knew that this needed to be corrected.

A lot of my motivation was to correct those narratives.

I'm a Hamtramck-based documentary filmmaker and producer.

(gentle upbeat music) So we're in Dearborn, Michigan right now.

We are at a conference called Arab Con.

One of the main issues at this year's convention is focusing on the genocide in Gaza.

So it's really important for us to just be present in the community so that as we work on this project, we have stronger participation from the communities.

(gentle upbeat music continues) I come from an immigrant background.

I was born in India.

I moved to Detroit as a kid with my family.

Growing up, I was always a very creative kid.

Like many immigrants from Asia, I decided to pursue an engineering degree.

I knew that I would have a lot more job stability and I would make more money doing that, but I didn't account for how disenchanted I would be working in a career that I wasn't passionate about.

When I made the "Hamtramck" documentary, I made it with my friend Justin.

We were at the Arab American National Museum the night of the election documenting the reaction of the Arab Muslim community.

We realized as the evening went on that, what the results were gonna be.

We had decided that we wanted to highlight the experience of the Muslim community in the United States.

By the time we finished the film, we submitted it to major film festivals, and the film actually got into the South by Southwest Film Festival, and it validated an instinct that we had a couple years prior to that, that this project was worth doing.

But it also validated the idea that this career was worth pursuing.

Art is a really powerful way to make social change.

We have a very unique and important role in society, which is to be the consciousness of a society.

Being a filmmaker and an artist from Detroit makes me feel really proud.

It's very collaborative, it's very supportive, and it's a very unpretentious environment.

(gentle upbeat music continues) (voice mumbling) (voice mumbling) (music - fast beats and voice "da da da da da") (See, look at that thing move) (We're 'bout to enter the shadow realm) By the loads (Bring 'em out) (Bring 'em out) Pretty toes (Bring 'em out) And some more (Bring 'em out) Took her to The Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles just to go get some syrup Told her I know where I'm at at all times this ain't no Bosco stick Took her everywhere around this world Except for Europe Die about my ***** but I can't take her there, That's where I keep my Earthquake Make it shake, baby.

Do your thing Gyrate in my face, baby, let me taste Hit my place with that (Ah) if you tryna take it (Okay) Hit your face with that (Woo) if you don't want my baby taxing for that *****, I say get it back in blood All these blues in my pocket, do I look like I'm a Blood?

And I'm always outta pocket, so you might as well adjust And I live this hip-hop **** outside or in the cl- club or on the street.

In the club or on the street.

This be sucking (Hm), Say she a vegan, I say save it for David We be acting too bad, call her Miss Misbehaving keep calling me twin, but we is not related Drowning in that *****, Jesus come save me Jesus come save me Jesus come save me Beat it up, toot it up Beat it up, toot it up (gentle music) - All of the bits and pieces that we commit to memory are not necessarily a complete or objective story, but they do capture our emotions and feelings and the things that make us human.

Similarly, I am really fascinated by the fragments and traces of ourselves that we scatter across the web each time we access it, and how this data can adorn us like a well-worn heirloom, how it can haunt us like a ghost, and how it can serve as a missing link to the past.

But unlike our memory, our digital footprint presents itself as an omniscient narrator, even though it it just as, if not more flawed.

As a storyteller, I like to hold space for both of these narrators, our memory and our digital footprint.

I am drawn to the places where dust settles, the spots on a tape that become demagnetized, or a photo that has been uploaded and compressed so many times that it is basically abstract.

As somebody who matured alongside the internet, my online history alone can paint a digital portrait of who I was at so many different stages of life.

But then I have to ask, "Am I just a browsing history?

"Am I just a profile on a website, "old chat logs saved on my family's PC laptop?"

I think the data, whether it's digital or physical, will say, "Yes, I'm all of those things."

But then my memory will kick in and fill in all the gaps, and it will insist that I'm more.

(bright gentle music) (bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat entertaining music) (bright upbeat entertaining music continues) (bright electric organ music) (bright electric organ music continues) (bright electric organ music continues) (bright electric organ music continues) (bright electric organ music continues) (bright electric organ music continues) (bright electric organ music continues) (bright electric organ music continues) (bright electric organ music continues) (bright upbeat entertaining music)