WHO WE ARE
Text by Keith & the ensemble
Performed by Constance while she was lifted higher & higher into the air, with the rest of the cast pulling the rope.
Four of us are in high school.
Two of us graduated from college.
Two or three of us went to private school, depending on how you count.
One of us went to Oakland Tech.
One of us is a student representative on the San Francisco School Board.
One of us has been in juvenile detention on both sides of the Bay.
Two of us have been arrested as adults.
One of us has twin girls.
One of us is a twin.
One of us has always lived in foster care.
Three of us live with parents.
Five of us have divorced parents.
One of us has a father who was in prison for 4 years.
Five of us have parents who have been incarcerated.
Some of us have relatives locked up right now.
Two of us were born outside the US.
Half of us grew up in the Bay Area.
One of us worked in the family Mexican restaurant.
One of us lived on a bus for six months.
Two of us are white, no, one of us is white and two of us are half-white.
Four of us have roots in Central America, four of us in Africa, most of us in Europe.
One of us has a dad who grew up in foster care.
Three of us know someone who was killed in the past month.
One of us started stripping at 16.
Two of us are left-handed.
One of us is lacto intolerant.
Some of us are queer.
Depending on the situation, some of us are nervous when we see police.
One of us missed rehearsal to plan a demonstration.
One of us missed rehearsal to attend a funeral.
One of us got lost, three of us got sick, and one of us went back to jail.
One of us dislocated an ankle, another had to get stitches, and one of us came to rehearsal when we should have been in the hospital.
Some of us do not identify as young.
All of us have stolen something.
Most of us didn’t get caught.
Three of us have been beaten up.
Five of us have punched someone in the face.
Two of us kicked someone in the face.
One of us kicked someone in the face with cleats, but it was an accident.