This is the first work in progress version of Is this a battle or is this a game? No jueges con migo pero I’ll play with you… presented at EmergeNYC at Abrons Art Center.
I’m continuing to develop an hour long version of “Is this a battle or is this a game? No jueges con migo pero I’ll play with you.” The piece as it stands begins with me playing the Taino game, Batu, against myself. Batu was one of the first pieces of Taino culture that the Spanish colonizers tried to erase because they were afraid that this game preserved their ability to be good warriors and would eventually be used to overthrow the Spaniards. While playing this game I want to speak out about the displacement of my ancestors and how my family has had to flee to the US because of US “interventions'' held in our lands and the feelings that arise from being in a colonized “land of the free'' that doesn’t want us here. The basis of this speech will be led by the line of questioning many black and brown people face, the question:
Where are you from? No, where are you really from?