(soft music) - My name is Essence Ayana Blakemore and I am a creative writer and also a content creator.

Poems, journals, I'm dabbling into essays, and I also create digital content.

You can check me out, @nostalgic-_dope.

That consists of my pets, me cooking, and just all the other side things that I do.

It's like a mini vlog for me.

I write to feel better.

Really, it's an escape.

Poetry, I just like words, I just enjoy writing.

I'm not big on like typing and journaling, I'm getting more into it now, but I like to literally write.

I just like the feeling of it.

"No Vision" is a poem that got published in the Black Voices Matter Anthology, so that's a pretty big one and I think a lot of people like that.

A lot of people within the community know that poem, but some of the best poetry, I think, is the stuff that people haven't heard.

Is there a reason for a vision?

When people like me where I come from have no say in a decision?

We wanna change the looks, narratives, and stigmas.

We fighting against the black man not being humanized, the hoodies.

These are our dilemmas.

We say we wanna liberate the people, but in reality, we offer 'em false hope.

Creating change is a lot harder than it should be, just the way the forefathers always planned it would be.

To bring about change, this body has to talk to this body and this body has to talk to the next.

This is how authenticity gets lost within the text.

I think y'all call that bureaucracy.

Invest the interest in keeping the language complicated and complex.

I don't see a system.

I see barriers.

So we still out here y'all.

We rapping up at about 4:30, 5:00-ish.

The option says everything going around 'cause it's been falling everywhere.

Just letting y'all know, we still up here.

We still got stuff for y'all.

Come get what y'all need, people going past, you know, just going past, viewing it, but we still got stuff here.

We're still outside.

We right in Minneapolis, right downtown.

So you guys can come, do voter registration.

You can come see what we're talking about and see what we're doing.

So we are right here.

We got it going on.

There's space.

There's information for you.

Whatever you need.

Every person that walks in this parking lot is getting love.

We're speaking to them.

Hey, how you doing?

You know what I'm saying.

Every single person that walk past, we share the love, because this is what community is about.

This is how black people are.

This is what we do for real.

You know what I'm saying?

So we definitely changing the narrative and we getting ready for Juneteenth, 'cause that's the real celebration, you know what I'm saying?

July 4th is canceled by the way, if you didn't know that, here's my infomercial.

But yeah, I just wanted to swim back in and let y'all know that I did not win that last round of bucket ball.

- [Man] Wanna drop that flow?

- Drop the flow?

♪ Now's the time, think about it ♪ ♪ Since this election, there's been more hate crimes ♪ ♪ But I know it, change is coming ♪ ♪ I can hear it like some wind chimes ♪ ♪ It's weird times we living in ♪ ♪ America really be still harassing color, man ♪ ♪ It's pathetic ♪ ♪ The athletics get better buzz than the politics ♪ ♪ Really thinking Donald Trump ♪ ♪ Could turn the US to a Auschwitz ♪ ♪ The working class works for crumbs and bits ♪ ♪ And the upper class really telling us ♪ ♪ We should be proud of it ♪ So look y'all, that wasn't even a rap.

That was really something I wrote.

You feel me?

We could be out here... - Poetry.

- We gonna be out here all day doing this.

We could clown all day.

We could clown all day.

On my social media, when I'm documenting my writing, I always say like, I'm documenting histories.

Legitimately, that's what I feel like I'm doing.

It's my history.

I guess it's not more so what do you write, but why do you write?

I write because I feel like this stuff needs to be like left behind and carried over, for either my kids, their kids, just for somebody to like have the knowledge and be able to reread the experiences.

It comes out poetically a lot of times.

(soft inspirational music) I always wrote stories and stuff like that as a kid, but I'm starting to take it serious.

Primarily, I just write stories, but mostly I write my story.

A lot of voices are being pushed to the side and this is a way for me, like, take control of my own experience.

I get to choose what I wanna share with the world.

And I want it to get to a certain level, to the point where it can either start a riot or cease one.

I think writing has the power to do just that.

It's a channel and it's a way to let people know what time it is.

At the same time, it is there for entertainment and for people to see themselves and get healing.

Also for people to be able to see themselves in stories and not feel so alone.

- Color, hardest of all, the housing crisis, because for people of color, wages have been stagnant or like going down and their housing costs are going up.

(man laughing) - [Crowd] Persecute the police!

- Where the energy?

- [Crowd] No justice, no peace!

- They think they can do it.

- [Crowd] Prosecute the police!

No justice, no peace!

- What?

Prosecute the police!

- [Crowd] No justice, no peace!

- Say it like y'all mean it!

- [Crowd] Prosecute the police!

- They think that is allowed!

- [Crowd] No justice, no peace!

Prosecute the police!

No justice, no peace!

Prosecute the police!

- [Crowd] No justice, no peace!

- I'm growing tired of this.

For this whole group to sound huge, like it really is, everybody needs to say, "No justice, no peace."

Like, do you want them up there to hear it?

Do you want people to be disturbed?

Like, do you really wanna disturb?

And that's what it's about.

I'm not here to make people feel comfortable.

Like, you really need to disturb people.

And that's what I hope my writing does, you know, in the best way possible, but it's to disturb this.

Like, even how it's so order.

It remind me of church a little bit.

Church got the best intentions, but it's like, if the spirit is really moving you, how do you stay within this order and this box?

You wanna be equitable and engaged by classifying me as marginalized or POC.

What are you saying?

Do you even see me?

I don't see a system.

I don't see a system working with us.

I see us working ourselves in, 'cause unfortunately my seat and volume at the table is determined by my skin.

But I'm determined to educate my people, 'cause it's time we see a real win.

But since you ask though, I'll tell you my vision.

It requires us to practice at equity like a religion.

I wanna have conversations about something that's real.

I wanna bring about change that the people can feel.

Anika is gracious and Jason's clothing line is empowering and uplifting.

He gave me $200 worth of books, so in my community event, that's what I'll be gifting.

I see black men in crisp suits with they dreads braided to the back.

I see a sister at the table with her colorful nails and weaves, not feeling self-conscious for looking too black.

I see a universal love and a general understanding.

I see generational traumas actually being addressed.

Thank you for the space and the time to express, but with everything that's just been said, is there a reason for a vision?

(upbeat music)