Tatiana, Allison, Sydney, Anna O.

Inspirations Play Script - The Strength We Find

Characters:
Sydney- Yael (Jewish)
Tatiana- Cammy (hispanic)
Allison- Allison (black)
Renata- Renata (LGBTQ)
Anna- Emotion dancer

Act I Scene I:

[Allison, lillia, Tatiana, and Anna standing on stage tableau]

Allison: No but you don’t understand what I’ve been through.

Tatiana: its just as bad for me, sometimes worse.

Allison: Look at the color of my skin, from the moment I walk into a room I get judged, I don’t
even get to prove who I am through my personality. You just don't understand what that’s like.

Tatiana: When people hear me speak the first thing they think is that I don’t belong here. I can’t
even have a conversation in my native language without being discriminated against.

Allison: Look at the news, it’s my people that are in danger, it’s my people that are getting shot.

Tatiana: And what about the reports that don’t make it on TV? You don’t think I’ve lost friends
and family to violence? You don’t think I know what it feels like? I could get deported for
anything at any time, my family could be ripped away from me for getting a stupid parking
ticket.
Allison: And I could get killed for standing in my own yard holding a cell phone, or sitting in a
Starbucks, or walking home with a pack of skittles and an arizona in my hands.

Sydney: STOP! What’s the point of arguing. It’s not doing anything.

Allison: And what do you know? You’re white, you’ll never know what it feels like
to be oppressed.

Sydney: Just listen.

[all three step back-put heads down]

Anna [fact]: Minority women have the lowest income and earnings, usually working in the
lowest paid occupations and industries and are consequently disproportionately in poverty.

------------------

Act 2 Scene I:
Sydney [First Story]: I am Yael, and I am a jewish woman. Growing up, I never really
considered myself to be oppressed in any major way. I am white, and being jewish didn’t affect
me. I knew it had affected my grandparents, but they lived, so i was never personally impacted.
Well, not until recently. With the 2016 election, the number of attacks targeting jews rose by
nearly 60 percent. The march in Charlottesville was filled with Neo-nazis carrying flags with
swastikas on them. This was the first time I felt scared because of my religion, the first time I
could relate to people of color who feel fear like this everyday of their lives. I saw the reports,
and the pictures from other hate crimes. I saw the graffiti...It said…

Sydney [at the same time as Tatiana]: Make America white again?

Tatiana: [holds up sign] MAKE AMERICA WHITE AGAIN.

Sydney: with a swastika in the middle? Or one saying…

Sydney [at the same time as person]: Jews belong in the oven?

Allison: [holds up sign] JEWS BELONG IN THE OVEN.

Sydney: I never knew people still thought the same things that Hitler preached 80 years ago.
When I was a child I never worried that people would hate me because of my religion, but now,
I’m afraid. While growing up I was more conscious of my gender and the discrimination I would
face because of it. Now I am scared. I am scared that I will have to fight because of my religion
more so than anything else.

Anna [fact]: Jews make up less than 1% of the population, yet experience discrimination in 85
countries — the third most of any religious group.

-------------

Act 2 Scene II:

Tatiana [Second Story]: My name is Cammy I am a hispanic girl living in the United States.
Yes, I was born in El Salvador but I immigrated to the US at the age of two. Yes, I was raised
within my culture, I had a quinceanera and I have family dinners each weekend, but I have also
grown up within the American culture that I consider my own. That I know is my own. I am just
as American as anyone else yet I am constantly being told that this is not where I belong. People
tell me, they say...

Sydney: Go back to where you came from. We don’t want illiterate good-for nothing Mexicans
ruining our country.

[emotion dancer recoils]

[pause]
Tatiana: but this is my home. I know that I belong here just as much as the next person. This is
all I know...this is all I want to know.

Anna [fact]: Hispanics are the nation's largest minority group and among its fastest growing
populations, making up 17% of the US population.

-----------------

Act 2 Scene III:

Allison [Third Story]: All my life being Black is something that I have struggled with. I attended Commented [1]: Scars to Your Beautiful

a mostly white elementary school where there were less that five children of color in each class. I
never felt like I belonged. I wanted to straighten my hair and even thought of bleaching my skin
to look like my peers. I never saw Black people in the shows I watched or books I read. I hated
the way that I looked, my hair, my skin color. When I went to middle school and had more Black
people in my classes bombarded me with questions like

Tatiana with Allison: Why do you talk so white?

Allison: And...

Sydney with Allison: You act so white you have to be mixed right?

Allison: I was only really seen as Black by my white friends and by my black friends I was seen
as an “Oreo” , Black on the outside and white on the inside. I never wanted to be Black, don't get
me wrong being black is great but I didn’t want to have to deal with all the oppression, the
discrimination, and racism that came with it.

Anna [fact]: The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most
unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the
black woman. - Malcolm X
 ------------------

Act 2 Scene IV:

Renata: Everyday I have to hold my breath. I have to be conscious of who is around me.
Because apparently who I love determines whether I go to hell or not. I hold my breath around
strangers. I hold my breath around my family, around my friends. I try and dodge harmful
comments made by my loved ones. I try to dodge harmful policies and organizations. But I can’t
live in a world where I feel the need to censor myself for others. I can’t live in a world where
other peoples harmful beliefs and ideals are more important than being myself. I can’t live in a
world where being myself is a reason to kill me. Being gay isn’t something I can change about
myself. It’s not something I grew or developed. It’s been a part of me since birth. Often I find
myself in situations where someone won’t accept the queer side of me. I can’t educate everyone,
that is not my responsibility. But, if you can’t accept that side, you can’t accept ANY side.
Because that’s part of who I am. And no matter how much people insult me, or harass me, this is
still who I am.

Anna [fact]: LGBTQ+ young people report experiencing verbal homophobic abuse, physical
homophobic abuse, and other types of homophobia , including cyber bullying, graffiti, social
exclusion and humiliation.

------------------
Poem: adapted from a poem by Savanna Hartman
I wasn’t born rich, but don’t get it twisted.
See how I look? My white skin is my privilege.
I don’t get watched when I go to the mall.
If I get stopped for a ticket it doesn’t end in a brawl.
I don’t know what it’s like to go out for a snack
And end up lying dead on my back
My car’s never been watched or followed around
My kids don’t play in parks and then get gunned down
I don’t know anyone murdered for selling cigs or cds
I’ve never been choked out or shot at by corrupt men in PD
All: To black women
i'm sorry we've made you a commodity
Using your bodies in secret like a back alley hobby
I'm sorry your kids watched while you were mistreated
I'm sorry your husbands have been broken and beaten
All: To black children
i'm sorry that we've made you believe that you are worth less and couldn’t achieve the same
heights as the white kids that are in the same class because you are so smart and you are not
trash
All: To black men
i weep because my heart breaks for you
The mass has been judged for the acts of a few
You've done the best with the hand you've been given
White people dont leave, dont exit out,
All: just listen
I know it's uncomfortable, but you must hear me out
This really is something that we must talk about
I know the history,
All: dont say its not true
All: The past doesn't disappear when it's offensive to you

Because if you would just look and be honest right now

You'd see that their mistreatment is what we've allowed
We act like they're poor and less than and gross
We make fun of their hair and their skin and their clothes
We reject them as people but their culture we keep
Like their music and dance moves, their style and weaves
It only takes one person to stand up and say
Sydney: I won’t stand for this, this is not the way
Tatiana: I’m not sorry for this,
Allison: this is how it must be
All: I will be change, change starts with me.

------------------

Act 3 Scene I:
Allison: So I guess it's not necessarily about our individual struggles as minorities, but rather
what we can do to come together...

Tatiana: As a whole.

Allison: And instead of arguing about who is more oppressed...

Tatiana: Figure out what we can do as a community to find a solution.

Allison [turns to audience]: Because together…

Tatiana [turns to audience]: together…

Allison and Tatiana: together we...

Allison: will educate.

Tatiana: Participate.

Allison: And advocate.

[slight pause]

Allison: It’s time to have a conversation about the prejudices that live within each of us.

Tatiana: So vote, and be educated while doing so.

Allison: Find organizations within your own community to reach out to and participate in.

All: What will you do to make a difference.

 --------------

Put link to organization website on visual presentation in background.