What Kind of People Are These? by Brew / July 31

A few weeks ago, I found myself at the Compound for their Rural Haiti Project benefit. Artists discussed the importance of honesty and integrity in their work, belly dancers played with fire, children danced to the rhythm of the bongos. No one in attendance seemed to have anything in common as far as appearance is concern, least of all the man who trailed behind me as I made my exit, who begged the question: “What kind of people are these?” Before I could turn to answer, the sky opened up.

I came across that same bongo beat, a slower version of “Bongo Jam” by Crazy Cousinz, a few blocks later. A cipher had formed around Afro-Cuban beats, where head-nods blended with pounding of dancing fingers–and the rain. Emcees spouted poetry, and weaved fables through the beats: “Don’t call me a rapper/I speak truth./I am a storyteller./I hail from on high to bring…” Heads rolled and every mind expanded.

I left the cipher with the answer to his question:

They–We are artists, creators, innovators. Leaders of a new tomorrow–emissaries and revolutionaries, fighting for a utopic symbiosis of life, love, creation, and freedom. We are the past, the present, the future, and the NOW. We are LIFE. We are individual grains of sand comprising our self-made island, knowing no walls, and no country. We stand together–alone. We are Maroons.

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