​In the midst of all this madness, I am compelled to write. Seeing the images of a 17 year old white male, moved by misguiding beliefs, shoot a military rifle, a weapon he had no business possessing, at protesters, with deadly force, shows the outcome of rhetoric forged in hate.

By advocating no platform and acceding solely to the demagoguery of its leader, the RNC appears to be taking a page out of George Orwell's 1984: “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power... We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end." 

But Orwell also wrote: "If they could make me stop loving you-that would be the real betrayal." ​

Doc Rivers spoke about this passionately and eloquently yesterday: “It’s just so sad. You know, what stands out to me is just watching the Republican Convention, and they’re spewing this fear, right. Like, all you hear is Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear. We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot. We’re the ones who are denied to live in certain communities. We’ve been hung. We’ve been shot. And all you do is keep hearing about fear. It’s amazing. Why do we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back.”

John Lewis' final words to American need reiteration: "I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe...the way of love and nonviolence is the more excellent way...walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide."

Erika Dickerson-Despenza is a Blk, queer feminist poet-playwright and cultural-memory worker from Chicago, Illinois. She is a 2020 Grist 50 Fixer and was a National Arts & Culture Delegate for the U.S. Water Alliance's One Water Summit 2019. Awards: Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award (2020), Thom Thomas Award (2020), Lilly Award (2020), Princess Grace Playwriting Award (2019). Residencies & Fellowships: Tow Playwright-in-Residence at The Public Theater (2019-2020), New York Stage and Film Fellow-in-Residence (2019), New Harmony Project Writer-in Residence (2019), Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow (2018-2019), The Lark Van Lier New Voices Fellow (2018). Communities: BYP100 Squad Member, Ars Nova Play Group (2019-2021), Youngblood Collective (EST). Commissions: The Public Theater, Studio Theatre & Williamstown Theatre Festival. Productions: cullud wattah (2019 Kilroys List) originally slated at The Public Theater, 2020; Victory Gardens Theater, 2021. Currently, Erika is developing a 10-play Katrina Cycle, including shadow/land and [hieroglyph] (2019 Kilroys List), focused on the effects of Hurricane Katrina and its state-sanctioned, man-made disaster rippling in & beyond New Orleans. 

​cullud wattah

Synopsis:
 
It’s been 936 days since Flint has had clean water. Marion, a third generation General Motors employee, is consumed by layoffs at the engine plant. When her sister, Ainee, seeks justice & restitution for lead poisoning, her plan reveals the toxic entanglements between the city & its most powerful industry, forcing their family to confront the past-present-future cost of survival. As lead seeps into their home & their bodies, corrosive memories & secrets rise among them. Will this family ever be able to filter out the truth?

​Development/Production History: 
​
cullud wattah was developed during the Lark Play Development Center's 2018 Van Lier New Voices Fellowship tenure (John Clinton Eisner, Artistic Director) & received its first staged reading in October 2018 at Jackalope Theatre in Chicago (Gus Menary, Artistic Director; Nora Leahy, Managing Director). cullud wattah received a Public Studio workshop production March 7 – 10, 2019 at The Public Theater, where it was slated to have its world premiere in July 2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director). The regional premiere of cullud wattah is scheduled for an April 2021 premiere at Victory Gardens Theater (Roxanna Conner, Managing Director).