0:00:00.792,0:00:03.333 "I've got people in me." 0:00:03.375,0:00:06.226 So sang the late Abbey Lincoln. 0:00:06.250,0:00:09.226 I take that lyric as mantra. 0:00:09.250,0:00:11.292 "I've got people in me." 0:00:12.500,0:00:17.726 Jomama Jones is the person in me[br]I turn to as a guide. 0:00:17.750,0:00:19.768 She's my alter ego. 0:00:19.792,0:00:23.768 I've been embodying her[br]in performance since 1995, 0:00:23.792,0:00:29.601 and she comes around[br]when she has some insight to offer folks. 0:00:29.625,0:00:31.684 At this time of radical change, 0:00:31.708,0:00:35.917 I'm glad to be the vessel[br]for her message to you. 0:00:41.542,0:00:43.143 Jomama Jones: What if I told you 0:00:43.167,0:00:45.559 it's going to be alright ... 0:00:45.583,0:00:47.583 but what if I told you not yet? 0:00:48.542,0:00:51.143 What if I told you there are trials ahead 0:00:51.167,0:00:53.976 beyond your deepest fears? 0:00:54.000,0:00:56.893 What if I told you will you fall ... 0:00:56.917,0:00:59.125 down, down, down? 0:01:00.000,0:01:05.518 But what if I told you[br]you will surprise yourself? 0:01:05.542,0:01:10.000 What if I told you will be brave enough? 0:01:11.333,0:01:13.184 What if I told you 0:01:13.208,0:01:15.417 we won't all make it through? 0:01:16.333,0:01:18.643 But what if I told you 0:01:18.667,0:01:22.059 that is as it must be? 0:01:22.083,0:01:26.417 What if I told you I've seen the future? 0:01:29.125,0:01:31.184 Do you like my hands? 0:01:31.208,0:01:33.518 They're expressive, yeah? 0:01:33.542,0:01:36.018 Now look at your hands -- now go on. 0:01:36.042,0:01:38.726 There's so much history recorded[br]through their touches 0:01:38.750,0:01:43.309 and marks of the future[br]sketched on their palms. 0:01:43.333,0:01:45.143 Sometimes hands grip tight, 0:01:45.167,0:01:47.958 sometimes hands let go. 0:01:49.375,0:01:51.768 What if I told you 0:01:51.792,0:01:54.292 it's all going to come undone? 0:01:55.083,0:01:56.476 Hm. 0:01:56.500,0:01:58.226 Ladies and gentlemen 0:01:58.250,0:02:00.768 and otherwise described, 0:02:00.792,0:02:03.893 I am Jomama Jones. 0:02:03.917,0:02:06.768 Some call me a soul sonic superstar, 0:02:06.792,0:02:08.684 and I agree, 0:02:08.708,0:02:12.143 though even in my past[br]that was from the future. 0:02:12.167,0:02:14.268 Let me take you back to girlhood. 0:02:14.292,0:02:15.851 Picture this: 0:02:15.875,0:02:17.726 it was Planting Day, 0:02:17.750,0:02:19.893 which was a holiday I invented 0:02:19.917,0:02:22.476 for the Black youth[br]community group I founded. 0:02:22.500,0:02:25.601 I dashed home to put on[br]my gardening ensemble 0:02:25.625,0:02:29.643 when I caught my uncle Freeman red-handed. 0:02:29.667,0:02:34.684 He was standing over my piggy bank[br]with his hammer raised high. 0:02:34.708,0:02:36.958 He was fixing to steal my coins. 0:02:37.667,0:02:38.976 And you see, 0:02:39.000,0:02:41.476 my uncle Freeman was a handyman. 0:02:41.500,0:02:42.851 He could fix anything -- 0:02:42.875,0:02:45.059 a broken chair, a shattered pot -- 0:02:45.083,0:02:48.351 even bring grandmother's[br]plants back to life. 0:02:48.375,0:02:52.476 He had that magic touch[br]with broken things ... 0:02:52.500,0:02:54.184 and broken people. 0:02:54.208,0:02:56.184 He would take me with him on his jobs 0:02:56.208,0:02:57.518 and say, "C'mon Jo, 0:02:57.542,0:03:00.893 let's go do something[br]to make this world a better place." 0:03:00.917,0:03:03.143 His hands were wide and calloused, 0:03:03.167,0:03:08.643 and they always reminded me[br]of displaced tree roots. 0:03:08.667,0:03:12.018 As we worked he would talk with folks 0:03:12.042,0:03:15.976 about the change he was sure[br]was just around the corner. 0:03:16.000,0:03:20.351 I saw him mend flagging hopes 0:03:20.375,0:03:23.101 and leave folks[br]with their heads held high. 0:03:23.125,0:03:26.042 His hands stirred the sunshine. 0:03:26.875,0:03:31.018 And now he was about[br]to break my piggy bank. 0:03:31.042,0:03:34.143 I said "Step back, man,[br]and show me your hands." 0:03:34.167,0:03:36.601 You know the irony was 0:03:36.625,0:03:42.393 he used to give me all the old coins[br]he'd find under floorboards while working. 0:03:42.417,0:03:44.018 And I put them in the piggy bank 0:03:44.042,0:03:47.875 along with the money I earned[br]through my childhood side hustles. 0:03:49.000,0:03:51.976 But by the spring of 1970, 0:03:52.000,0:03:54.851 Uncle Freeman had lost his touch ... 0:03:54.875,0:03:57.500 along with most of his jobs. 0:03:58.333,0:04:01.809 He saw a heavy future 0:04:01.833,0:04:07.643 of civil wrongs and Black power[br]outages in his palms. 0:04:07.667,0:04:10.768 The last straw had come[br]the previous winter 0:04:10.792,0:04:14.333 when they had gunned down Fred Hampton. 0:04:15.417,0:04:18.434 Overwhelmed with fear 0:04:18.458,0:04:20.226 and rage 0:04:20.250,0:04:21.559 and grief, 0:04:21.583,0:04:25.018 Uncle Freeman tried to game his future. 0:04:25.042,0:04:26.976 He gripped too tight, 0:04:27.000,0:04:29.309 and he started playing the numbers. 0:04:29.333,0:04:31.934 "Well, one of these numbers[br]is gonna hit, little girl. 0:04:31.958,0:04:34.018 You got a quarter for your uncle Free -- " 0:04:34.042,0:04:36.518 Now some of y'all have that relative. 0:04:36.542,0:04:40.101 But I knew right then and there[br]I had to do something. 0:04:40.125,0:04:41.934 I jumped up and I grabbed that hammer 0:04:41.958,0:04:44.184 and I brought it[br]crashing down on that pig. 0:04:44.208,0:04:48.309 And Uncle Freeman started to weep[br]as I gathered up all the coins. 0:04:48.333,0:04:50.851 "We're not buying[br]no lottery ticket, Uncle Freeman. 0:04:50.875,0:04:52.125 C'mon." 0:04:53.333,0:04:58.583 We spent every last cent[br]at the seed store. 0:04:59.542,0:05:01.559 You know, the kids in my gardening group? 0:05:01.583,0:05:04.226 They didn't bat an eye[br]when I had Uncle Freeman get down 0:05:04.250,0:05:06.684 and put his hands in the earth again 0:05:06.708,0:05:09.726 and start breaking up[br]that soil for our seeds. 0:05:09.750,0:05:13.559 And my little friend Taesha even came over[br]and started slapping him on the back 0:05:13.583,0:05:15.309 saying, "Cry it out, Uncle Freeman. 0:05:15.333,0:05:16.583 Cry it out." 0:05:18.000,0:05:20.292 "I can't fix this," he sobbed. 0:05:22.583,0:05:26.125 It's an ancient-future truism, that. 0:05:27.042,0:05:30.625 He wasn't the first to feel that way,[br]and he wouldn't be the last. 0:05:31.750,0:05:37.500 Right now, it feels as though[br]everything is breaking beyond repair. 0:05:38.625,0:05:39.875 It is. 0:05:40.708,0:05:45.684 But that breaking apart[br]can be a breaking open, 0:05:45.708,0:05:47.809 no matter how violent and uncertain 0:05:47.833,0:05:50.125 and fearsome it seems. 0:05:51.125,0:05:53.393 The thing is ... 0:05:53.417,0:05:55.458 we can't do it alone. 0:05:56.958,0:06:02.643 Uncle Freeman cried so much that day[br]as we planted our seeds, 0:06:02.667,0:06:05.667 he was our very own irrigation system. 0:06:08.125,0:06:10.476 "I don't know who I am[br]anymore, little girl," 0:06:10.500,0:06:12.833 he said to me at sundown. 0:06:14.083,0:06:16.643 "Good, Uncle Freeman. 0:06:16.667,0:06:17.958 Good. 0:06:18.833,0:06:21.518 You're new again, 0:06:21.542,0:06:24.792 and that's just how we need you."