A message from OPEN DOORS Director, Reality Poet and #NHLM Founder, Vince Pierce...
Back in 2016, I wanted to share my story, but didn’t know how or who would listen. I attended a writing workshop for Black and brown men like me, who had gotten caught up in the street life as kids and after being shot and paralyzed were living in a nursing home without opportunity to improve our lives or contribute to our communities.
Through OPEN DOORS, we found strength, purpose, belonging and an audience for our voices. We call ourselves the Reality Poets. But poetry was just beginning.
Today, we are music producers, rappers, graphic designers, filmmakers, youth educators, motivational speakers and community organizers. Through our music program ZING! we aim to keep kids off the street and in the studio and to create intergenerational spaces of wisdom and healing. Through our #NursingHomeLivesMatter movement we fight for a healthcare system that protects, respects and cares for all those in long-term care, whether for thirty years or a few months, and for those who care for us. Donation dollars help produce our projects and programs, purchase equipment and expand our community.
With your support and solidarity, in the months and years to come, OPEN DOORS will continue to grow as a formidable force in both the gun violence prevention and disability justice spaces, and lead the revolution with art!
Fire through dry grass is what I experienced
but this grass was never green
Or did it ever smell like that fresh cut grass on a summer morning
the fire was never visible
but O did it spread like a wildfire
You see the grass was never your actual grass
and the fire was never your actual fire
the grass was human being
and the fire was what we know today as covid-19
It all started mid February
with rumors of a virus so contagious that you can contract it
from the closest stranger
I didn’t believe it
but at the same time I can hear the late Rev Minnie Bell Powell
my grandma saying
god is coming boy you better get right with him
– excerpt from “Fire Through Dry Grass” by Vince Pierce
OPEN DOORS is a fiscally sponsored project of the Center for Transformative Action, a 501 (c) 3 affiliated with Cornell University. Your donation will appear on your bank statement as Center for Transformative Action.
All rights reserved.