and their hearts laid down by generations past that helps lift us and sets us apart.

Over a hundred years later and we're still growing strong.

We are the soul of Sarasota, we make it shine.

(bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music continues) (bright upbeat music slows) Reading was one of those things that, as a kid, it wasn't easy for me.

I had dyslexia, and was horrible at reading up until first grade, I got with a reading teacher during that time and she would make us practice reading.

And you would notice the different inflations in the voice, if a person was supposed to, you're talking sad or you're happy or they're excited.

So reading allowed me to play with those voices.

Once I got into high school, after the death of my cousin, I began to write and process my emotions.

So, writing, and then, actually opening my mouth and speaking has been a journey for me.

Yes yes y'all And we don't stop And we don't stop And we don't stop.

He said, "Let others see your struggles and pain, use your voice to describe fears and anxiety."

Yes yes y'all And we don't stop Yes yes y'all Yes y'all Yes y'all I heart them because I love, literally all of them.

I am a Sarasota native, there are more of us than people think, I was born and reared right here in Sarasota, Florida, educated within our public school systems.

Newtown is full of beauty though.

Like, we are the heart before you get to downtown Sarasota.

We have the oak trees, the palm trees.

So it was a beautiful place to grow up, yeah.

(bright music) - Newtown is a special place, I was born and reared there.

It's this tight-knit community.

People came here looking for opportunities for work when Sarasota was just beginning and a growing city.

So they worked as domestics and in the celery fields, then they started to set up their own businesses.

Because it was a segregated Sarasota, and they could not have access, they did not have access to shops and businesses, so they basically had to start their own self-sustained community.

And that's what they did, and that too, is what I remember.

Everything that we needed was within the community.

- Newtown has always tried to protect those kids within it by creating like this nucleus for a lot of people to grow and learn.

It is a beautiful legacy of Newtown and I was blessed to get to experience that.

(bright music continues) My father was an amazing man, he was a father of two girls, so we had him wrapped around our little finger and he was a very positive person, he liked everybody, he made you laugh, he was my best friend.

In 2003, he was killed by two white men walking our dog, Snoopy, at the time, and they robbed him, and they took his wedding ring, and you know, left him there, my dad was on dialysis, he bled out right near the Van Wezel parking lot in that area and that was one of the darkest moments.

(tender music) Hate can become a nasty, nasty seed.

It turns into a tree and it will eat you up.

So poetry allowed me to take that anger and allow myself, and not be afraid because I am angry.

This is my truth, this is how I'm feeling and express it.

It is a reality dose, I had to deal with the depression because if I didn't, if I didn't get healed, it was going to go towards my son.

(tender music continues) So instead of yelling, drinking, and partying so much to cover up all of this, I'm gonna let him see me writing, using my creativity to get through these moments.

A lot of artists deal with mental health, you know, and we need to be real and purposeful about dealing with these issues, so let's do this.

Let's really be intentional about healing.

(tender music continues) - We are in a racial reckoning in the country.

I'd say not only in the United States, but internationally.

People are taking a second look at how people of color have been treated.

Down down da down - Okay, were gonna read the first page.

That's a funny word, right?

- It's what Tiggers do best.

- It's so important that arts are equally accessible to Newtown residents, we're in a city where arts rule.

(chuckling), Sarasota is an arts and cultural hub of Florida, but it's not all the time that the arts have been accessible to working people, whose focus is on keeping the lights on, keeping the children fed, and keeping them clothed.

And so, now, it's time to open an African American arts center and history museum with all of the resources that we have produced.

In our history, one of the themes that jumped out at me was the fact that young people were on the front lines of community transformation.

(spirited music) Melanie is a young voice, and I think that she's going to be one of the leaders of, of change.

(spirited music continues) - That is the legacy left to me.

The story of my forefathers, the story of my community.

Certain people never gave up, the spirit of my father would never give up, that was our last conversation.

He told me to, "Mel, no matter what, never stop giving."

So that is my legacy, is to continue, is to keep going, build my hope on things eternal, so yeah.

(spirited music continues) (spirited music swells) (spirited music fades)