History Has Its Eyes On You.

In high school I attended my first ever theater play that starred Yasin Bey (Mos Def) in A Free Man of Color. In this play was told the story of Haitian leader Toussaint L’Ouverture, the revolutionary that led Haiti to its independence from colonial rule. This scene was my first introduction to the story of Haiti’s independence, and how L’Ouverture began a chain of events that led to the liberation of slaves throughout the Caribbean, and ultimately the United States of America. I saw a man change the course of history by daring to do the uncommon thing, push past his doubts, and find his authority.

This led to an interest in plays/musicals, and eventually seeing another play called In The Heights, a story based in the Washington Heights area of New York City by one Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda at the time was a first time Broadway playwright and actor, who had brought the story of Washington Heights to midtown Manhattan. I was so amazed at how Miranda had brought such an authentic story of Uptown to Broadway, two places that could not seem further apart yet were only a 30 minute train ride away from each other.

I met him once as a student in the Gear-Up Program hosted at Fordham University in The Bronx, where he spoke to us, then high school students, about chasing our dreams and to dare to be our authentic self through that journey.

Fast forward to several years later when Lin-Manuel Miranda went on to take an even greater feat: sharing the story of America’s inception through the lens of an art form that started in The Bronx: Hip-Hop. With his play Hamilton, I witnessed the tale of the founding fathers of the United States told in the cadence of Busta Rhymes, Black Thought, and Queen Latifah. I saw what started as declarations of faith by Miranda in a 2009 performance evolve into one of the greatest plays in Broadway history.

One song stands out to me: “History Has Its Eyes on You.” This title speaks to the notion that for all of us, the world is watching. We have the opportunity to do the safe, common thing. We can exist in our self-doubt, be complacent (and often complicit), believing that we are not meant for greater. We could hear a call to action and assume that role is too big for us to fill.

Or we could dare to ask ‘why not?’ We could dare to dream that we are powerful beyond measure. We could dare to heal from the chaos that confines us, and break through to heights future generations may build on. We could dare to overcome our fears, discover our full self, and impact the world to our full potential.

The purpose of KofiSpeaks is to challenge us all to dare to discover our full self. It is my mission to inspire others to challenge their limitations, overcome the fears that hold them back, and change the world for the better in their own unique way. I do hope to meet Lin-Manuel Miranda again to thank him for how his story dared me to dream. It challenged me to bring my authentic self everywhere I go, and in that leave an impact that will inspire.

History has its eyes on you. What will it see in your story?