Man: Places, everyone.

[ Indistinct conversations ] Hi, I'm Goldie E. Patrick.

I am the playwright who wrote "#Lakeisha Jefferson."

I am also the director of the Fire This Time festival season 14.

"#Lakeisha Jefferson" is essentially a look at the perspective and the experience of a seven-year-old Black girl who is living through the pandemic in the summer of the racial reckoning alongside her family, and it really is an examination of what that generation of young people are understanding about how they are valued, specifically a Black girl.

So she understands that a hashtag is the way that you get recognition and eventually fame, and desires that -- to be a hashtag -- so she can have fame and she can have celebrity and she can be seen.

Hands up.

Don't shoot.

Hands up.

Don't shoot.

Dang.

Hands up.

Don't shoot.

That's a good apple.

No justice.

No peace.

No justice.

No peace.

You see this?

See what?

No justice.

No peace.

Oh, my God.

These Karens are out of control.

Already.

Not even wearing they masks or washing their hands or nothing.

Talking about they're oppressed.

We just got in this.

Yeah, I know.

3, 4, 5, 6.

♪ I'm a savage ♪ ♪ Classy, bougie, ratchet ♪ Oh, not in this house, you aren't.

You better be a scholar.

What?

Get off that phone and get your iPad ready for your 8 a.m. chemistry test.

You got 10 minutes.

Hands up.

Lakeisha, baby.

Come on, get your breakfast.

You're going to be late.

It's second grade on Zoom.

Is that even a thing?

Sorry, Mommy.

I was practicing for s-show and tell.

Today, we discuss what we want to be when we grow up.

Hmm, that's my smart girl.

What was your answer?

You're going to be a doctor, athlete, engineer?

Come on, future Senator, grab your bowl.

[ Laughs ] You ready, Ke?

Practice with us.

I'll be Mr. Washington.

So, Lakeisha, what do you want to be when you grow up?

When I grow up, I want to be a hashtag.

#Lakeisha Jefferson.

Oh, baby girl.

What?

What's going on?

No.

What made you -- Ke.

What's wrong?

No, no, baby.

Sit, sit, sit.

No, no, no, no, no.

We need to talk.

Stop.

Did I -- Did I -- Am I in trouble?

What exactly have you been telling your sister?

Me?!

She didn't do nothing bad.

See?!

It's "anything," not "nothing bad," and let your father finish.

But, Ma, the test -- You can be late.

I'll write a note if need be.

This is too important.

Now answer your father.

What exactly have you been telling your sister?

Imani didn't do anything bad, Mommy and Daddy, she was just teaching me the Hashtag Dance and stuff.

Keisha.

What stuff?

Just stop.

What hashtag dance are you teaching your seven-year-old sister for TikTok?

It wasn't nothing bad!

Since y'all wouldn't let me go to the protest, some kids from school found other ways to protest.

It wasn't that big a deal.

We made signs and we held them like this.

It was so cool.

Imani had one about this lady -- well, kind of a girl.

She was really pretty.

And she had her hair was like mine in the picture I saw.

Tell them, Imani, The one with the police officer.

Oh, in the car?

No, not the car.

The video game?

At home?

No, the one who wasn't -- Baby, stop.

Baby, baby.

When people use hashtags for people, it's not a good thing.

But you use them.

So does Daddy.

I saw it.

Remember, Imani?

Oh, you mean Breonna Taylor.

What?

She asked me how we knew her, so I explained what happened.

But baby girl, she's too young.

To know the truth?

We learned about Aiyana Stanley-Jones, and she was eight.

I'm almost eight.

[ Sighs ] Was she a hashtag too?

Um... See?

I'm-a be famous.

No, it's not a good thing.

What do you mean?

They're famous.

I want to be famous.

Okay, baby, you just don't understand.

Uh-huh.

Yes, I do.

Everybody posts about them and knows their name.

That's why they say "say her name."

I heard it on the video.

No, it's not like you think.

What's on your phone?

The facts.

Daddy, Mommy, she needs to know.

Okay.

What are you showing your sister?

When was the last post?

That long ago?

So.

So they forget, Ke.

Especially for Black girls.

It could be a year or a month or even a week, and they forget all about these names.

That is why we made the TikTok, because they always forget when the next one happens.

Nobody really cares, and it's all just a trend!

Why?

Come here, ladybug.

[ Crying ] Why?

Come here.

Am I in trouble?

No, no, no, no.

Baby, baby.

We just -- We just want to make sure you have the right information before you tell your class.

Daddy: Just let it out, all right?

Just let it all out.

We've all been through so much.

I had no idea you felt this way, Imani.

I mean, I guess I didn't know either until now.

Daddy, Mommy, I didn't mean to hurt her, but it's true.

Listen, we know.

You just have to be.

careful with what you say Your little sister is watching you all the time.

But the only reason she asked me was because she heard you and Mommy talking about it.

That's fair, Imani.

We all need to be more careful.

Why can't I know what you all know?

It's not fair.

I can learn.

Oh, no, we know you can, pumpkin, but...

Uh, so we are going to teach you all about hashtags.

Yeah, um, hmm, a hashtag is like a light, a lantern that you light or post for somebody you love, and if enough people spark that light... I-I-It lights up the world for someone you care about or care what happens to them.

If people care, why do they forget?

Do #s just end or does the light go out or die or does it become something else once enough people use it?

It doesn't always become something.

But sometimes it can.

And the light never goes out.

Like energy.

Yeah.

So are hashtags what made people special?

No, baby.

They were special and important long before they became hashtags.

Just like you.

You are special without ever, ever, ever wanting or needing or ever becoming a hashtag.

But you loved them and you didn't know them, right?

Why do you love them?

Because they're Black.

And that makes them special and important to us.

Like us.

Like you.

Like our song.

♪ I said I love being Black ♪ All: ♪ I said I love being Black ♪ Did they die because they were Black?

No.

They will live forever because they're Black.

Like the people who could fly.

Exactly.

Thank you.

For sure.

Ke, it's kind of like when they would put up those really tall candles and bottles on the stoop or the block.

Like they did for Kendall's uncle?

Mm-hmm.

He can be a hashtag so he doesn't go away, because they made them take down the candles.

Yeah, he could be.

Baby, there are ways to live forever without being about being famous.

There are plenty of people who created or invented things.

Right?

And their impact lives forever.

Your father is so right, sugar.

Not everyone can be famous, but everyone can be valuable.

Did they have hashtags a long time ago?

Back in the day?

Like for Harriet Tubman?

No, Moses doesn't have a hashtag.

Ancestors are forever.

Then she should.

I don't know what I want to be when I grow up now.

And that's okay.

You can think about what you want to be when you grow up.

What do you mean?

You can be all kinds of things in this life.

Listen, I was a cable guy before I became an engineer.

For real?

Mm-hmm.

That's how I met your mama.

And we would come over and she would tell me -- [ Laughter ] Ew, ew, ew!

All right.

That's how you got here.

Look.

Tell them you are always creating these new and inventive machines.

Like -- Like how you took all my old toys and made them new.

You want to be Black when you grow up.

Imani.

What?

It's a bad question.

That assignment is dumb.

Language.

Uh -- Okay, don't tell them that.

But just think that and remember it.

You will always be who you are.

And you will always be ours.

And loved no matter what.

Now, are you ready?

Because I'm about to be late for chemistry and I look crazy.

Oh, you look fine.

Come on, let's get you ready for class.

You mean in the living room?

Look.

Well, I'm going to go ahead and work here in the kitchen with Lakeisha.

Oh, one second, please.

I have an idea.

Wait a minute.

Does this involve my stuff?

Maybe.

Okay, I'm going to go work in the office.

You come on with me, Miss "I'm a savage."

Uh -- [ Scoffs ] Uh-uh, Ma, please don't.

Please don't.

No.

That's what you were doing.

Mr. Washington: Good morning, class.

Are we ready to present our assignments?

First to present is Lakeisha.

So tell us, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Well, that's a bad question.

[ Clears throat ] I mean Black.

Lakeisha.

Oh.

I don't know yet.

But I know I'm Lakeisha Jefferson, and I'm going to make sure no hashtags get lost or Black girls forgotten.

Want to see?

♪♪ I'm-a make something for them so that they can live forever in the sky for everybody to remember.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪