My name is William Amado Syldor Severino. My name is important, as it captures the lineages that have culminated into me and my kin. This name also holds the brutality inflicted on the Taino people, the Haitians, the Dominicans, the Africans of my island. My beautiful mother is the lovely Amada Severino and my super awesome father is Wilner Sildor, along with my wonderful sisters, Rosemine Syldor and Cynthia Syldor-Severino. Shout out to rest of my fam as well!! Being in this film I’ve learned a lesson that I will never forget. Speak, because to me, speaking and being listened to is a right in its own sense, and a privilege realistically. I’m also learning that white supremacy and patriarchy has imprinted themselves into my mind and being in ways that I will only understand with time and effort. I find that many of us have been rigged to be each other’s most dangerous companions. I have found that taking the time to be delicate with someone, to really know who they are and why they are, is the only real way to minimize this danger we all currently pose to each other.Being in this film, and living with its implications, I feel that I no longer look up the ladder to find out why the world suffers so greatly. The ladder is held up by the ground. Move the ground and the ladder falls. I’ve found that it is an incredible amount of violence that keeps this fragile balance in place. I’ve found that I am a reflection of that violence. And there is a powerful beauty in me. There is a force more powerful than those who teeter helplessly on ladders held up by an almost overwhelming and unrelenting brutality. This film is a step towards moving. I hope it is also one for you. These are our lives, at a time long ago. These are our stories, that spoke of people who no longer exist. This is a window into our collective sorrow; into my sorrow. My name is Will, and I am growing closer and closer to my internal and consistent liberation. This film was a monumental step, as I knew it would be. I did not know that I would be so afraid to speak once my moment came. Breathe into your fear now, so it does not surprise you later.