Hi for those who don’t know me, my name is Winston Chiang and I have found out that my favorite thing is to help my friends.

See in this world, I am a true agnostic. I’ve seen gods. If god is a word to represent something greater than man. I’ve been humbled beneath trees, centuries older than any human alive, climbed mountains trails of prayer and retreat, brushed against magic beyond the scientific consensus, and deepened my understanding of how sturdy our equations of the universe are.

In all of that, I have no idea what happens when we die.

I’m pretty sure our neurons stop firing and everything goes silent; slowly at first and then all at once. Eternity will blink away, easier than falling asleep.

Who really knows. I have not found any answers. But all that searching has given me questions.

Who are you? What fills you with joy and anguish, sometimes all at once? How do you bring feelings into the world around you? Where is your community? What do you observe? When do you pray?

My answer to the unknown void is to offer up my friends as virgin sacrifices.

Or at least as humble offering at the altar.

If there is no one on the other end, at least all of you are here to listen. For that, I am humbled and I am grateful.

Today we’ll have lots of performers.

Before we get into this, and I’m very excited to do so, but first we need to talk about January 6th, 2021.

There’s a lot to say about this and I agree with plenty, but if you know me you know I have a tendency, to think about these things with a sense of globalism.

We are extremely privileged to live in a country with very little violence during transitions of power.

But most governments have faced wild and dangerous insurrection.

France. 1066. Meji Restoration. Arab Spring.

Turkey and Brazil have had modern coups.

America has supported plenty of uprisings in Latin America, notably Honduras and Colombia. Or the People’s Power Revolution of the Philippines in the 1986. What about Hong Kong and Thailand and Taiwan today? The so-called Bubble Tea Alliance, where students are fighting the modern battles of democracy and representation. Or Argentina, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand where abortion rights were guaranteed in the last 3 years.

It is our gift to have had peaceful times, to be fed, to be safe, to grow wealthy. It is our American cornucopia that has provided.

For there is a truth. We are among the wealthiest humans to have ever existed. 50 thousand years for homo sapiens. Over a hundred billion humans. It is us lucky few who can be this secure in our existences.

Your life expectancy is triple your ancestors. And even among the living, we are still in a country that many of our parents or grandparents fled to, from whatever “shithole” country they originated from.

How well we’ve done, well. The proof is in the pudding.

We won both Senate seats in Georgia, a radical transformation of a long history of voter suppression and racism. They’ve elected their first Black Senator, months after Representative John Lewis died. John Lewis got beaten for marching in Selma. Barely a full generation has passed and there is such hope.

Yet in this age of information and wealth, we have foundational tumors. On one side, Jacob Blakes shooters are free. Andre Hill was murdered during Christmas in Ohio. We still say her name, almost in vain at this point [Breanna Taylor was murdered in her bed by 6 of 32 bullets. Two of the three officers that fired shots were dismissed and the officer who got the search warrant, but no one will see jail time]. Not to mention the And on another, a majority white mob just looted and ransacked our Capital building.

Who are these poor souls who are protesting this election result? What twisted webs have been spun by this one man with 140 characters. Who are its victims? Us of course. But them as well. What losers. What wretched people have strayed so far from God’s light. Any light at all.

You might know someone suffering or has suffered from addiction. Most of their destruction is geared towards themselves. Many cannot be saved and it is definitely not your responsibility to fix. But the only way to save an addict is to give them a way out. To support them. To raise them up.

We should know the addiction to power. It’s intoxicating to feel justified in rage. Like during our Black Lives Matter protests, we were absorbed by the swell of the masses. I felt invincible, like we could have done anything. Truth be told, the day of the City budget being passed, if I could have directed the crowds, I would have. To sit and take over the Brooklyn Bridge or storm City Hall itself. We wanted answers and we felt strong enough to take them.

When we look at the mob, we should know what they feel, even if we don’t agree with what they think.

Our burden is to ourselves and our loved ones first. Of course. Take care of each other, in this room and beyond.

And far beyond, if we are able, if we are strong enough. We must also protect our “enemies”.

Don’t get it twisted. They’re very wrong. And there are a lot, a lot, of people and groups that have greater needs. And frankly they aren’t gaping assholes.

I have a lot of anger towards these nutcases. They have destroyed what I once held so dear, an unwavering patriotism to the country that promises, if not perfection, then unsteady upward growth.

I wouldn’t be unhappy with loping off a few heads.

But that doesn’t fix anything, it just assuages my ego. My ego won’t solve anything.

Instead, there has to be some space, some consideration of how. How do we lend more hands and pick each other up.

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The truth is there is not a lot you can do to solve these things.

The world is a large place, much too large for individuals to steer. We all feel the weight of everything dragging us down.

Let us then remember what this space is for. This is protest, but it is because art and expression are protests. Here, we fight fascism and radicalism with a radical expression and a fanfare of acceptance. Who you are doesn’t matter on my stage. What form your art takes. That’s not important. That’s the stuff we leave at the door when we bare souls, when we take chances, when we work on the things that make us feel heard, make us feel alive.

You can only continue to live a life in accordance with your own guiding principles.

These are mine. I will make space for my friends to express themselves. I will foster communities that value acceptance and engagement. I am here to fight the big fights with the smallest actions; by valuing whomever you are, how ever you present yourself, and nurturing your growth to whoever you strive to be.

Here. We raise each other up. From where ever you are to where ever you’re going.

I’m grateful and blessed to present to you Uprising: Inaugural.