Pittsburgh’s Vanessa German is a brave soul; for what else could she be for taking on grief, social trauma, violence, racism, ignorance and the blatant disregard of Black life by White America?
In her dynamic four-part, multimedia show “Testify,” in a special weekend performance at the New Hazlett Theater July 25-26, German used the story motif to tell tales, truths and dreams about the violent deaths and murders of this nation’s Black youths and the hope that Black America will experience a rebirth.
German dramatized Black suffering from 1619 when the first slaves were brought to Jamestown, Va., to now, when young Black men take up arms against each other, too frequently unable to recognize that their brother is not their enemy. What audiences heard was like a cosmic boom, as German bellowed and danced, moaned and sang, laughed and whispered as if the New Hazlett Theater was her living room, and we were her honored guests. 
VANESSA GERMAN—One woman show.
Rarely, if ever, have I seen such a powerful display of passion and talent as one woman took the grief of hurting Black souls—particularly those in Pittsburgh—on her shoulders, and said with a quiet fierceness, “Come on, I’ve got you. Stay here, and I’ll carry you.” And she did.
“Testify” integrates the social irony of Pittsburgh being at once “America’s most livable city,” while simultaneously displaying preposterously high rates of Black-on-Black crime, particularly among its youth.
German opened the show with a soul-wrenching story of a young Black boy who is seduced by his gun, which presented itself as the boy’s best friend, his soul-mate, the one who would never leave him and would always “have his back.” German’s message is loud and clear: young Black men who kill, do not want to kill; they want, instead, to fill a void deep in themselves, but are so stifled and afraid to dream, that they take a life.
While this may have been a difficult concept for some of the audience to grasp, there were enough shouts of agreement from the African-American audience that demonstrated that perhaps some of the Black community understands that our sons murder because they are yearning, not because they are evil murderers.
The question is will we help fill their cups, or will we do exactly what German says to not do: pretend that those dead boys with bullets through their brains and chests do not belong to anyone? As German explained, they belong to us.
German’s stories are complex, and blur reality with popular culture. She merges the story of legendary soul-singer James Brown being born stillborn with a video of a grief-stricken mother who remembers in mind-boggling detail the day she learned that the unidentified body of a young Black male was, in fact, her youngest son, who died from a bullet wound to the head.
German allowed the mother’s words to weave in and out of her own stories about reparations and Black neighborhoods that play “step-cousin” to White areas where residents would never dream of being without a bank or grocery store nearby. Perhaps most importantly, however, the show is about how Black Americans, particularly our youths, can triumph over death. After all, she said, “Death will have you snapping your fingers to your own demise.”
At the core of German’s show was the heart itself, that organ from which, as the scriptures state, “flows all the issues of life.” German reminds us that the heart bleeds and feels pain, and becomes sad, as she laid hers out like a torn, but fine silk garment. I for one, will never forget her sacrifice, nor the Black boys and communities she represented on stage.