Toni Hickman’s video “People Pleaser”


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I cannot even hold onto my horses right now. I’ve let them run free and wild. And that’s because T. Alika Hickman, Krip-Hop Nation artist, documentary filmmaker, author, and speaker has a video out that I need people to get to the nearest computer (of course, you’re already there!) and watch.

It’s extremely rare for me to ever post a video that doesn’t have Closed Captions, and at this point the video does not. But I wrote to Toni and offered my Closed Captioning services to her. So I hope that quickly we will have that covered. There are points in the song with someone signing the lyrics in sign language, and that’s a fantastic start.

Toni Hickman was one of my very early guests on the Stories from the brainreels podcast. That was way before I got myself organized and got a routine down for recording the episodes. So, please accept my apologies for not giving my guest the best platform to share her work and experiences.

The video above is for a song called “People Pleaser.” Part of the Krip-Hop Nation’s global movement is about amplifying the real experiences and art of disabled people. And so the people in the video are people with apparent and non-apparent disabilities. No one in “crip drag” in this video. The video also gives us something that the media rarely does: black and brown people with disabilities. Even today, much disability-oriented art and media still focus on white people’s experiences. And so this video and all of Toni and Krip-Hop Nation’s work are a cultural treasure.

If you need Closed Captions to access this video, please check back. I’m sure it will be captioned soon.

Check out more of T. Alika’s work on YouTube, including music and her personal narratives about experiences around disability and culture!

Her homepage is tonihickman.com .


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