Herstory Freedom Forum in Wyandanch helps participants write so they can heal

Standing in front of about 100 people at the Plaza at Wyandanch, 15-year-old Kayleen Braswell detailed a moment that would change her life forever — the day she was formally adopted.

Braswell in a third-person narrative gave spectators a glimpse of the mixed emotions she felt during the August day in 2016, when a judge granted her adoptive mother custody.

Braswell described the anger she felt at being given up for adoption by her biological mother, but also the fear of going through the adoption process.

“There was a voice in her head saying I’m scared; I want to go home. Please let me go,” she read as she recalled the day she sat in the courtroom.

But the Wyandanch Memorial High School junior on Sunday also touched on the positive impact that her adoptive mother has had on her life, before walking off the stage and embracing her.

“I believe her story wasn’t just for her, it’s to empower someone else to tell their story,” said her adoptive mother Jerlyn Braswell, 68, of Wyandanch. “I believe every time she tells her story I’m probably going to well up with tears to see what God is doing with her life.”

Kayleen Braswell’s story was just one of several featured at a Freedom Forum organized by the Herstory Writers Network, a Centereach-based program that helps participants write narratives that help them heal. The Sunday afternoon event was filled with passionate stories of triumph, failure and pain.

“We’re really looking at 'how can our stories make a difference?' ” said Herstory founder Erika Duncan.

The theme of the event, she noted, was centered around, “If your words have the power to change a heart, a mind, a policy; what would you want them to say?”

Several artists took turns responding to that question. Some spoke about their hardships, others about the prison system and government policies.

For a trio of summer fellows at Herstory, their response was to talk about motherhood and the beauty and difficulty that comes with it.

Latashen Johnson-Lowe, 49, of West Babylon, Erica Hawkins, 44, of Queens, and Ashley Handa, 24, of Central Islip, shared memories of their mothers in a joint narrative, while Johnson-Lowe also spoke about her time growing up as a teenage mother.

“Our group really wanted to focus on the strength of mothers. How to overcome hardships and just because things may be difficult, you can still be a great mother,” Handa said after their performance.

Johnson-Lowe said the performance gave her an opportunity to express emotions that were bottled up for years, but also it would give other young mothers motivation to move forward.

The event brought speakers from all parts of the metropolitan area, including Newark, New Jersey, resident Shamah ShaRize, who was incarcerated for 16 years. He spoke passionately about his past, stereotypes and turning his life around.

“It’s clarification,” he said. “This is for people to see me not just as a defendant … but me as an educator, a man about transformation.”

Organizers said the network has workshops at several schools, communities and some in jails.

Herstory facilitator and translator Belinda Castiblanco and board member Mimi Pierre Johnson said they help translate the programs to Spanish and Creole.

“The way it happens in the classroom is really a melting pot of people who just want to tell their stories,” Pierre Johnson said. “Herstory gives them that opportunity.”

Castiblanco added that “it’s very important not only to learn how to tell your story, but learn how to listen and have empathy.”