In 2005, a man named Daveed Diggs came to my school in San Francisco to teach us about slam poetry. I still remember how friendly and passionate he was to us fifth graders, workshopping different ways we could express our youthful thoughts for performance.
I always remembered his name, and since then, Diggs has risen to prominence on stage in the hit musical “Hamilton” and TV shows such as “Black-ish.” But despite his recent success, he’s always stayed true to his roots in Oakland, doing charity work in the Bay Area and using his voice to shed light on political issues like gentrification.