In 1970s Columbus, Ohio, a joyful family celebration at the legendary Kahiki Supper Club two couples dining together with an infant turns into chaos after a violent police confrontation. What begins as a night of connection and celebration becomes an incident later known as the Kahiki incident, igniting public outrage and calls for police and political reform.

Decades later, that infant confronts the truth.

Years after the incident, I received a copy of Columbus Monthly magazine in the mail from my stepmother. As I turned the pages, my stomach dropped. There were my uncle, my mother, and my father faces bruised, swollen, and battered captured in haunting photographs from that night.

That was the moment I learned my family had been at the center of the Kahiki incident.

Growing up, the story was rarely spoken about. When it was, the details were vague and carefully avoided. Reading the full account for the first time was both shocking and destabilizing.

Then came the revelation that changed everything.

As I read on, I discovered that a nine-month-old baby had been present during the confrontation.

That baby was me.

Now a lawyer, I set out to uncover what really happened that night and why its impact rippled through my family for generations. Documenting this journey became inseparable from my own search for healing. I have lived with the weight of my brother’s suicide and a childhood shaped by homelessness, poverty, and unspoken pain. The question I could no longer avoid was this: How did one night leave scars so deep, and why did we all have to carry them?

In 2023, I made the decision to confront not only the events of that long-forgotten night, but also the lasting consequences of poverty, generational trauma, and police brutality. This film traces my reckoning with the past as I seek truth, accountability, and the possibility of peace.

The Kahiki 3 and Me is a deeply personal feature length documentary making its debut on January 31, 2026, at the Denton Black Film Festival. Directed by Amber Monet, the film features Les Brown, world-renowned motivational speaker.