NeShaune Lasley - Go, Venae, Go!

 

“Open up your arms, relax your stance, spread your legs, keep going.” “Oh, my God, Daddy, if you don't shut up, I'm going to come across this fence and show you how relaxed I am.” [audience laughter] Mind you, I'm in the middle of a 400-yard dash, which I don't know how anybody dash is 400 yards in high school. [audience laughter] And mind you, this is also a race I did not want to run, but because I was fast, but not superfast, I got to run the 400-yard dash. So, I didn't want to go. The person who was supposed to be there just didn't show up, which I was wishing I had done at that moment. [audience laughter] But I was there. 

 

And from the moment I stomped to my place in line to the starting little thingies, runners, my dad was there yelling, “Open up your hands, open your stride. Go, Binet, go.” I wasn't here for it, like, the first couple of laps. But there's something about my dad, he has always been my cheerleader. He was a coach. So, everything he told us came out like in “Go, you can do it. Do your best.” He always repeated everything. I can tell you everything. He always told us, “Keep your eyes wide open, expect the best from people, but be prepared for the worst.” Like, he told us the same thing over and over, but it was all to make us better people and to encourage us. 

 

I remember one time when I came home from college, my dad was sitting in the living room watching a documentary on Beyoncé. [audience laughter] So, this was pre-queen bee status, but I was still digging her. So, I sat down to watch with him. We were just enjoying it, just sitting down like fathers and daughters do, I guess, watch Beyoncé. [audience laughter] And at one point, Beyoncé tells when her birthday is. I'm born 1981. Beyoncé was born September 4th. Everybody knows that 1981. [audience laughter] 

 

And so, at that moment, my dad just looks over at me, like, looks back at Beyoncé, and he looks at me again and he looks back at Beyoncé, and he's like, “She's the same age as you.” I'm like, “Yeah, we just both heard in 1981.” He looks at me, “You know how many millions she's made?” [audience laughter] So, I looked at my dad and I said, “You realize her dad is her manager, right?” [audience laughter] Okay. [audience cheers and applause] 

 

Being my dad, he laughed it off and he's like, “No, I'm just trying to get you to understand. She's the same age as you. You know, she was a little girl, and then she grew up and she followed her dreams. You know, you can do anything that you want to do, anything you put your mind to.” But back to that race, [audience laughter] I am running begrudgingly. But it seems like-- If you know how you run track, it's a circle, right? But there are corners. If you're running, that's the way it helped me break it up to think of it as little corners and I would count the corners, and that's how I know how soon I would be done. [audience laughter] 

 

And at every dang corner, there is my Daddy. He's 50 years old. I promise you, at every corner. I'm running as fast as I can. I'm like, “How were you just here? And now you hear [audience laughter] and telling me, ‘Go, Binet, go.’” I really wanted to yell, “Shut up, Daddy.” Like, “Just let me run.” But I just like, “Okay, the best way to shut him up is to run.” I was way behind to start, because I did not want to run. But he's still there and he's just yelling, “Go.” So, I just start going. I'm just cooking and booking. Like, “I can't wait to get to the end of this thing, so I can tell him to leave me alone. Don't ever do that when I run again.” 

 

And then, suddenly, I look up and I realize, “Oh, crap. I'm close. I could win this thing. Here's the girl that's supposed to win.” Here's everybody else, “I don't even know how this happened.” [audience laughter] But I'm like, “There's no way I'm beating her.” I wasn't close to her though. She's up there. But it was just me and her. And so, then I hear my dad, “Come on, Binet, you can take her. You can take her.” And I'm like, “No, I can't, Daddy, she's up there.” [audience laughter] But I was like, “Okay, whatever, forget it. I'm going to do it.” And so, I just start booking. And I'm like, “Okay.” Daddy said I could do it. I can do it. It's always been true my whole life. I could do it. 

 

And sure enough, we're toe-to-toe. And homegirl looks over at me like, “Hold up. Where'd you come from?” [audience laughter] Like, “This is my race.” She was taking all the things my Daddy was saying and like, “My name's Binet.” [audience laughter] And so, I'm just going. And I'm like, “I can do this.” I promise you it was something you see on TV. Like, it was her, then it was me, then it was her, then it was me and then I hear my Daddy, “Go, Binet, go.” And so, I went. It just so happened. There was the line, and I won. [audience cheers and applause] 

 

I was so pumped. I'm really super-duper sad to tell you that my dad passed in 2008. When I think about on all those times that he repeated things to me, it got on my nerves and I'd be like, “Daddy, shut up. You tell me that every day, you always telling me that.” But I feel like somewhere in him he must have known or God knew that I was going to need those things, because I lost him when I was 27 and he's not there to repeat those things to me anymore. But I don't have to worry, because every time I get to a corner and I think I'm not going to make it, I can hear the most beautiful voice in the world, saying, “Go, Binet, go.