Born in Kumasi, Ghana, Nikki Yeboah migrated to Toronto, Canada for a better life at the age of six with her mother and siblings.
While in Canada, Yeboah went through the public school system as an average child. After finishing grade school, Yeboah attended York University in Toronto, Canada.
At York University in Toronto, she completed her bachelors and masters degrees in communication and media studies. Following her graduation, Yeboah moved to the United States to attend Northwestern University and obtained her doctorate in philosophy.
After accepting a teaching job at San Jose State, Yeboah embarked on a journey to create a production that highlighted police brutality in the Bay Area.
“Internationally, I think what scares people most are stories like this, stories of police violence,” said Yeboah. “And as a black woman moving here, it was a concern to me and a concern to my family members, a lot of them asked ‘Are you sure you want to live there?’ ”
After learning about the high rates of incidents in the area, she set out to change the way people perceived police brutality.
“California has the highest rates in the country of police-related deaths and actually Santa Clara county is fifth on the list of most deadliest in the nation,” said Yeboah.
Yeboah’s play, “The (M)others,” tells the story of four women who have lost a loved one to police brutality.
“It made that connection, that reality that although we were affected by this very horrific tragedy, as mothers we still love and we still wanna try to make a difference, and Nikki did it in a very creative way using the arts,” said Laurie Valdez, a mother who’s story is featured in the play.
Valdez lost her partner, Antonio Guzman Lopez, after a San Jose State UPD officer fatally shot him in 2014. The officer received no serious repercussion, but Valdez was left to raise her son, Josiah, without his father.
“The (M)others” is a documentary performance that evaluates the emotional and physical toll that an experience like this leaves on those left behind.
Yeboah has managed to create an impact with “The (M)others.”
While assisting the women in her play with their activism, Yeboah took her play to Sacramento to present to lawmakers.
“[The mothers] thought if I brought the play to Sacramento and lawmakers got to see it, they would see the human toll that the bill [Peace officers: release the records] that they’re passing has on people,” Yeboah began. “We started a GoFundMe and the [American Civil Liberties Union] co-sponsored it as well as other companies, and that was the first time we took the play outside of San Jose.”
Since taking her play to Sacramento, Yeboah’s play has had performances in Los Angeles, Florida and there are now plans to take the production to Alabama.
“It’s such a powerful play and concept,” said Destiny Montgomery, who portrayed Dionne Smith, in the original production. “Not everyone makes the news and I believe it’s important that more people see the production.”
Smith is a mother whose story is featured in the production. Her son, James Rivera Jr. was shot 48 times by Stockton police in July of 2010.
“The (M)others” is not Yeboah’s first step into the world of theatrical storytelling. In April of 2010, Yeboah performed her first production, “Of Small and Black Things,” about her mother’s migration from Ghana to Canada.
The play centered around a bird, symbolized as Yeboah’s mother, who leaves its home in search of color, which represents opportunity in the story.
Yeboah stumbled over words as she tried to construe what draws her to tell the stories of mothers. She said that there is a certain feminism in what women will face and endure for their children.
“These women are talking about how they’re not doing this for their child who has passed away, they’re doing this for the children who have yet to be born,” Yeboah said.
