check your check. Come see Nicky. G in
the library is hosted at VT. With Korea Kimberly
digging in the crates. This is where you will
be Great Conversation in the food drink is free Topic
Discussion of gender roles in hip hop When it comes
to culture, know that Nikki's at the tip.
Top flowing. Those like to show you how to
top rock from when it starts. Nine is when
the clock stops. Thursday, April 20th. Newman
Library Multipurpose Room on the first floor, Digging in
the Crates, Volume three. Gender and hip hop
Be there, Nikki Giovanni. Food drinks, Great
conversation. Breakdancing off for the culture this experience to
be had. Mm, that's the rules. A
lot of that was fun and we're gonna start off
tonight. So my name is Joyce I Boundaries of
Students of Hip Hop Legacy, which is basically a
student founded hip hop organization here on. These candidates
were put on different shows and events, and we
kind of came together with credit along with several other
organizations to kind of start these different series of dating
, creates and so essentially just kind of give a
little bit of background of what the T digging creates
is it's just like a celebration of hip hop,
with both a local and global focus and basically each
presentation panel, everything that we just kind of to
showcase different aspects of hip hop that we don't normally
discuss or talk about or think. And the reason
why we do this is essentially kind of foster community
here, Um, just in this area, that
kind of allows us to all come together from different
backgrounds, different experiences, all in the negative hip
hop and who is involved in this, specifically the
Africana Studies program, the black cultural center Alamitos,
which is the BT Breakdancing Club Intercultural Engagement Center.
So, as I mentioned before, University Library speak
to expressions, Bt one finished the Bt women's center
and move it. And so tonight's theme, as
everyone should be. Where is a gender and hip
hop? Um and basically, we're spending our time
here today with Professor Nikki Giovanni, who's also my
solo, and I'm gonna open up the floor and
pass My God can really And she will introduce yourself
sleep. Hello. Hi. Uh, my name
is Kimberly Williams, and I am the assistant director
of the Intercultural engagement center where I oversee the black
cultural center I'm gonna love. I came here in
2000 and two. I left, went to New
York and came right on back. So I just
started in August of 2000 and 16. Really happy
to be here. And thank you so much for
attending. Well, it's for me. I know
it's for Nikki, but still, thank you so
much for talking. Mm. How is everyone doing
tonight? Um, Corey Miles, I'm a PhD
candidate and the Africana studies program. And tonight,
um, I'm humbled. I get to do the
introduction of Dr Nikki Giovanni tonight. And, like
, I don't spoke at, like, 14 or
15 events this semester. Like, I've never been
this nervous before, right? I even, like
, took a shot before I came here. Can
I see that? I'm just being honest. But
So in thinking about the win, which I was
gonna do the introduction. Um, when I first
wrote it down, I just had biographical information like
facts you could find about Dr Giovanni online. But
doing it that way didn't really sit well with my
with my heart. Well, and I know Dr
Giovanni is probably inspired most of us in this room
in in a particular way. So I want to
do the introduction right for an advantage Point of the
wind, which she's inspired me throughout the course of
my life, if if that's fine with you.
So in Dr Giovanni's biography, right? And I
remember like you didn't even want to write a biography
, but they kind of they kind of push you
to do it. And you said when he was
talking about graduating from fists, um, as an
undergraduate and you said, Now here's the problem.
You graduate. You said you didn't have any money
, right? And you didn't want to go get
just a stupid job. And you said you didn't
really have any skills or services that you could really
sell or make money with. Right? And it
also in the biography, you said that, but
you had a dream, and it was to discover
something that has never been thought of before and and
then reading that right for me. So, like
this little black boy from welding projects in North Carolina
, right, working on my third degree, those
words kind of position in a position right So when
I leave school, right, my main goal was
no longer to find out how I can situate myself
in this economic capitalist market of America, right?
But it made me think about those things that really
I cultivate within myself and my college experience. Right
? And those are the things that that I wanted
to give to the world. All right. So
Doctor Nikki Giovanni, poet who is the winner of
multiple NAACP Image Awards, Grammy nominated and distinguished professor
right. So So this inability to write this distinguished
professor Grammy nominated. And when I heard her right
, I watched his video when she critiqued Bill Cosby
and called him a crazy Negro right. And she
was critiquing Bill Cosby's His Respectability politics, where he
kind of frame hip hop right and young black men
sagging the pants as being the issues in the black
community. But but Nikki Giovanni was like, Hold
up right. You really think about her from a
structural perspective, right? And look at the magic
. Young black men and women right, offer society
right, and she said we should think about it
that way and and after seeing that video right,
seeing just distinguished professor called Bill Cosby Crazy Negro,
right? It opened up the door for me,
right? Just some regular black guy, right?
Nobody special. And they gave me the ability to
speak freely, right? Similar to what most most
death calls. Ugly beauty. And he frames it
as, um is giving people the truth that they
really don't want to hear. But at the time
they needed to move. So from that moment it
became about me speaking my truth right and not really
restricted by the wind, which is going to be
received, if that's what these people really need.
And with 25 plus honorary degrees, Dr Giovanni Rosa
Parks and Langston Hughes Award for distinguished Contributions to Arts
and Literature, she holds keys to an array of
cities, has done countless national international television shows and
radio interviews. Right, This is the person we're
talking about. But she still showed up to the
protest here in Virginia Tech's campus. Right? We
were seeking justice for Michael Brown. Well, most
of my professors did right. She still does.
Interviews were under grass, right? Most of my
professors take weeks to respond to an email, and
she is allowing us to interview her today, and
she's already given her heart and soul to this community
. So it's my pleasure to introduce the special guest
. Something like Dr Nikki Giovanni. No, probably
is crazy. He's going to jail, too.
Yeah, he's going to jail because he's going to
jail. He said he's blind, but all the
blind people I know that are important can sing Stevie
Wonder, Right? Rachel, they all can sing
. Bill can't sing. So he's going to jail
Institute. There's no way in transition. Oh,
again, my name is Kimberly Williams. Um,
recently I met, sir, I'm sure if anyone
has attended, there was a women of color conference
. Uh, that was here a couple of weeks
ago by the office of Inclusion for Diversity. And
, uh, the keynote speaker was Professor and a
Giovanni. And during that time, um, you
talked about the origin story of the Negro spiritual,
and everyone was just quiet and emotional and just really
, uh, really, really in love and resonated
with that particular story, and if possible, I
was wondering if you could retell that story. Um
, if not, I can I don't want to
repeat it and then summarize it. And then you
would tell me that I will never tell you That's
not. And then I'll get into my follow up
question. Okay, You do it. Okay.
So, um hello? You can hear me.
Okay. Um, So, essentially, for what
? I gathered from that particular speech, Uh,
during the middle passage during slavery, I was very
intentional in terms of to enact, divide and conquer
tactics among tribes of Africans, um, to house
them all together and in in the boat without sort
of like having that, um, the consistency of
language, of familiarity. Um, there's so much
diversity in terms of African tribes. So therefore,
it was really purposeful to really, uh, you
know, divide them. And so with that,
he said that it was probably more than likely,
um, an older woman, probably someone's grandmother who
saw the trauma, who saw the blood, who
saw the hurt that was going on in captivity in
the boat and without knowing the language because there was
no universal language that was happening, their grandmother started
to hum, and that was the origin story of
the Negro spiritual. And so I wonder whether or
not there is a story that you think is the
catalyst for hip hop well in and, uh,
almost any respect, Um, the basis of the
music of America is the Negro spiritual, and I
never correct people because I think it's rude, but
they're they're not tribes, their communities. We never
refer to European tribes, you know, and the
African communities that were put together had no language because
there's no such thing as the African language. So
I have a bit of a quarrel with African American
because there is no European American. I am a
black American, which of course, allows other people
or let's or makes whichever term we're going to use
that be white Americans are brown Americans, but all
of a sudden you know we're going to be African
Americans so that we get pushed aside. And I
don't I don't think that's true because there's no America
without black Americans and they went and got us.
So I I can prove that because if there had
been anything here worth while, they would have left
us the hell alone. But somebody said, Well
, that's true And I said, Well, where
are the black folks? And they said, Oh
, my goodness. And so they went and got
us so that they could have a country. And
so it all makes sense to me the basis of
hip hop and the reason that I think I get
respect would be the word. Is that a long
time ago? Um, you know, I'm an
old woman now, and I love it. But
a long time ago, uh, and just taking
my poetry, I wanted to again, just I'm
always looking for something to do, and I don't
know how to. I just always been thinking.
Oh, wouldn't that be interesting when that be interesting
. And I had this this poetry and I had
a poetry reading. Uh, we were talking about
the Godfather. I don't know why I know so
many Gangsters, but I know a lot. Honestly
, do I get so many letters from murderers and
stuff and they're all my friends. I do.
And they're all my friends now, but they are
. There are barely is my brother. You know
what I'm saying? But Harold Logan was a gangster
. Who? You? You don't know, Mr
Logan? Because he's dead. He was shot down
on Broadway, actually, by another gangster. Eddie
. But, you see, I knew both of
them, but Harold Logan owned Birdland. And I
had a book coming out of black judgment, and
I thought, wouldn't it be great Because my mother
is a jazz fan, And I thought wouldn't it
be great to have a book reading in Birdland and
that Mommy could come and we would do that?
And so in order to get that, I had
to go and see Mr Logan. And so I
just you know, it's one of those You go
downstairs and hi, Mr Logan. I'm Nikki Giovanni
. I'm a poet. And so, you know
, you know who you're looking at. I mean
, everybody knew who Mr Logan was, and it's
like, What can I do for you? And
I said, I'd like to have Birdland for a
book reading, and I know he was thinking Whoa
. And I said Sunday would be fine because they
in those days they were closed on Sunday. I
said Sunday would be fine. And he said,
Well, what are you gonna pay me? I
sort of Mr Look, I don't have any money
. What do you What do you need? Because
I don't have any money, What do you need
? And he thought about it for me. And
he says, I tell you what. You bring
me 100 people and you can have the club because
you know, they'd buy drinks. He said,
99 people in your only$500 And that's when that
was real money. And I said, Oh,
thank you, Mr Logan. That's fine. So
Birdland is downstairs. It's another club now. But
it was down and I walked upstairs and I realized
, Oh, I just shook hands with a gangster
. He'll shoot me. And so we went,
and we did it. My next door neighbor at
that point was Morgan Freeman. My good friend was
, uh, Novella Nelson. So we had,
you know, we had a lot of people,
So we ended up with a big, big crowd
coming in, and I worked very hard to do
it. And the crowd goes, Birdland is here
. The crowd goes like that. But the New
York Times was here at that point in 40 seconds
. So the New York Times is overlooking, and
what they're seeing is a lot of people lining up
. So they finally sent a reporter down to say
what's going on? What's going on there? And
everybody said Black judgment is coming So you see what
the report is like. Oh my God, what's
up? And he came up to me, finally
said, I'm looking for Nikki Giovanni. Mr.
Well, I'm I'm Nikki Giovanni. No, no
. Where is he? I don't know where he
is. I'm just Nikki Giovanni. But we had
a We ended up with the second news front,
and of course, that's going to do terrific for
your career. So having done that and we enjoyed
, it was really great. And I thought,
Well, if we can convince people to do And
I said I wasn't trying to convince, But if
we could get people to start thinking about Birdland in
places like that, where else should we go?
Well, Lincoln Center was essentially white. Nobody's doing
anything in Lincoln Center, you know, just nobody's
doing that. Paki McGuinness was the running Lincoln Center
, so I made an appointment and hi, Mr
McGinnis, I'm making sure I'm appointing, you know
, all they can say is No. I said
, What what would we have to do to get
Lincoln Center? And he said, Oh, no
, no, he said. You know, I'd
be at least$1500. I said, Well,
Mr McInnis,$1500 is 1500 people at a dollar
a piece that because you don't have to make money
. I mean, I knew that, and I
can see that it wasn't about making money, just
breaking even. I said, Well, if we
get 1500 people in to Lincoln Center Avery Fisher Hall
, Fisher Hall. So if I'm getting 2000 because
actually, I'm going to be a little bit over
that, I'll have enough to almost pay the people
who don't account what I want. It, of
course, was Aretha, because who doesn't? And
that's not gonna work. She's a wonderful person with
friends and love her. She loves me, I
hope. But that's not You can't work with her
because she works with cash and I don't have any
, But, uh, she does. And if
you know everything, you know that. And so
what I did, though I thought I'll take the
choir because I was working with the crash. Benny
, give any, uh, after you finished last
dicks. And so I said to Benny, What
are we gonna do, Let's do it And he
said, Well, who's gonna open for us?
Because nobody knew the choir and nobody for that kind
of thing to me. But there's Wilson pick.
So I just went to pick up those pickets crazy
. And I said, Wilson, I need you
. You know, it's just This is basic.
I need you, you know? And we want
you to come and we're thinking to ask Aretha.
He said, Victor is not gonna come. I
said, Well, she might, because why shouldn't
I like to pick it? How many women has
he lied to? So I you know, I
was one of those, as you might you know
, I knew she wasn't, but Pickett said,
I'll be there. And so that was also we
can. Now we could say Wilson Pickett's gonna be
there. And so we sold out, which meant
that we could pay. That's how we got it
. But pick it. I'll never forget that walks
out on God Bless you, walks out on stage
and he's looking around it. Some of you know
, pick it. I wish Aretha Franklin was here
, so Aretha probably speak to me for two years
. I mean, it was so funny because he
wouldn't did what he did, but we were doing
. Now we're going to do spiritual and pick it
hadn't done spiritual, you know, we all grew
up with him and he hadn't done him in a
long time. But after he finished, not gonna
Rita, he came and sang with us. So
we did that and that was recorded. It was
called Truth is on its way. That's where my
first Grammy nomination came from. And so we put
the spirituals with the poetry, and this is going
to be the beginning of what you are now studying
. We're calling it hip hop because as it's changing
and going through another step, step, step in
another step, it's gonna change as hip as as
the spiritual went through gospel and then change the blue
. You know, that kind of things. But
that's that was the foundation. And so I was
very, very fortunate because I don't mind asking people
and all they can tell you is no. And
, uh, you can see if you're studying things
, you can see how things get built. And
I'm a I was going to see a dick fan
, but that's not even the right word I really
love. I grew up with the spiritual and I
really love them and what I'm studying now and and
it's just of interest to me. We just went
through Christmas, and so you're not that other Christmas
, that other one Easter and the other Christmas he
got to be born and he's gonna die and both
of them necessary. But I was wondering, you
know, when you think about being on the cross
, aside from the fact that we built the spirituals
, Jesus, keep me near the cross. You
know, we we did a lot with that.
But I was thinking if Jesus was under cross,
he's waiting to die because that's all you can do
on the cross. What song did he sing?
And that's what we were talking about. I think
that we have to, and I think hip hop
has to think about that. But hip hop is
not going to because hip hop is now classic,
So whatever is new, we're thinking now what did
Jesus sing on the cross? And we know that
when the Roman soldier through his dagger and it was
the dagger wasn't a sword. It was a dagger
when Roman. So when the Roman soldier, through
his dagger to say he's dead, cut him down
. He did that, I think, because he
could no longer hear the song that he knew.
We have to. This this this man is not
what we think he is. Let us cut him
down and let us bring his body to to his
mother. Am I making sense? And so there's
something new coming, and I'm I'm extremely thrilled to
be a part of that foundation. But things are
are coming on, and I think it's so important
because I think hip hop is important. But the
fact that you're studying it says it's classic, and
so something else is going to bring that spirit.
And right now we have, uh, practically an
anti Christ in in White House. I mean,
we've got a true fool in the White House.
We do and don't you think he's I mean and
it's true and and and a liar and a lot
of other things, So we're gonna have to find
a way to comfort all of us. Black and
white and Brown. That's what's important. I was
on the plane a couple of weeks ago and we
came through, which was terrible. We came through
a tornado and, you know, tornadoes around You
don't go through the tornado because we'd be dead.
But we we had to go around. But going
around the tornado is still very bumpy. And I
was sitting next to a Muslim, so it's really
funny. I'm there and he's there. And he
was just kind of casually praying to Mohammed. And
I was definitely praying to Jesus. We built,
like, one of the one of maybe one of
them get us down. We ended up. We
were worried. We ended up in Greenville, South
Carolina. You know, it was serious business,
you know, And I looked at him. He
looked at me and said, I don't know if
it was Mohammad or if it was Jesus, but
one of them they were having a beer, and
one of them said, Oh, get that plane
down and they got together and got us that and
again. There's gonna be a sound that's gonna come
from us, understanding I will always be. I'm
a Christian. That's what I will always be that
but I will always respect and love. And I'm
glad that the man sitting next to me had somebody
that he prayed to because maybe the combination of it
is what got that plane down. Because a lot
of planes don't get down, you understand? And
their music is going to come out of some combination
that right now we don't have because we have a
classic music, but something else is going to blend
with it. And I'm I'm 73 years old.
With any luck, I'd love to live another,
you know, 10, 15 years or so,
because I love to hear what's coming because I know
something. Yes. I don't know if that answers
your question. Gorgeous answer for that. We're going
to get back with illusions of Gangsters and methods to
later on. Um, the second question includes looking
at sort of different canonical interviews between, um you
know, James Baldwin and Audrey Lorde. Um,
there was one that I found with Angela Davis and
Ice Cube. Um, just so many different.
Just stunning. Sending interviews and exchanges. I finally
found yours that you had in the 19 sixties with
James Baldwin and F Y I a little known fact
, it's actually in, uh, down. No
, it's on the first floor and the rare manuscripts
, so you can check it out and actually look
at the dialogue and read it there. We can
take it at the library. I would just love
to hear more about how that exchange got into fruition
, particularly because the interview talks about race and class
and gender and by artistry, and I would love
to know more about that. I think I was
lucky to to get to talk to Jimmy and one
of the things that that was funny. I I
When I threw my phone out, I messed up
my den and a part of it was I have
a whole section of just papers and stuff, and
part of the papers that came out was a pamphlet
, and the pamphlet shows books for sale. And
I just opened it, you know, to see
what it was and the first edition of a book
of mine called Recreation that I signed. James called
him Jimmy that I signed a Jimmy was on sale
and sold for$1200. I was amazing books and
dollar book, but I knew And I'm just saying
this to all the kids. You print your own
book, you know, and you signed to be
sure you keep track of it. I didn't get
any money for that, by the way, but
, uh, whoever owned it, you know,
because it came from from Jimmy's people. But it
was just nice to know that I did something that
I know now there's probably another zero on it because
Jimmy's dead. And, uh, I am not
. Your Negro is out. And so it's probably
, you know, go out. But that was
that was a long thing. I did a lot
of favors and I do favors and I'm a believer
in favor. So when people ask you things and
I try, you know, you say yes.
And I worked with Ellis Hayslip, who had the
first real black show on television called Soul and Soul
, was the first time that we're going to have
black people on a black show doing our culture,
and you're going to have them getting makeup. You
haven't got an air, hair makeup gonna have him
dressed up. It was just wonderful. And you
had backstage you had really good food because Ellis was
a believer in that. So it wasn't just like
we're going to bring a Negro on and let them
sing or let them, you know, like they
would bring. And I'm not against the Nat King
Cole and all of a sudden he'd be there,
Johnny Carson and he'd play a song and then it
goes away. We had real people and the people
had they talked, they did. They did things
well. I worked with with soul a lot,
and I didn't I didn't try to charge him.
It's no wonder I'm not starving to death or something
, but I would talk to him every week.
We would talk and you know, this is what
you do at the end of the season, Ellis
told me, and he knew that. So he
came up and I said, because I lived up
on Amsterdam Avenue at that point and he said,
You know, you've been really nice in helping me
out and said, What can I do? What
would you like? And I said, I would
like to talk to James Baldwin and he said,
because again, Ellis knows. He said, I
know Jimmy. He said, I'll call him and
see what he says. All he can say is
no. So that's fine. So he calls me
back a couple of weeks and he said, Jimmy
said he loved to talk to you and there's a
photograph if you ever run into a Jimmy lived in
Saint Paul de Vence and he had a fireplace that
was like, you know, 6 ft tall and
you're going to see a picture of spinning soft black
song because he had my book there and he knew
that. I wrote, you know, And he
said to Ellis, Well, I'd love to talk
to her, but I don't have time to come
to United States And I said, What the hell
? I'd walk, you know, wherever he wants
to go, I'm I'm happy to do that.
So he said, Well, she come to London
, You bet, because I like London and I
definitely want to talk to him. So we went
to London and we filmed. We filmed the show
two parts show, and of course, we ended
up with that being a dialogue with that being a
book. That's how we got to it. And
we just Jimmy is a great guy and he was
struggling. Uh, and again we're talking now generations
he's struggling with what should his generation do with our
generation? Because we were going to be a little
louder, a little more angry, a little more
insistent, and he is going to come from.
He's gonna quietly say, I am not your Negro
, you know? And we were saying a little
bit more than that. We had ugly words in
front of that. I'm not, you know?
So we worked on that. So that's how that
came. And after Jimmy and I go back to
one of the reasons that my career has been kind
of meaningful is that I did a lot of first
things, and in talking to Jimmy, that was
the first and so after we did that, I
had enough to be able to say, because I
love her so much, and I used to go
down to Mississippi all the time. Margaret Walker and
Mark was in Jackson, so I was able to
talk to my publisher, say, Hey, you
know, if this did well with Jimmy, why
don't we do this? Because Jubilee, it's,
uh it's classic and for my people, you know
, Why don't we do this with Margaret now?
Margaret is not going to leave Mississippi. So we're
going to have excuse me. We're gonna have to
go down to Jackson and Market lived across the street
. Uh, Margaret's here, and Medgar Evers was
there, so yeah, this is his home was
his home. And so Margaret heard the shots that
took him out. But she's going to stay there
. And Alice Walker lived around the around the corner
, and, you know, ultimately she left.
So, uh, we got we got that book
, and then people are saying, Oh, that
I should talk to somebody. So we finally,
you know, And of course they did. Everybody
, uh, I didn't because we're contemporaries. I
didn't talk to it to Angela, But we got
books of of of my generation talking to the next
generation, and I think that that's that's good.
And that's important. Is that my phone? I
don't believe it. I'm so sorry. You're important
. You're important. Uh, yeah. So,
Dr Giovanni, in keeping with the theme of gender
and hip hop, right, So so hip hop
like you defined as a classic now, so over
the years. Especially recently, right? So hip
hop has been deemed as this misogynistic and homophobic music
genre, right? But but some scholars, right
, will argue that hip hop has performed some form
of feminist labor. And so I guess I would
ask you Do you agree? Has hip hop in
some cases where I perform the type of feminist labor
? And if you think so, could could you
offer examples. I really I don't know how to
respond to that. I think hip hop has done
what blues did and 90% of the blues is my
my man. You don't love me. He treats
me also me. And, you know, my
woman took her, uh, Rachel took her clothes
and and left me or, uh, of course
. You know, my mother told me before she
passed away, son, When I'm gone, don't
forget to pray. So you're gonna have a lot
of that, and you're gonna have, uh,
gender issues that sound like their gender. But they're
not gender. They're just They're there because you don't
want to say white folks or you don't want to
say black, you know? You know you don't
want to. The music doesn't want to get into
, you know, making those statements. But the
music is making like the blues, as I say
is making a statement. I just had the incredible
pleasure. Uh oh. I've never met her of
being, uh, in Oxford American with Bonnie Raitt
, and I'm a I'm a big fan of Bonnie
Raitt and one of the things that we we know
, I wrote it. My poem is called the
Blues because we forget that the blues, it's the
history, it's the encyclopedia. It's what we that's
how we tell the story. So you can always
listen to the gender like he and she and what
Rachel says that thing to, You know, when
when? When, Uh, she said, You
know, you don't have no money if I know
if you don't get the man you ain't got no
yeah, So get out. You know, it's
all of that. But that's that's not about some
woman. It's not about his wife or it's not
about any of that. It's about how the world
is treating him, how he's looking at the world
. So I I don't know. I mean what
I do with hip hop because I'm an old woman
who likes jazz. I am. I like what
the kids are doing and I think that I think
it's wonderful that they've taken what we've built, you
know. And I'm always trying to remind all of
you as youngsters. You know, my generation.
We moved. We got rid of segregation. Segregation
is gone. There's no colored waiting room. There's
no color, you know. You know there's no
color, just it's gone. But we still have
racism, and that's what your generation has to remember
. We did our job. Now your job is
how do you live in an unknown or non segregated
world? But you're still going to have to deal
with. How do you deal with racism and do
you care? Because we often forget that actually,
there are a lot of white people we don't like
. Everybody's always saying, you know, white people
are doing this and the other, you know,
we want them to treat us differently, but all
of them aren't. Some of them are fools,
one of them in the White House. So you
know, you have to let that go. I
mean, and you have to find the people that
you like so one of the things that that's happening
right now with the non segregated world is that we
are removing color in another kind of way. I
don't know how it's gonna turn out, but I
know that that's what's what's going on. And I
know that the people like like those evil sons of
bitches in the White House or trying to keep color
as as as a flag. They're trying to keep
flying the flag and they're trying to keep people like
you and me. Not to mention I'm so proud
of white women that white women have finally said no
, I would like to own my own body.
I would rather some old sons of bitches who worked
for Fox Radio television. Don't tell me what to
do. I'm glad to have my own body,
and I think that they that we as women have
every right to to treat our bodies as we would
choose to treat it, because men have an automatic
and you don't mean to say it like that.
But it's true. Men have an automatic abortion.
Amen. And then they're gone. And there you
are, trying to figure out what you're gonna do
. Sometimes you just don't want it sometimes as the
woman is a woman in Texas and it just breaks
your heart. She had rubella and she didn't know
she was two weeks pregnant and, of course,
they cured her measles, but it had gotten in
. So her daughter was born and we can't see
. Can't talk, can't he doesn't know who she
doesn't know who who she is, let alone who
her mother is. She should have had an abortion
. She should have been able to recognize a mistake
, something horrible here and something that we really like
the unborn. But they don't really like the unborn
so much that when they're born, they don't mind
executing them. They don't mind killing, do they
? So I'm supposed to have him so you can
kill him, and I don't I don't think that
works. And so I'm proud that white women are
saying we're going to control our bodies, that we're
going to take the next step when we're just not
going to have it. And I think that's important
. I really do. That's that's right. And
I'm also glad that no American white woman would marry
Donald Trump. He only married foreigners, as you
know, people that couldn't speak and just didn't know
what a fool he was. That's true. They
won't let me back. Uh, so So I'm
gonna switch gears just a tad bit. That's Giovanni
. So, um Okay, so I want So
you did work on on Tupac previously? Yeah.
So, um, I guess I want to ask
her. So what drew you to To two parts
work? And for that's the first question, Then
I go to the second part. Next. It's
great. He's a great kid. And you know
what? I'm so proud of two. Right now
, the number one Children to put the number one
y a young adult book is the hate u give
, which is a line from Tupac. And I'm
so pleased, you know, because now we're back
to hip hop is classical and having and being classic
were now finding that it shows up in other places
where it should. And I'm just I'm so I'm
so proud of the young lady that did that as
I am so proud of my own student, you
know, we're now beginning to see that there's no
way not to love park and I have a I
only have 111 tattoo. And when he was shot
and you knew that Park was right there with King
with with Malcolm, he was there with great men
. And you remember Park would come on stage,
you know, it was vote or die, vote
or die. And, um, the people who
want to steal elections didn't want that. They were
trying to close that young man down. And when
he was murdered, it hurt. I think it
hurt all of us. It certainly hurt me.
And I got the tattoo because I wanted his mother
. I don't I didn't know if any either.
And she's gone now, as you know, But
I wanted to as one mother to another. I
just wanted her to know that we all miss her
son. He's a great man. And of course
, they tried to make him some kind of a
fool. But he wasn't Pop. Pop was a
great man, and it was His influence is going
to take to pop. That's gonna take hip hop
into the direction that that it should go. Yeah
, on that, because this is gonna relate to
to another question. Right? So we've seen even
outside of hip hop artist, right? So people
like Angela Davis or it seems like anybody in the
black community, really, that's historically, um,
fought for fault for equity, how it's always been
this criminalisation process, right? And you said,
So they try to make to park out. It
seems like, Why do you? Why do you
think they they I guess intentionally trying to make Two
Pac seemed like a food make it seem like a
gangster for the same reason that they don't like black
lives matter. And I've been amazed. There's nothing
more honorable in America right now as a group than
black lives matter. They walked down the middle of
the street in the middle of the day saying,
Please don't shoot us down, and then somebody wants
to say, Oh, that's racist, It's racist
. We would just rather not be shot, If
you don't mind, they're doing this in the daytime
. They're not the clan. They don't run around
with hoods over their head in the middle of the
night, lying about what they did. These are
these are young people who are walking down the street
saying You have to change. And you have to
admire black lives matter because they do. And then
, of course, the white guys say, Oh
, white lives matter. We never said they didn't
. But we also in the middle of the night
are not coming into your home and pulling your Children
out and shooting them or we're not on a rainy
day when your son has a hood on his head
, we're not. We're not shooting him and saying
, Oh, I was afraid. How does a
damn grown man be afraid of a 14 15 year
old boy walking in his own neighborhood? Had I
don't I don't understand white men. They have to
get over that. And I think they need.
I think they need help because there's no What they
do is there's no reason to be a white man
and be afraid. You run the world, everybody
kisses your behind. What more do you want?
I don't know. I just don't understand. I
know the white men. Who do you think about
? What more do they? There is no reason
to be a white man unafraid of anything, because
the world belongs to you. So you're gonna have
to be responsible. Like that fool in the White
House. If you're going to be the president,
then you're gonna have to act like it. Damn
it. Because you're running the world. Why shouldn't
you be happy? Why didn't trump wake up every
morning and smile? Why doesn't he wake up and
and and and eat grits and say, Yeah,
this is what the Negroes today? You know you're
running the world, so why wouldn't you enjoy it
? Why wouldn't you enjoy it? So you didn't
vote for Trump? I'm just assuming that is so
not. You know what's worrying me? We're talking
early, though. But what? Worried Not that
worried me because I'm old don't care anymore. But
you know, the Penis is on his way to
extinction and what it is Any organ that human beings
have that doesn't work gets extinct. You know,
we don't have tonsils anymore, You know, the
hands are everything changes and the Penis is on his
way to extinction. And I think that think about
it because it's been so abused and it's just only
been a couple of 1000 years. It takes a
while for things to become. It takes a while
for things to become extinct And everybody said, Well
, listen, I'm sure that probably some people will
Not me, because I'm old. But if you
look at how we've misused the Penis, the only
people who like the Penis are the gay people.
So the black and white gay male community are going
to be the people who have to define the use
and the right of the Penis to exist because the
women, no matter what we're laughing. But no
woman in her right mind if Chief could vote right
now would vote for the Penis because it has been
a you. It has been abusive to us.
We have been, no matter what our colour,
we have been misused by it. So we're not
gonna vote for we like and we wish you will
. But if Mother Nature came and said, you
know, what do you think? Should we keep
those dicks in? No, no, no,
no. You know, we're sorry. Got enough
. And it's going to be the gay community that's
going to have to step up to say this is
what it means to have one, and this is
how we properly properly use it and there are a
lot of people who are afraid of the gay community
. But the gay community's should stand for love.
And if they do, that will be the thing
that will save him. Mhm. Can I ask
a little bit of a follow up with Tupac?
He was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame.
I think he's the four rap artist to do that
. Um, and then someone you have copies of
the Nikki Giovanni poem that she wrote for to talk
to as well. Um, but Tupac, he
was such a quagmire of a figure, I think
, when it comes to gender, Um, he
wrote some beautiful tracks. Uh, Brenda's got a
baby. Keep your head up. Um, there's
one about domestic violence and go get away. I
didn't know to was talking about this with Cory.
Um, he has, like, certain figures,
especially young black women who were killed. And he
has their names like music videos across imagery like he
always wants to make sure that that's there. But
there's the other side of the lyrical content in his
life. Um, that can kind of overshadow that
, and I just I was wondering about your thoughts
about, like like Tupac and gender. That negotiation
or or any? Okay, now I'm just back
to say it's just something I haven't studied. And
, uh, I'm not bragging about being 73.
I think it's a good idea, but I didn't
I didn't go beyond that. I saw him,
and I did see him on stage. And it
was very nice. He gave me a shout out
once, you know, one of those kind of
things and Kanye West gave me a shot. You
know those things. You're very proud of that.
But I am not a student of it. So
if we were going to talk about Miles Davis,
right, Because I knew Mr Davis. Mr.
Davis fun. You know, I was trying to
get a God. I was. I lived up
on the Upper West Side and I was trying to
get a cab in New York, which is impossible
. I'm trying to get down, right, And
so I crossed through Central Park. And that means
, you know, Fifth Avenue is going this way
. I'm trying to go to airport that way,
and so I'm trying to see if I can find
a cab and I'm walking and all of a sudden
limousine stops because, you know, Miles didn't drive
and the limo stopped. And hey, and I
looked over there. It's me, Miles. Come
here, baby. You're safe. Come here.
I was always trying to figure out I never I
still don't know why He said you're safe, but
I walked up because it was It was mouse.
And I said, How are you? Mr.
Davis said, Where you going, Baby? I
said, I'm trying to get to LaGuardia. Come
on and give you right. You're safe. And
I got in and I hated the way they treated
miles because you would think that Miles woke up in
the morning, brushed his teeth, peed and beat
Cicely, which is not true. We have to
keep all of those all of those men, Mary
to all of those women. All we ever hear
about is oh, he beat her, He beat
her, he beat her. Yeah, my mind
. And and you get sick of that and that
we can talk about because it's just it's not true
. And it's like, you know, Nina,
I'm the only person I know who says and I
do. I really liked Andy Stroud, her husband
and everybody said, Oh, Andy was abusive.
I didn't know Andy to be abusive every Saturday and
he would come to my house. Andy, Uh
, with Thomas. My son is Thomas. Andy
talked. Thomas and his daughter Lisa took them to
the Y and taught them how to swim. That's
what I know about. And I know that Nina
lived with Andy, and I know that she liked
him. I know that they got a divorce,
but a lot of people get divorced. So I'm
not I don't I don't have any recollection of of
any of the kind of things. But every time
you turn around, you're hearing that that all the
black men who are special do all they do is
beat their wives and you get tired of of all
of that, there has to be another story someplace
. Am I making? And I'm tired of the
story. All the story is well, I really
loved by the way, hidden figures, because I
thought that was the those were the most wonderful black
men on film that I had seen, and especially
when when he said, you know, well,
I wanted to marry you, but I knew I
had to marry the girls. You know, I
was just sitting there crying because he knew I'm gonna
If I'm gonna marry her, I'm gonna marry the
three daughters. But I'm also going to marry her
mother so all of them have to be involved with
what I'm asking you to do. I know my
responsibilities. And they all had good men and even
the husband that said, I don't want you over
there. He didn't want his wife abused. But
when she said no, this is what I wanted
. I mean, it was clear And then he
gave her the mechanical pencil and he said, Let
me show you how to use it. It was
just hidden. Figures should have one, by the
way, best movie of the of the year.
It definitely should have won it, because it's a
great movie and we all it's something we all can
look at and all and enjoy, You know,
frankly, you know, because you know, I
hated moonlight. I thought it was an attack on
the community. I thought it was a stupid thing
, and I my favorite movie, really is still
the godfather. And at at at one point the
Godfather is lying there in bed. He's been shot
, as you know, And he says to Michael
, You know, Michael, I thought when it
was your time, we wouldn't do this. We
didn't have to go through this when it was your
time. I thought it would be Senator Carl Ian
or Governor Carl. Ian. I thought we could
make a difference. And the thing that made me
so angry about, among other things about moonlight is
that the grown man who took the boy under his
under his wing, That's what he thought I wanted
to. I wanted to hear him say, You
know, I want to see you study. I
want you to go to Morehouse. I want you
to think about, you know, going to law
school, that that we wanted to see how what
he offered is going to be different. But what
we have is he kicks him out. He the
grown black man who tries to help him, the
boys having dinner with him and was named Lisa.
And he's looking. Do you sell drugs? You
know damn well he sells drugs. What did you
think he was doing and he says, Yeah,
and he said to my mother, Where do you
think she's? I mean, all of that.
And he was like, Well, I'm leaving.
You don't leave people who love you when you're in
that in that, uh, in that condition And
of course, I really hated uh, he's talking
about giving gays a bad name. They're out on
the beach, right? He's touching him. So
he's gonna come back, what, 10 years later
and and a whole bunch of things in between and
say Nobody's touched me. Are you kidding? You're
grown. Somebody's touched you, somebody. I mean
, I don't care who, but don't tell me
that because I don't believe I don't believe that.
And I don't believe that. That and I don't
I didn't hear love. I don't know either one
of them say, I love you. I don't
I don't know where. The only time we ever
finally got to love was the mother who was in
a rehab center says, I love you Well,
if that's love, he doesn't need it. And
I know that that bully in school who had his
friend who was supposed to love him beat him up
. That would have never happened. You it just
it would have never happened. And when that bully
said you hit him, he would have never hit
him. Because if what they did on the beach
was about love, you would have never hit him
. Even if he had gotten beat up. I
just hated I hated the whole damn movie. And
, uh, there was no script. Nobody said
anything. It didn't. There was no and and
they didn't live happily ever after. Why do why
do all of these other movies live happily ever after
? We see people. And then it comes to
black people all of a sudden, there on the
floor, in a cheap kitchen. What the hell
is that? And what? What, Really?
Really. No, that's true. What made me
what made me upset was I knew if I erased
the color and all of those people in moonlight were
white, nobody would have gotten anything because it was
horrible. It had no theme and made no sense
. The only way that that movie was going to
make it is that it was going to be colored
, and when they didn't know what to do with
it. They said. Oh, part two.
There was no theme with that movie. But you
think about it. Erase the color and make it
white. Do we have the movie that everybody saying
? Oh, I really like that. That was
his life. Movies on about your life. Movies
are about movies. Yeah, that's true. It
was just so it made me so angry It It
was such an attack on black men. And,
of course, on black women. There's not a
woman on Earth. I don't care who she is
. Screwing is going to tell her child to get
out of the house. Because if you're gonna go
screw somebody, you say, Go look at TV
, Baby, Mama's going upstairs for a minute.
You don't tell your child to get out. I
have things. It doesn't happen. Uh, I
hated it. I think it was a joke.
I think Hollywood has a big laugh. I think
that the people that run Hollywood, you know,
sat down and had a glass of wine and said
, Hey, they wanted to, you know,
because last year everybody complained that that Hollywood, the
Oscars were white, said, Well, they're not
right now we'll show you. Because there's no way
that was the best film. The best film really
, truly was. Hidden figures. Yeah, that's
right. So, Doctor Giovanni, we were coming
to the close of this part. I'm gonna try
to end it on a positive note, right.
That was not No, I don't know. But
just so if you could pick Not not Ultimate all
time favorite, but just a music artist that you
really, really, really admire. And when you're
at home, just chilling who Who would be somebody
you would listen to? John Coltrane. Uh,
John, Of course, John. Coach. I
mean, co train was wonderful. I mean,
just And of course, you know, now you
get into the new Miles Davis and I had the
pleasure, that extreme pleasure of knowing Dizzy Gillespie because
this would be coming in, you know, they
played You have to realize the time, the times
of it, but dizzy and then would be working
all night so they'd be coming in when people like
me. We're going out during the morning show.
I remember doing the Today show and stuff and this
would come on. They have breakfast because he was
I was like have breakfast, and so I would
sit down and have breakfast with Mr Lesbian. So
I was just fortunate to know, uh, you
know these people and to know you didn't ask what
may I say that the Nobel Prize for song for
literature being music should have gone to either Marvin Gaye
for what's going on, which is the most brilliant
collection right there, or Stevie Wonder for You haven't
done nothing but Stevie I love You haven't done nothing
like he wrote it for Donald Trump. But the
reality is you know it's time. But the reality
is Bobby Dylan. Everything that was based on Bobby
. All of his songs were based on the spirits
and the blues. And I thought, the people
who did that, you know, And if you
just wanted to be nice about it, give it
to To to Motown Give it, give it to
Barry Gordy. But I really do think if you
think about what's going on, that was the voice
of our generation. Nothing Bobby Dylan did that comes
even close to it. And and Dylan is rude
and arrogant, and so I was glad he didn't
show up I'm glad he showed that. I don't
give a damn what you do. Marvin is dead
. But if we had given it, as we
should have, then to Stevie, Stevie would have
shown up because he's a nice guy because he had
, You know, I'm serious. He had since
and because his music over the years, you know
, Speaking of Dizzy, Stevie had dizzy on his
album. Stevie sang with the Jackson five. He
brings people in, He's he's a great guy.
He also, you know, Happy Birthday to you
. She did the he was asked by corrected to
Do the Martin Luther King. So he's a stand
up guy. And when you think about who spoke
for our generation So somebody asked me. I was
doing an interview with The Guardian with, uh of
London, and he said, Well, well,
you know, why do you think Bobby Dylan one
. What do you think, Bob? One,
I said, Because he's white. He said,
What do you mean? I said W h i
g E. If he had been black, it
would have never happened, because when you think about
the music, you cannot get away from black people
. It's two things that we do. No matter
what anybody says, we cook and we sing.
There may be other things that we do and don't
do, but I want I want I want to
get on beat Bobby Flay. I do because I
think I can I want to get on it.
Well, black people practically invented American cuisine, So
these are the kind of things It just makes you
so angry when, after all we've been through and
all we've given, nobody can say in the words
of an old spiritual well done, my good and
faithful servant. Yeah, And Nikki Giovanni, I
want to thank you so much for doing the interview
portion. Can we give around the policy? Mhm
. Yeah. So first, uh, everyone said
thank you, Cory. Mr. Okay. And
it's, uh, mhm. So next time on
the edge, I know we're gonna have Okay.
Yeah. Okay. I've been reading. I've been
writing longer and longer and longer, so Well,
what am I reading and Oh, okay. It's
been one of those days, you know, I
carry, by the way, I'm a space freak
. Uh, and I carried Charles around because he's
good looking and I love that always helps if you
carry somebody around that you smiled at and then,
uh, I'm a space freak. So let me
read a couple of since I have, uh,
destroyed the Penis. Let me. Yeah. Let
me read this. We were talking about food.
Let me let me share a couple of those for
, uh, this is still life with apron.
And I'm sure it's just because I'm an old woman
. So you look at things differently, but I
like that. I would like to see you cooking
. I would like for you to cook for me
. I would like to see you decide upon a
menu, go to the market and pick the fruit
, the vegetables, the fish. I would like
to see you smell the fish, test the flesh
for freshness and firmness. I would like to watch
you in the bakery in the bakery by the dinner
rolls. Deciding roles are crusty bread. I would
watch you run back to get the goat butter.
I would like to be sitting in a corner and
you intent upon your meal, not noticing me.
When you go to the wine store, I would
watch you wrestle with white or red white, of
course, because it's fish. But red is seductive
. Whoever fell in love over a glass of white
wine, I uncharacteristically on time I would like to
I would like you to greet me in a butcher's
apron. I would like you to greet me only
in an apron. You would ask me to undress
to undress for you before I sit down at the
beautiful table. Before you handed me my glass,
you would ask me to undress. I would like
to watch you watch me undressing for you. I
would like to watch the movement inside the apron as
I undress for you. I would like to watch
you walk. No stroll to your closet where you
bring out your old buffalo plaid dressing gown, your
Pillay much washed dressing gown that smells like you after
you brush your teeth after your shower. After you
comb your hair, I would like to embrace your
older, your older your essence. As we sit
down to eat, I would like for you to
cook for me. I would like that very much
, uh, anytime I like love poems, and
, uh, I think that the main thing and
I say to my students all the time to is
one as long as I've been writing, of course
, there has to be contradictions. So even now
, not even especially now, As I say to
my students, as you're writing recognized, you will
have contradictions if you don't have a contradiction. You're
not learning. So don't let people say, Oh
, when you were, you know 30 You you
wrote something else. When you were 30 you were
30 and now you're 70 or 50 or whatever it
is you are. And you have to listen to
yourself for where you are. I had and I'm
going to rediscover that I love this thing. I'm
a TV freak. And every night, pretty much
I listened to, uh, Jeopardy. And I'll
say that to the English majors in the room.
You know, everybody says, Oh, how are
you going to earn a living as an English major
? But GSN, the game show network needs your
questions. Game show network has the dumbest, damn
questions you've ever seen most they do the only people
that have decent questions. Jeopardy has pretty decent questions
, you know. And there's something I don't know
if you're watching now called the Cash Cash cap.
I love it. And they asked good questions.
And most of their questions are about books. Have
you noticed that? But if you look at a
family feud, good lord. No, Steve doesn't
mean I don't know what Steve is well dressed.
He is. But other than that, he's an
idiot and oh, he is. And he knows
he shouldn't have been at the White House, but
he shouldn't have. It was embarrassing. I quit
looking at the show, but you still have this
thing they used to be. I think it still
is just called deal or no deal. And it
kills me because people are greedy and crazy. And
I was watching. I was watching. Jeopardy does
tonight and you always watch this greed. And so
somebody has, like, 5000. And, uh
, what's his name? Alex says, you know
Oh, you know, this is you got the
double jeopardy. What would you like? You know
, what would you like? And instead of saying
, Oh,$1000 something that you can deal with
Oh, let's go, you know, doubling.
You know, true daily double. I always I
pray. Jesus. Let him lose They Jesus answers
that one because invariably they lose and then they have
nothing. And Alex says, Oh, you probably
make it up no damage. You want your little
greedy behind you have no business doing that. You
know, it's it's crazy. I was watching deal
or no deal. And my kids a couple of
years, like my students all know that I look
at it all the time and this guy had,
like,$20,000 right? And the banker, as
we all know, was not a person, the
bankers machine and the guy, you know. So
, uh, let's just name how we're saying,
you know, deal or no deal and this fool
$20,000 a good day's work and this fool is going
, Oh, no deal. I'm gonna beat the
banker And I was sitting there laughing like, No
, you are. You are so gone. And
so when I come into the class the next day
, I said, Did you see that fool?
You know, blow that$20,000 and everybody like,
Yeah, you know, the classes. And I
said, you know, why is it that people
like me? Why? Why is it that I'm
not on deal or no deal. And so the
classes quiet. And what I had expected was them
to say, Yeah, you should be on,
you know, And they were quiet. And I
said, Don't you think, you know, maybe
you want to write a letter and tell how you
know I should be on there and everybody's quiet and
I'm saying, I give them their great So I
should have a better response than that. But they
didn't. And I'm just and I was like,
Y'all go, you know, because my feelings were
hurt. Just go. I don't want to go
get away. I don't want I don't want to
see any more. I see you next Thursday.
I teach you Tuesday. Thursday. See you on
Thursday. I just can't handle anymore. And now
my feelings were hurt. And one of my students
who knows me fairly well, just kind of hung
back. And when everybody was gone, he said
, Nikki, you know, I think I should
tell you what what was going on? So what
happened? He said nobody wanted to see you make
a fool of your something. That's why they didn't
do it. And I said. Don't you know
that's a sweetheart? Don't you know that if the
first time in my life that I make a fool
of myself is on deal or no deal? I
have led a blessed life. Are you kidding?
And so I went upstairs to my office and because
they had hurt my feelings and I wrote a point
deal or no deal just so that they would know
what was going on for English 47 14 and just
so they would be absolutely clear who they were.
C. R N 1692 If I I thought that
they should just, you know, no. So
when their grandparents and grandchildren say, Was that you
? You have to say Yes, my class is
not sure that I should apply to deal or no
deal. They think I am lucky after all,
I am teaching them. They know I'm smart.
They are, for example, learning yet they don't
want to see me make those greedy mistakes and push
beyond the envelope. The banker is neither friend nor
foe. Here's a machine. To think you can
beat him is to think you will win at Vegas
or love. But I persist My dream is a
red dress above my knees High heeled red sandals and
me come over the top The music booming Don't do
, do, do, do, do, do
, do do do do Hi, Howie I will
say with a lovely smile I don't want to play
the game I want to be it They were born
40 years after me Yet I am younger I know
you cannot go through life unless you are willing for
love or money to make a fool of yourself Where
else does the ecstasy lie? I love it.
I mhm. Thank you. I'm going to close
on Stardate started then. I've got all these numbers
, but they make sense. Start 8186 to 8.19
Oh, okay. This is not a poem.
This is hot chocolate at the beginning of spring,
topped with hand whipped double cream A splash of brandy
to give assassin just a little cinnamon to give it
class. This is not a poem. This is
a summer quilt log cabin pattern. See that corner
piece that was grandmother's wedding dress? That was Grandpa's
favorite Sunday tie. That white strip there is the
baby who died? Mommy had pneumonia. So the
red flannel shows the healing. This does not hang
from museum walls, nor will itself for thousands.
This is here to keep me warm. This is
not a sonnet, though it will sing. Precious
Lord Take my hand Amazing Grace How sweet the sound
go down, Moses Way down to the past Way
up to the future It will swell with the voice
of Marian Anderson Lilt on the areas of Leon Teen
dance on the drilling of battle Do the dirty dirty
with Bessie Moon with Dinah Washington and Rock and roll
through the sixties Wrap its way into the nineties and
go on out into space with Etta James saying at
last, No, this is not a sonnet,
but the truth of the beauty that the only authentic
voice of planet Earth comes from the black soil.
Tilden. Mind by the Daughters of the Diaspora.
This is a rocking chair. Rock me gently in
the bosom of Abraham. This is a bus seat
. No, I'm not gonna move today. This
is a porch where they sat spinning at fireflies,
telling young Alex the story of the African. This
is a hook rug to cover a dirt floor.
This is an iron pot with the leftover with leftover
vegetables making a slow cooking soup. This is excuse
me. This is pork simmering chitlins, surprising everybody
with our May of with our way of making a
way out of No way. This is not rest
when we are weary nor comfort. When we are
sad, it is laughter. When we are in
pain, it is no mind. When we are
confused, it is Keep climbing, child. When
the world takes an unfair turn, it is Don't
let nobody turn you around When our way is dark
. It is the faith of our mothers who planted
our hair, put Vaseline on our faces, polished
our rundown shoes, patched our dresses who are sweater
so that we could wear coats who welcomed us and
our Children when we were left alone to rear them
. Who said Get your education and nobody can put
you back. This is not a poem. No
, it is a celebration of the road we have
travelled. It is a prayer for the roads yet
to come. This is an explosion, the original
big bang that makes the world a hopeful loving place
. This is the black woman in all our trouble
in glory and all our past history and future forbearance
and all that ever made love a possibility. This
is about us bleached a natural braided and straightened hair
made up or beaten up faces short, tall,
stately, bent CC riders, junkies, whores,
wives, mothers, grandmothers, aunts working in the
home or outside working in the system are outside working
, praying, working to survive, giving pride,
giving sucker, giving vase, giving voice, giving
encouragement, giving what we can do, whatever we
can give. This is a flag that is placed
over Peter Salem and Peter Poor, the 54th Regiment
from Massachusetts. All the men and women lynched in
the name of rape Emmet Till Medgar Evers, Malcolm
X, Martin Luther King Jr This is a banner
we fly for respect, dignity, the assumption of
integrity for a future direct for future generation to rally
around. This is about us celebrating ourselves and a
well deserved honor. It is light the candles.
This is a rocket. Let's right. You call
it mhm.