By Tihut Tamrat, Contributing Writer
On Thursday June 13th, the California History Section of the California State Library hosted an event titled, Words of Liberation: The Exploration of Blackness Through Poetry, via zoom in hopes of bringing a wide and diverse audience from all across the world to discuss how words can be used to liberate and unshackle black people from the societal idea of blackness.
Moderated by Kim McMillon, editor of Black Fire–This Time, along with co-hosts Devorah Major, author of Califa’s Daughter, and Robin Coste Lewis, author of “To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness”, converse amongst themselves, with questions posed from participants, to clear the cloudy lenses and outdated images of Blackness that Black women have had to navigate in America.
To begin answering questions posed, Robin Coste Lewis, Poet Laureate of Los Angeles (2017-2021), and Devorah Major, Poet Laureate of San Francisco (2002-2006), discussed how their poetry has used words of liberation to empower and heal by reading excerpts from their acclaimed poetry library that pinpoints the reality of Black women’s lives such as navigating motherhood, intimacy, and freedom.
As they read their poetry and bounced off of one another, participants saw how the power of their poetry acknowledges a history of Blackness that needs to be celebrated and told and how that can start to generate change in American society.
In this two hour discussion, many questions were asked, most were answered, and deep beautiful poetry was read that used words of liberation, showing the relevance and importance of poetry as it only just begun to scratch the surface of blackness and how rich it can be!
This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to https://www.cavshate.org/.
