By Debbie Allen and Patricia Thrushart, Founders, Poets Against Racism & Hate USA
Every January, we at Poets Against Racism & Hate USA take time to step back and contemplate the year that has passed. We’ve learned that the busy pace of our lives, the firehose of news pertaining to racism, hate, and bigotry, and the steady outpouring of work by our members and collaborators can all combine to create an amnesia of sorts—we forget everything the year brought us. This is our moment to reflect on all our organization has accomplished, thanks to our members.
As always, our work centered on delivering social justice poetry to audiences and supporting our members in their social justice poetry pursuits. Throughout the year, we consistently published featured poems written by our members on the topics critical to our mission. Our archive for 2024 features nineteen poems by a diverse group of poets. We published several blog posts on a variety of pertinent topics throughout the year, as well. We held our third annual virtual reading, In This Together, on the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder and offered numerous in-person readings that brought our poets’ works to rural areas of northwestern Pennsylvania, especially.
Beyond these core activities, 2024 had some special moments that reflect the growth of PARH USA.
One important milestone was achieved when our members began stepping up to coordinate PARH USA events, broadening our footprint and our bandwidth. Carol Smith facilitated a reading at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, and Tabassam Shah conducted our workshop on writing social justice poetry for poets in South Carolina. We thank them both and hope to see more member-facilitated events in 2025 and beyond. Members should contact us if there’s an interest—we promise robust support of your initiative!
Another key advancement in 2024 was the incorporation of PARH USA as a nonprofit. This allows us to accept donations (although not tax deductible) and apply for grants, and it’s the first step toward full 501(c)(3) status in the future.
Part of our mission is to empower our members, and our newly created PARH USA Scholarship Fund for poets from historically marginalized communities is designed to do just that. We rolled out a fundraising effort in 2024, offering Patricia Thrushart’s book Inspired By Their Voices for sale to benefit the fund. Our first scholarship recipient was able to attend a literary festival in northwestern Pennsylvania thanks to the success of this effort. Those wishing to support the PARH USA Scholarship Fund by purchasing the book may do so at Bookshop.org or Amazon; all proceeds go to the fund.
Collaboration was a significant theme in 2024. PARH USA joined with interfaith clergy, gay pride organizations, and local political groups to bring our members’ poetry to their events, raising the profile of our poets and their messages.
One collaboration, in particular, stands out as a major accomplishment in 2024. Throughout the year, we collaborated with Ohio Poetry Association and community partners to present the Ohio Underground Railroad Whistle-Stop Poetry Tour. This series of readings honored Ohio’s role in the Underground Railroad and raised awareness of issues of social injustice, hate, and prejudice that persist today. Grants from the America 250-Ohio Commission and Ohio Arts Council provided funding for the tour. Across 10 tour stops and a Capstone Celebration, nearly 40 Ohio poets—most of whom are PARH USA members—enthralled approximately 200 event-goers. They brought renewed attention to historic works of witness by poets of color and read and performed their own pieces—powerful poems springing from lived experiences and dedication to allyship. The project also featured social justice poetry workshops and youth programming, history presentations, storytelling, music, and dance. Project impacts were numerous. Evaluation data suggest that the tour increased understanding of present-day social justice issues as well as abuses carried out historically against African Americans and inspired attendees to take action to become agents of change in the realm of social justice. We disseminated more than 100 copies of a special social justice resources handout, and PARH USA gained at least 23 members or subscribers as a direct result of the tour. More than 100 contributions to an event-spanning collaborative activity resulted in the poem “How We See Free,” which was published as a featured poem on the PARH USA website and gifted in broadside form to Capstone Celebration attendees. Additionally, coverage in several media outlets, including Cleveland’s Plain Dealer and the Dayton Daily News, and on public access television further amplified the importance of the project. In summary, we at PARH USA are grateful and proud to have contributed to this incredible endeavor.
It is both humbling and exhilarating to reflect on our activity in 2024. What will 2025 bring? We certainly will continue our Featured Poem series, our blog, and our in-person readings. We are planning our fourth virtual In This Together event for May and will be delivering our workshop on social justice poetry in various locations. We hope to see members signing up to facilitate readings and workshops in their areas. And we’re in discussions with a philanthropic press about the publication of an anthology of work published by Poets Against Racism & Hate USA. What else might we consider? We welcome suggestions from the poets and supporters who make our organization possible!