By Debbie Allen, Cofounder, Poets Against Racism USA
In the summer of 2020, following George Floyd’s murder and during the subsequent protests, I wrote a poem responding to current events and exploring the concept of lives mattering. The events of the times were touching communities everywhere, including in the rural region where I then lived. My small town, for example, held a vigil in which members of our predominantly White community stood in solidarity with Black people taking to the streets to proclaim that their lives matter. At the same time, other members of the predominantly White communities of the region spouted the rhetoric of backlash against the Black Lives Matter movement. Indeed, such rhetoric was all too prevalent in our region and beyond. In fact, according to a Pew Research Center study of U.S. adults conducted at the time, only 60% of White respondents nationwide supported the Black Lives Matter movement.
Against this backdrop, I decided to try to make my poem matter. I submitted it to a literary magazine published in and for the region. The magazine’s content typically explores concepts related to the beauty and power of the natural world, love and relationships, illness and death, meaning and purpose in life, Rust Belt desolation and struggles toward rebirth and hope, and the richness of rural and small-town life. Rarely had I encountered within its pages poetry addressing sociopolitical issues. I felt some trepidation in submitting my social justice poem to the publication, but I gambled and did so anyway. The risk I took was met with equal risk taken by the magazine’s leadership team. They not only published the poem but also positioned it as the first selection in the Summer 2020 edition and featured it via a cover blurb and a mention in the editors’ letter. When communicating with me about the poem, the executive editor emphasized the importance of its capacity to “challenge the reader.”
This anecdote illustrates a tactic that we at Poets Against Racism USA consider of utmost importance: exposing people who may not seek out social justice poetry to the powerful points it can convey. I continue to apply this strategy whenever I can. When invited recently to be featured in a monthly reading series, I made social justice my theme, sharing poems that address systemic racism, microaggressions, hate crimes, allyship, and similar concepts. When presented with the opportunity to participate in an ekphrastic challenge and subsequent reading, I took inspiration from a striking watercolor encouraging girls to “bloom” and responded with a poem concentrated on the obstacles beyond sexism that exist for girls of color.
At PAR USA, we conduct virtual and in-person readings focused on confronting racism, bigotry, and all forms of hate. These are compelling events. But often they draw audiences of people already eager to take action to end systemic racism and other social injustices plaguing our society. To expand the likelihood of bringing about change, social justice poets must reach others as well—those who may be persuaded to stand up for social justice but have not yet heard the message that spurs them to feel, think, or act in a new way. Writers of social justice poetry can increase their impact by inserting themselves and their work in unexpected places. One option for doing so is submitting work to journals and other publications whose readers are not regularly exposed to social justice ideas. Other options include reading social justice poems at general poetry readings, arts festivals, or community gatherings. Some poets have even been known to interject social justice poetry into July Fourth celebrations, city council meetings, and other similarly unlikely venues. Through such bold moves, poet activists may achieve their greatest successes.
Making social justice poetry matter means reaching the persuadable with the urgent messages the poetry conveys. Reaching the persuadable is most likely to occur when social justice poetry is interjected in unexpected places. Our promise at PAR USA is that we will continue to seek ways to make this happen.
Source
Pew Research Center: Amid Protests, Majorities Across Racial and Ethnic Groups Express Support for the Black Lives Matter Movement