Poets Against Racism & Hate USA completes a year of growth and impact and expects much from the year ahead
It’s a new year and that means everyone’s newsfeeds, social media pages, and Substack reads are filled with reviews of the prior year. Best movies, best restaurants, significant milestones—name the category and there’s undoubtedly a “best of” retrospective. Poets Against Racism & Hate USA has reason to look back too: 2023 was only the second year of our existence. Because we desire to grow ever more effective in serving our mission, a look back at our activities is merited. A look forward to what’s in store for 2024 is warranted as well.
A Jam-Packed 2023
Highlights of 2023 include changing our name, deepening our collaboration with key partners through events, presenting our first ekphrastic poetry challenge, and more than doubling our number of members and subscribers.
Name Change
After consultations with various stakeholder groups and much thoughtful deliberation, we kicked off 2023 by changing our name from Poets Against Racism USA to Poets Against Racism & Hate USA. We felt the name change was needed to better reflect our broad mission of using poetry to confront racism and all forms of prejudice and hate.
Events
Holding in-person and virtual events is fundamental to our mission to confront racism, bigotry, and hate through the power of poetry and to elevate the voices of our poet members. In 2023, Poets Against Racism & Hate USA sponsored or cosponsored ten events.
Library and museum collaborations were an integral part of our event schedule. In January, the Franklin Public Library in Franklin, Pennsylvania, hosted a reading featuring writers from PARH USA and The Bridge Literary Arts Center. Eight poets shared their work with over 40 attendees. A few months later, in early April, the Butler (Pennsylvania) Public Library hosted our poets, who read to a similarly full house. Later that month, cofounder Patricia Thrushart read at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and donated copies of her book Inspired by Their Voices: Poetry from Underground Railroad Testimonies to the museum’s bookstore. In summer and fall, Patricia returned to the ever-hospitable Franklin Public Library for community discussions on the power of social justice poetry.
Additional thought-provoking events stemmed from alliances with organizations focused on literary arts or social justice. In May, we joined with our colleagues Poets Against Racism (UK) to hold our third annual virtual poetry reading in honor of George Floyd. As summer neared its end, Patricia and cofounder Debbie Allen discussed PARH USA and thoughts about carrying out its mission on Poetry Spotlight, a podcast presented by the Ohio Poetry Association (OPA). PARH USA’s collaboration with OPA continued in September at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center when we participated in a community fair and poetry reading meant to kick off a series of readings taking place at Ohio Underground Railroad sites throughout 2024. As part of Ohio Nonviolence Week in early October, PARH USA members helped groups of students produce their own poems after hearing members Quartez Harris and Elijah Elliott read. And PARH USA ended the year’s events with a spirited virtual reading and open mic in December courtesy of the Flamingo Writers Guild, based in Parma, Ohio.
We also presented inaugural sessions of the PARH USA Social Justice Poetry Workshop. In preparation for September’s event at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, PARH USA developed a comprehensive workshop designed to guide participants through the process of writing social justice poetry. It is now ready to be offered as part of future endeavors.
More information about our events is always available on our Events page, with links when available to recordings or relevant websites.
Poetry and Blog Posts
On our Featured Poem page, PARH USA published fourteen original poems by our members. All are accessible from our Featured Poem archive page. We also held our first ekphrastic poetry challenge, featuring artwork by Kaitlyn Holmes. Member Ruchi Chopra’s “framed” was chosen by our editors as the winning poem. Our eight published blog posts gave us the opportunity to delve more deeply into the events of the year, comment on aspects of the pursuit of social justice, and provide ideas and inspiration for our members.
Membership
In 2023, we added sixty-six new members or subscribers to our community. PARH USA members and subscribers are now located in thirteen states, from Maine to California. In many ways, this growth is the most gratifying aspect of the organization’s development.
It was a fulfilling and meaningful year. These accomplishments reflect the passion, talent, and commitment of our community, and we are tremendously grateful for your support and involvement.
More to Come
In 2024, look for an announcement from us regarding our nonprofit status and more information about our involvement with OPA in the Ohio Underground Railroad Whistle-Stop Poetry Tour. Additionally, we’ll hold our fourth annual In This Together program on the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, calling attention to systemic racism in the US. These are just some of the plans we have for our dynamic community in the months ahead. Thank you for being a part of Poets Against Racism & Hate USA.