This blog should begin with an admission: Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls is sacred
text to me. I know passages from it by heart. I’ve been known to recite excerpts from
it to myself when dealing with situations where her words were balm.

To say I had trepidation about experiencing it in the hands of Tyler Perry would be the
grossest of understatements. But I walked up to theater on the day that it opened,
reminding myself that what I was going to see was not For Colored Girls Who Have
Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Was Enuf… I was going to see a motion picture
that was inspired by it. A movie whose very artistically done promotional materials
highlighted an array of additional characters not included in the original script.  I
expected that a new narrative would be imposed, and that the set would be revised
to make it conducive to a film format. This was a new something, not to be received
or processed as one might with a production of the play.

I came away from it feeling conflicted. Here’s what I liked: I was glad to
see such able actors have the opportunity to work with Ntozake’s words in a high
profile capacity. I’m excited about the idea that a new audience will be introduced to
her work and may be inspired to seek out the original text along with her other
books. I like that this movie is a history maker in terms of having a cohort of black
women headliners.

However, the movie felt… heavy to me. Core poems were truncated and I was uncomfortable with the addition of back story lines that showcased overwhelmingly negative depictions of Black men. I am cautious about writing that because I know that so many feminist books and films have been assailed for that reason, often wrongly. But, this was something new. And the portrayals of men that were added to Perry’s adaptation of Shange’s seminal work lacked resonance. I also didn’t like what that redirected focus on Black male pathology did to the stories of the women. A direct consequence of vilifying the brothers is that the sisters were stained with the taint of victimhood. Which is not how the play ever read or presented to me. In fact, I would argue that is the polar opposite of the play’s intent.

For Colored Girls is a classic that endured through the decades because Shange, as a master of her craft, managed to thread light through words that described some of the deepest horrors that afflict us. Traumatic stories of rape, infidelity, abortion, and domestic violence that morphs into murder were told through a lens that emphasized our humanity, our endurance, our survival and triumph.  The focus was on Black women’s ability to retain our joy, find God in ourselves and love her. Fiercely.

In the closing montage that depicts the eight women leaning on each other, I wanted to feel the transcendent feeling I got from watching this extraordinary performance of Four Women:

Instead I was going down the line thinking “damn, this one got cheated on, those two both got STDs, that one’s man was wilding, she was sexually assaulted, etc, etc.” The feeling of celebration and victory, that’s the magic that was missing from this movie.

But, since it did gross over $20 million in its opening weekend, my hope is that this film’s economic success will serve as a gateway for sister filmmakers like Julie Dash, Kasi Lemmons or Nzingha Stewart (who originally optioned FCG and received executive producer credit for this) to seize the stage and take their turn at telling our stories with the financial backing and expanded audience that they deserve. I also hope that this will mark a turning point in Perry’s oeuvre, perhaps we’ll see more projects from him that work to show a more complex and nuanced portrayal of our communities. And it would be wonderful if more authors of Shange’s caliber and more actors like the amazing cast that was assembled for FCG get the increased opportunities they so richly merit.

On Friday night we had a full house come out and support Haki Madhubuti’s Third World Press during a fundraiser we held at the 14th & V Busboys & Poets. I had a great time moderating a convo between professors and political analysts Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and Dr. Marc Lamont Hill.  Plus there were readings and reflections from Haki’s daughter Mariama Richards as well as  TWP authors Brian Gilmore and Tony Medina.

This was an important one. We need to be there for the individuals and institutions who’ve been there for us. And TWP has definitely been there.

As their site notes, “Third World Press has been dedicated to publishing culturally progressive and politically insightful works of fiction and non-fiction since 1967. Over its four-decade history, Third World Press has published the works of poet and publisher Dudley Randall, poets Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Mari Evans and Margaret Walker; editor Hoyt W. Fuller; historians, John Henrik Clarke and Chancellor Williams; Chicago writers, Sterling Plumpp, Useni Eugene Perkins and Jacob Carruthers; playwright and producer Woody King Jr.; writers, Kalamu ya Salaam, Pearl Cleage, Ruby Dee, Ruth Garnett, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Derrick Bell, Gloria Naylor and Lorene Cary; artist Murry DePillars; and continues to publish much of the work by the unforgettable Ms. Gwendolyn Brooks.”

Brian Gilmore

Tony Medina

Shani Jamila

Mariama Richards

Michael Eric Dyson & Marc Lamont Hill

Mariama Richards, Shani Jamila, Brian Gilmore, Michael Eric Dyson, Tony Medina, Marc Lamont Hill

*All photographs were taken by the inimitable Jati Lindsay.

Additional thanks are due to Susan L. Taylor for issuing the call; to Marc for both having the vision for the event & his partnership in making it happen; to Busboys and Poets for their generosity; and to Baba Haki and the TWP family for the inspiration and legacy that have been such an integral part of our community for 40+ years.

If you were unable to join us, but would still like to support this amazing institution, please send your donation (suggested $20 or more) to the following address:

Third World Press

P.O. Box 19730

7822 South Dobson Avenue

Chicago, IL 60619.

“Poetry is not a luxury. It is the skeletal architecture of our lives.”
–Audre Lorde

Just over a week ago I walked into the Harlem Stage to check out Blood Dazzler, a play based on a series of poems written about Katrina by one of my favorite poets, Patricia Smith. Smith collaborated with director and choreographer sisters Patricia and Paloma Macgregor to bring these pieces to life via a fusion of dance and oratory. There was also a post show panel of artists and activists who gathered to discuss the impact that this disaster had on the Gulf community and the world at large. I was especially proud to check out two members of the New Orleanian branch of my family as they participated in that discussion, John and Wendi O’Neal.

When I first heard about this NYC based production, I knew I would be making the trip. I am so glad I did. The performance was extraordinary, it moved me in the way that only the best art does. I literally sat down in that theater one woman and stood up transformed.

Then this past weekend was the first national launch of Alice Walker’s latest book of poetry, Hard Times Require Furious Dancing, at Busboys and Poets in DC. Hundreds of people came out to share in this celebration, the restaurant was exclusively dedicated to this event. We had a DJ rocking Fela and Nina Simone, Carolyn Malachi and her band performed, NAACP President Ben Jealous came to speak to us hot on the heels of the One Nation Working Together march and Holly Bass rocked a poetic introduction in concert with a tap dancer. Alice was signing books and dancing with the crowd, her partner Kaleo entertained us all on the trumpet. And together we all danced furiously.

(Pics from the latter event are in their own entry down below.)

Both of these evenings have me thinking deeply  about what I’ve come to identify as my own life path, this fusion of art and activism.  I am a cultural worker because the gritty grassroots work we do in opposition to the prison industrial complex, in support of a feminist lens, in affirmation of human rights… all of it is rooted in an ethic of transformation. We have to be able to believe in a world we haven’t lived in yet. We have to be able to conceive of human interaction uncompromised by racism, sexism, classism and other forms of inequity.

Art helps ground us in that vision. And on the occasions when I get to see it done with the level of mastery that I have in the work of these women, it really reminds me of its power. This is the groundwork that must be laid in encouraging and empowering people to understand and explore their political imagination—a fundamentally undervalued part of creating social change.

When I woke up this morning I was deeply saddened to learn of the transition of esteemed political scientist Dr. Ron Walters. Dr. Walters was a brilliant, kind and humble man whose contributions to our people and to his field are immeasurable. I had the honor of interviewing him on my show a couple of years ago, and today I dug back through the archives so that I could share this audio with all of you:

Rw by sjo

As you listen, please take a moment to say a prayer for his peaceful ascension and to celebrate his powerfully lived life. Ashe.

This podcast features my latest radio broadcast with author, activist and Congressional candidate Kevin Powell. The program originally aired on Tuesday August 17th, 2010.

Please check out the interview Kevin called “one of the best I’ve ever done in all my years of public service.”

For more, tune into Washington DC’s WPFW 89.3FM every Tuesday evening from 10-11pm and visit the radio page on this site for archived shows.

Hello lovelies,

As I mentioned in my most recent blog post, I was deeply honored  to be invited to

deliver a keynote speech at the 50th anniversary celebration of my father’s high

school graduation  in Carbondale, IL. It was especially meaningful to me because

of the depth of history this particular institution holds for my family– he went to

the same school that employed both of my grandparents as teachers and where my

aunt also spent some of her high school years. In this excerpt, I talk a bit about my

work directing a mentorship program for incarcerated teens:

This next clip is my latest Decipher broadcast, featuring this week’s guests Head Roc and Diallo Sumbry.

We discuss DC hip hop, what it takes to create a life as an artist in this city, Wyclef’s presidential run and

their upcoming joint concert.  New radio shows air each Tuesday evening, 10-11p EST on 89.3 FM in the

nation’s capitol or streaming live at www.wpfw.org worldwide:

Lastly, I was interviewed by The Mind’s Eye television at the 2010 National Urban League centennial

conference. My segment comes on at about 1:45. See below for some footage from that conversation

and other highlights from the weekend:

Thanks so much for visiting! Please check back regularly for more in the musings & wanderings of…

sj

I recently had the opportunity to attend my father’s 50^th high school reunion.

It was quite a thing, being with him in this space. Hanging out with his classmates, the Attucks High School class of 1960, you could feel the kind of comfort created over 50+ years. The old jokes and rivalries, the high school roles that carry on even still… The musician, the athlete, the leader. It was beautiful to witness, and especially at this school where my own family walked the halls of this school– both as students and as teachers. My grandparents both taught at this institution, my aunt also attended the school.

As you may imagine, with the depth of history my family has in this place– and with my particular kin, who know a thing or two about how to tell a story and make it stick— I grew up hearing much about the impact of an Attucks eduction. I couldn’t have been more honored to have this opportunity to deliver the keynote speech on this occasion.

Here is an excerpt from my speech, entitled “We Need to Keep on Fighting:”

“My grandparents, teachers at Attucks, taught us much about how to fight. They fought hard to maintain their dignity in a segregated America.  They fought hard to get their education. In fact, their move to Carbondale, a town that they dearly loved, was a strategic one…  They needed to be in a college town so that each of their three children could live at home while enrolled in Southern Illinois University.  And earning a higher degree was not an option in their home, it was an expectation.

They valued education! And they fought for it! Look at the example of their lives:

teaching in one room school houses plus

working for the white folks to afford college and

sustaining five decades of marriage

while

studying genealogy & earning their college degrees over thirty

years, one class at a time oh

how they hated being perceived as servants but

now all of their children and grandchildren have college educations and can trace our family history back eight generations

huh?

The result was: In 1957 our family celebrated 3 graduations—Uncle John finished high school, Grandma got her bachelors and Grandpa got his masters degree. All in the same year.

The result was: the accomplishments of each of you young’ins as Grandma might say. (Grandpa might say girlies). They were so proud… so proud of you.

And they stood in a chorus of voices who committed themselves to you, names that we should lift up during this memorial service:

Your principals Mr. Clark, Mr. Jones and Mr. Thomas (ashe)… your teachers Miss Warren, Miss Lucille Walker and Ms. Thelma Walker (ashe)… English teacher Miss. Ikard… history teacher Mrs. Davis… music Director Mr. Anderson…

Please join me in calling their names, right now…  The people who invested in you, the people who made you who you are, they are always with us as long as we call their names.

Ashe, ashe, ashe.

The impact they had on all of you in this room… That is the way they made sure the things they held dear would continue long after they left this earthly plane.  We are the prize of their fight.

We need to keep on fighting.

There is an Adinkra symbol from the Ghanaian region of West Africa known as sankofa. It means you have to look to your past to be able to chart your future.  Who better to make sure this history gets passed down than you?

You are the class of 1960. You left Attucks and walked out into a world that was characterized by Jim Crow and Black Power, by water hoses and Marches, by assassinations and resistance.

You helped lay the ground for progressive social change, you are part of the generation that has become iconic, that has become a synonym, for social action.

You are the class of 1960.

Every year you all make your pilgrimage back to this hallowed place to reflect, rejoice and renew these friendships that have sustained you over the course of your lives. Many of you have parents who also attended Attucks, many of my generation or younger who sit in this audience also have some kind of an Attucks affiliation. There are governmental representatives here who understand the significance of the role that Attucks continues to play in this community.

You are the class of 1960, but the earliest graduating classes go back to the 1920s! We need to know this history.

Attucks was a school, it was a community center, it was and is a family. We need to know this history.

Your teachers and administrators hold a special place in your heart to this day, and celebrating them is part of what initiated the Spirit of Attucks celebrations. We need to know this history.

We need to know why so many of you love this school so deeply that you came across miles to be here today.

No one can ever take this experience from you. No one and nothing can ever change the fact that in 1960, you earned your diploma and became an alum of Attucks High School.  There is no force that could ever change the feeling of family that’s in this room… it’s hard won, it’s long lasting and it’s real.

We need to know this history. And we need you. We need you to continue making history and to inspire us, your children, to create our own.”

Hello lovelies,

Happy June! I kinda feel like this month played a trick on us, like it never really fully came. How else is it possible that it passed by so quickly?? Of course, in fairness, I am deep in a travel jag… which is one of my favorite places to be but also makes time pass like nobody’s business. The past few weeks have seen me wrapped in a whirlwind of trips to Vermont, Los Angeles and New York.

Vermont is not a state where I’ve spent too much time, but what brought me there most recently was a reunion with friends and colleagues, members of the New Voices community.  New Voices is a competitive fellowship program that works with non profit organizations in need of capacity building. It pairs social change workers with mentors in a specific institution a for a period of two years. It began as a nationwide group, and in recent years has focused specifically on the Gulf Coast.

I’m very honored to be a member of the NV community.  One of the things I appreciate most about it is that it’s so intentionally diverse in every single sense of the word (race, gender, class, sexuality, ableism, nationality, areas of expertise, etc). The primary thread that binds us is our commitment to creating a better world.

I also love that whenever we get together the default setting is freedom, the fallback is honesty. That you can spark up a conversation with someone you haven’t seen in years or someone you just met and begin in a very deep and open place.

Those kinds of relationships are hard won and I don’t take them for granted.

Sadly, after ten years, it appears funding for this fellowship is over. So for this last weekend we went paddle boating in Lake Champlain, made bonfires and s’mores on the shore, and I got to sit in the sun splattered grass with some of the most brilliant and beautiful minds I know.

A few days later I was off to the west coast. LA was once home for me, so on the rare occasions that I get to go back I always have a rack of people I’m trying to see and a list of places I’m trying to go while I’m there. This trip was no different, I still can’t believe how full the week was!

The centerpiece of my time in Cali was a human rights conference. Again, this was a group of people from all parts of the country who came together for the better part of a week to talk about issues like the school to prison pipeline and bringing human rights home.

One of my friends was joking about the irony having a human rights gathering in LA, she said the biggest violations that happen in that city is people not getting all the scented candles they want in their trailers on set. Lolol!! While it’s definitely true that the city is more known for its entertainment industry connects than its social justice work, the truth is some of the most innovative and impactful work is happening out there. For example, in January I did a site visit to the Youth Justice Coalition– they were also a core part of this conference.  Talk about a group who is challenging confinement and investing deeply in the leadership of young people! There are also amazing groups like Cadre and the  LA County Commission on Human Relations that are respectively dedicated to empowering parents to have a voice in educational reform and finding peaceful ways to resolve inter-cultural conflict.

I learned a tremendous amount at this gathering.  It only lasted a few days, but we went hard!

Finally, this past week I took a quick spin to NYC to honor Regent Adelaide Sanford‘s many contributions to the field of education. This sister carries herself with such grace and power, she personifies for me what I want to be if I am fortunate enough to live as long and as fully as she does. Literally, every single time I hear her speak I am awestruck.

At this event she spoke quite passionately about language and culture, about what it means to be able to greet somebody in their mother tongue and how tragic it is that most Black Americans no longer know what ours is. Her ongoing work is a reminder of how we must honor the specific needs of our children, many of whom have been so failed by their schools and by society at large.

So that has been the month thus far… I have been on the road more than I’ve been home, but that for me equals a beautiful thing.

I hope that each of you is well and happy. Thanks for making time to check out this site… Be blessed!

This past weekend was incredible. I got to fill it with some of the people and activities I love most. I took a little trip up the road to Philly for the 26th Celebration of Black Writing. What a gathering.

I was there to moderate Saturday’s Main Stage panel that was organized around the theme Movement: Paying It Forward. On the dais with me were literary legends Sonia Sanchez and Baba Haki Madhubuti, SNCC co founder Dr. Bernard Lafayette Jr., and brilliant thinkers Nia Ngina Meeks and Steven Barnes.

When we began the outdoor panel we were concerned about the threat of rain. But we must’ve done something right, because the sun made its way to us before we were even halfway done. And stayed shining.

It is only today, after having the opportunity to come down a bit, that I am finally catching my breath. Imagine having the chance to sit with the people whose words have sustained you since college and conduct a conversation that inspires both you and everyone in the audience. That is no small thing. And that was just for two hours in the midst of two days where Black writers from around the country stood together to honor Nikki Giovanni and our shared literary legacy.

This kind of immersion in our art is what I live for.

My time in Philly was bookended by my participation in the Bellydancers of Color Association (BOCA) annual expo. BOCA is a time of year where DC becomes filled with master classes, vendors and performances. My teacher, Sunyatta Amen, organizes sisters for a weekend of shimmies, mayas, undulations, zagarits, culture and context.

Over the past several years bellydance has become a deep love of mine, it feeds me in a way that defies description. This weekend I learned more about the history of this African dance in countries like Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. I took a journey into Brazilian samba and experienced traditional Gypsy movement. I literally spent hours upon hours studying with women who have dedicated themselves to mastering this art that fetes our femininity and teaches us how to know and love our bodies right.

After these past several days my hands are hennaed, my body is stretched, my spirit is lifted and I am happy.

Thankful for these traditions that are ours.