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PDFLiterary Apartheid by jessica Care moore
Literary Apartheid
Essays on one poets struggle for definition.
(An excerpt from her upcoming book…visit www.moreblackpress.com for more info)
“If I had gone directly to the people, read my poems, faced the crowds, got into immediate touch with Tom, Dick, and Harry instead of waiting to be interpreted, I’d have had my audience at once,” –Walt Whitman
I am not a slam poet.
I’ve been planning to write this essay for months now. I needed to wait. To unclench my teeth and unfold my yellow/black fists and step away. I had to breathe, so I could form my fingers into the shape of a writer and hold my pen steady when I finally decided to fire back.
The text I will make reference to makes me want to write my first “slam” poem since 1996 and beat the ideas of this book down in 3 minutes or less. But, I gave up battling with art so long ago. Battling, which is from the “dozens,” which was put on the map by Emcees, not Slam Poetry, as this book asserts, so this space on the page is where I will challenge the text.
Writing about something, in some ways, gives something off center, validation. Even speaks it into existence. I struggled with that idea the same way Mari Evans did when she was asked many years ago to contribute to a group repudiation volume against Shahrazad Ali’s book. At first she declined, thinking it would just go away. But I know, like Mari, the power of books in print.
“Whether created in her own porcelain tower or by committee, or rooted in her own personal gripes with the “slam scene,” the “book” exists. This piece of writing is a response to Susan Somers-Willett’s book, The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry. The title is a cover-up the very essence of what this book suggests and attempts to support by using failed references and easy targets like media mogul, Russell Simmons.
I suggest this new title: Disgruntled European Slam Poet Dehumanizes Black Poets, comparing them to “black face” minstrels and “commercial niggas like us.”
The smartest thing Willett did with this collection, was write around my history in the world of poetry. I find it interesting that a 
self proclaimed, “slam scholar” would not put the fact that I was the lone feminine voice of the quite popular Nuyorican Poetry Slam Team of 1996, into any proper context or analysis. Still, this omission helps to further validate my response in this text. Another omission is the credit for Saul Williams’s poetry she used from his first book I published, The Seventh Octave on Moore Black Press. I find this a constant oversight for most “other stream” publishing houses or writers that don’t acknowledge the work he published with me (even though those poems are still very much signature and classic to his fan base), prior to MTV Pocketbooks.
Nothing new there.
I want to state for the record that I am not a “slam poet.” I am a blue-collar poet and writer, I make rock and roll music, I’m a mommy and I’m from Detroit. I wear every hat a writer could wear, including sometime a hardhat like my construction worker daddy. Publisher, poet, scholar, teacher, performer, musician, activist and producer. When I was becoming a true poet, there were no TV shows, slams or cool ways to market what I do. There were books, limited open mic nights in Detroit, mixed in with some disenfranchised students and working class people in search of a way to be heard in my city. A space on the planet to simply be human. I’ve been writing since I was 9-years old. In high school I studied the segregated curriculum that celebrated European male poets of the Canon, and I loved them because I wasn’t given much of a choice. My favorite poets were Alice Walker and Emily Dickinson. I only knew Walker, Angelou and Lorraine Hansberry because of my mother, who “ate” books my entire childhood. In 11th grade my life would change when my drama coach brought Ntozake’s play “For Colored Girls” into the classroom. I was an honors English student, mastering Sonnets and Iambic Pentameter, and devouring Frost, Eliot and Shakespeare.
I didn’t realize the deep cultural politics and institutionalized racism of the education system until I became a more recognized poet and writer. When I began to write my own work, I did what Dickinson or Eliot did, I pulled from my experiences, my environment, my dreams. Eliot pulled words from his wife’s mouth. She had an interesting mouth, so why not?
I went to catholic private schools, spent four years at public high schools, and did undergraduate work at Michigan State University and 
Wayne State University. I find it strange that Willett’s book blatantly implies that The Black Arts Movement was anti-academic. This is the furthest from the truth. Dudley Randall? Larry Neal? Leroi Jones? Don L. Lee? Sonia Sanchez? They fought against the indoctrinating power of institutionalized racism. They are/were teachers, scholars, and institution builders.
They fought against segregated classrooms. They were against segregated curriculums, which is exactly what students are still offered today. Hence, we continue to graduate a bunch of Masters of Nothing who are proficient and well versed in only a glimpse of the vast writing in American Literature.
Willett examines race and the politics of an art form with no historical references of how our (our meaning writers of color) work evolved. No mention on the influence of dislocation and how that affects language and the people who speak and write in it.
She argues that “black poets” often use their “authentic” race experience to influence or entertain white liberal guilt. This accretion is racist at its core. When I began writing, I was a young nationalist thinker. I was student organizer. My work was and has never been “art for arts sake.” I wrote from my heart, but I also knew the importance of studying the craft. What place to write from first, if not the mirror?
You cannot criticize poets of color, Native, Asian, African, American, Indian, Chicano or otherwise, for writing about their particular experience. It’s the same as criticizing Jordan for taking over the NBA in his prime. It seems some of the slam culture committee looks at us as a coup of sorts! Black poets conspiring and writing poems to take over an art form that claims a humble beginning in Chicago by a blue-collar construction worker and poet, Marc Smith. ???
The author generalizes black poets, even those who are well versed in craft, and then gets permission to use their own work to make her case. Wow!
If we “use” our authentic experience to get higher scores at slams, then Willett uses her own authentic white privilege to get her book deal and validation for her ideas from a University Press. This is very difficult for a young writer or poet of color with strong opinion to accomplish. What is the difference?
The book notes that black poets have concurrently won slams. Well, who was the first Nuyorican Poets Slam Champion? My longtime associate and amazing writer, Paul Beatty. A six foot tall black man who is a now an incredible novelist.
What I really want to know is what exactly is the role of poetry and why doesn’t Willett see black poets, slamming or otherwise as a relevant voice in the spectrum of human experience?
When I write about my life, about my skin, my bones, being a girl, and how the world sees me and me it, that isn’t because I’m trying to pacify a white liberal audience. It’s my story. I’m a writer and I’m just as relevant as Dickinson or Whitman who wrote about his perspective on life and nature in the monumental work, “Leaves of Grass.”
And why can’t those Canon writers be my models? The same way Walker and Shange are models for my work, I, like many other writers of color, have studied the inclusive Canon.
Witllett doesn’t mention me, nor does Dana Gioia, who wrote an incredibly interesting book, Disappearing Ink. I did not come from “out of nowhere.” Where is asha bandele, Willie Perdomo, London’s Malika B, Tony Medina, Samir Bashir, Sandra Cisneros? Where are the black poets who write books, and have a balance of performance, activism and literature?
When Willett is tearing into Def Poetry Jam, she notes that some “icon” poets made appearances on the show. She uses quotes on the word “icons.” Are Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka, Haki Madhubuti and The Last Poets icons in quotes??!! Two of the founders of The Blacks Arts Movement?! A movement, which celebrates some of our genius, and the struggle for voice and freedom in our own country.
Willett also makes reference to Hip Hop and misogyny, and accuses Amiri Baraka of being anti-Semitic. So, the “white” slam community isn’t misogynistic and male dominated. Are you serious? My first experience with a white boy network in the form of poetry was in Portland Oregon in 1996. My first and last slam. Highlights of that 
moment in time, was meeting and hearing Patricia Smith perform for the first time. She was and still is an amazing writer. Still, Willett finds a way to strategically box in this talented writers work, by comparing her work to fellow Slam poet Taylor Mali. Mali attempted a “character” driven piece that didn’t come off as strong (he was portraying a racist) and Willett argues it’s because people actually believed it could be him. Smith is a master of this form of performance. Could it be that her writing and performance was stronger?
The idea of writing to appease a white audience is quite hilarious to me. I know Taylor Mali. I did a few performances with him after the Slam experience, and I found him funny and cooler outside of Portland. In Portland, however, he reminded me of the network. Of why I didn’t feel like this genre of performance was meant for me. I remember being in that beautiful theater in Portland and performing a strong political piece called “box this” about the multi-cultural category on the census forms. Contrary to what Somers-Willett’s writes, my work usually makes people, sometimes my “own,” uncomfortable. An Asian writer friend told me afterward, a European woman in the audience asked him, (referring to me) “why does sound like that.” She wanted to know why I was so angry.
My unapologetic political poems scored quite low at The National Slam of 1996. They weren’t even highlighted in the documentary in Paul Devlin and Tom Poole’s film, Slamnation! Slamnation! helped to shape me in one of the icons of the 90’s Slam Scene, when I was a reluctant slammer and completely unhappy with my very limited voice in the film. Only my poems, “How can you fuck without kissing,” (I actually read this one at the slam), and the second poem, “black girl juice,” were referenced in a clip from my historical win on the Apollo Stage in 1995. Though political and celebratory of woman in their own right, the poems have obvious sexual themes. “Box this and “The Words Don’t Fit in My Mouth” were not shown at all.
I’ve made a living on the campuses in the classrooms of an academic world that fights to keep women and writers of color out of the Canon. They will use me to learn from, even in some instances, teach my work and the work of my peers, but the underlying reason is usually that they think I’m “hip.” I examined the way Black Student Unions or Women’s Departments would promote my readings on campus with little or no support from the English Departments. I struggled with young students or advisors, for that matter, labeling me a “Hip Hop Poet, Spoken Word Artist (something I’ve never called myself), or dancing money nigga poet who jumps wrote while reading poems in black face.”
I remember one English professor asking me, “what happened to the Hip Hop?” after one of my readings. I answered, “You didn’t pay for the band!” (Smile). He meant well, and we had an interesting dinner conversation that gave him more perspective on my work later.
I know I’ve changed the perspective of English and Creative Writing students with limited time and space in someone else’s classroom and in prison programs. I know I’ve taught teachers how to teach. I’ve seen young writers transform, and watched them become frustrated when I left, realizing how much they aren’t taught inside the segregated curriculums of our education system.
We have a long way to go with definition and this beautiful form of writing called poetry. I founded my press in 1997 so that they couldn’t write all of us off. So, that our work could be studied and deconstructed. So that academic writers couldn’t turn their nose down to our work and literary journals would actually consider our books for review.
I understand that I’m relevant and so are so many writers of my generation beyond race or gender. My writing is rooted in craft and balanced by magic, and no one can compete or score that personal truth. Still, in the spirit of Slam, and the importance of tradition, I’ll happily give myself a row of sharpie-marker 10’s, with smiley faces.
Slam This!
More to Come..
xo,
jessica Care moore
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Thank you so much for writing this.
Nice essay.
First off, anyone who makes note of Paul Beatty gets points in my book. I think he’s a national treasure. That new novel of his, Slumberland, wow. But back to the point.
I have a lot of problems with the slam scene. I tried to change what I didn’t like, realized the problem was with me, not everyone else, and I walked away from it.
But I still get defensive when someone from the outside makes comments. I consider Somers-Willett an outsider. I could be wrong there.
My poetry friend of 20 years, A.Razor, used to tell me “never hate a hustle,” both back when we were fucking around with some criminal shit and now that we are both learning to live a righteous life.
This is so much easier to write than to do, but don’t let it bother you.
I think you have a book in you about the same subject. This essay is almost a book proposal. You have the passion, the background, and the smarts to pull it off. Nothing makes for a critical book like a strong opinion and you have that.
Something to consider?
bucky
oakland, CA
For the record: Susan Somers-Willett has a long and extensive history in the slam scene, mostly Texas and perhaps SW (NM? AZ?), both as poet and administrator, if I am not mistaken. She grew up with us, is not an “outsider.” She has, however, pursued her education past any slam history– akin to Jessica, above, continuously expanding her horizons and I am sure open to any discussions regarding her poetic passions. I cannot speak for her… I just know she personally ain’t the stuff of nightmares…track her down and have a chat…
I haven’t read Susan’s book, so can’t say anything pertaining to it specifically. The above essay relates a very important POV though. One that needs to be heard.
What I do know is that Susan has written some beautiful poetry though and is working on a stunning documentary called the Women of Troy which pairs black and white photographic portraits of women in Troy, NY, women who have been hit by devastating economic struggle, with her poetry about the area. It is a project of great merit.
thank you Jessica
thank you for everything
I think this is an interesting and important conversation, but I do not think of Somers-Willet as an outsider. She has been on slam teams and worked as an organizer for many years. I need to read this book before I can even begin to think of making a relevant comment.
I admire Jessica for having the bravery to voice her feelings on this issue, which is an incredibly hard debate to have with your peers.
I don’t feel JCM or SSW’s slam history is as important a debate as is so many other points made in this post.
This: “I examined the way Black Student Unions or Women’s Departments would promote my readings on campus with little or no support from the English Departments.” is extremely and sadly honest and I wish more people would put that on Front Street.
Also, the introduction to Susan’s book is here, for those who want to get a better feel:
http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailLookInside.do?id=322627
Thank you to Ed Garnes for posting this. And thank you to Patricia Smith for putting some fire
under me to respond!!
The Facebook response has been enormous, as has this new space online.
I want to say that i don’t consider Susan an outsider at all. She is writing from her experience and perspective. I distanced myself from slam culture early, because i knew this opinion was a popular one, and i didn’t want to be around the energy of it. Since the essay i’ve spoken to many great “slam” poets who told me things were the same and different. I slammed in 1996. I pray the scene has grown, become more diverse and i’m happy to see poets of color and women winning!!
I’ve been working to write about the issues of race and gender as is relates to my personal lifework as a poet, performer and activist this year. I’m excited about my new book and also about other books who will document us from an intellectual/literary perspective. I’m working with a professor on creating an academic reader, that includes the poets from my press and other poets of my generation often left out the standard collections of Norton Anthologies.
The heartbreak that happened for me with this book, is that it was published without any debate. Not enough poets of color of my generation have not written or deconstructed their own stories/lives/positions in this way.
We will be written off if we don’t write books. We cannot just rely on being spoken word artists and performers. We need scholars in our field. We need balance to her position.
I will write more..and i appreciate you all for responding.
Much Love,
jcm
The idea that “You cannot criticize poets of color, Native, Asian, African, American, Indian, Chicano or otherwise, for writing about their particular experience” when discussing anything about the “slam culture” is absolutely inane to me. Criticism from people who probably don’t know what they’re talking about is the foundation of slam. While you are never guaranteed a certain number of points, the ego boost of an audience member connecting with your work, or the satisfaction of changing someone’s mind about a political event, you can be absolutely sure that people in the audience are going to criticize your work, favorably or un. You opened yourself up to that the first time you stepped on stage and asked to be judged. We all did.
I’m a gay poet who often, not always, but certainly often, references my sexuality in my work, even if it’s just by doing a love poem and using the pronoun “him”. I’m not pimping my minority for points. But there are a lot of poets out there who do. Some aren’t even gay. Just as there are some black poets who pimp their minority for points. Just as there are some non-black poets who do “persona work” or experiences about their black friends in order to try and appeal to liberal white guilt. It happens. Just because you, personally, don’t believe that you do it, doesn’t mean it’s not out there.
As for your assertion that “The smartest thing Willett did with this collection, was write around my history in the world of poetry. I find it interesting that a self proclaimed, ‘slam scholar’ would not put the fact that I was the lone feminine voice of the quite popular Nuyorican Poetry Slam Team of 1996, into any proper context or analysis.” Did you stop to consider that, maybe, by that omission, she doesn’t view your work as falling into the category of “us(ing your) ‘authentic’ race experience to influence or entertain white liberal guilt.” I’m not suggesting in any way that you thank her or throw her a parade for not lumping you into that category, I’m just offering that she may not have included you because she didn’t think your work supported her argument. Or, more likely, having twenty years of national poetry slam competitors to choose from, your work wasn’t at the forefront of her mind.
I’m also confused why you’re so worried about being omitted from a book on slam, when you spend a good chunk of the beginning of this article making it absolutely clear that you don’t identify as a slam poet, and don’t wish to be identified as one.
I’m probably going to get a lot of crap for responding to this article by saying anything other than “Yes, thank you for writing this.” but I don’t think the points you make in this particular article are in anyway helpful to you or slam (and, not having read Somers-Willet’s book yet, I can not say whether her book is harmful or helpful, I can only speak on this article).
I think the subject matter, and the discussion of racism in slam is a very important topic, but I think your article presents less of the reasons you think her work is generally racist, and spends more time focusing on why you, personally, are important, and feel left out.
Speaking to the points that focus on racism in slam: I have never viewed nor heard anyone express the view that slam is a white person’s club started by Marc Smith. Marc Smith and Slam are absolutely descendants of The Dozens, you’re right. The Dozens are themselves descended from Greek tradition. Greek poetry competitions descended from theater and storytelling, two things whose foundation can not be claimed by any race, nation, or culture. Slam is born of people expressing themselves for approval, which is fundamentally human.
It is often very difficult for a writer of any particular gender, race, or sexual preference to critique a poet who isn’t in their exact same demographic without getting shit from people who claim they don’t understand their experience. Your article makes me want to read Somers-Willet’s book. A book that I probably wouldn’t have been interested in before reading the article. Mainly, because I think I would disagree on some of your interpretations. While I don’t know her very well, I’ve met Susan a few times, and can’t imagine she’d release the book you’ve described here.
I’m not saying your opinions are wrong. Opinions are never wrong. I just think something is lost in the translation of what the author wrote, and how you read it. In particular your interpretation about the Taylor Mali/Patricia Smith persona conundrum. It is absolutely more difficult for a white guy to get on stage and portray a racist white guy in a poem because anyone who doesn’t know the poet is going to think he’s speaking from his own voice. No one thinks Patricia Smith is a racist white guy. Because she is none of those things. But when Taylor takes the stage, he is clearly two of those things (white and guy), so it’s a little more difficult to distance him from the racist in his poem. I assume (again, not having read the book yet) Somers-Willet has no intention of saying Mali’s poem is superior. I don’t think anyone with enough credentials to write a book on slam would ever offer that opinion. Mali is an influential performer in the slam pantheon, sure. His teacher poems inspired a lot of people. But Patricia Smith is clearly the most important writer and performer to come through slam so far (not from slam, as she was writing well before 1986, but through slam), and “Skinhead” was one of the poems that changed the genre. I don’t remember the name of Taylor’s poem.
If you write further on this subject, and, again, I think the subject is an important one, please spend less time talking about how great you are, personally, and more time on why writing about culture is important to slam, poetry, or literature in general. Because you’re right, it is. Unfortunately, this article reads as masturbatory. You aren’t telling us why someone else’s work is racist, you’re constantly trying to convince us that you’re still relevant.
The title of your article “Literary Apartheid” references one of the two most inhuman political policies of the last century. What you’ve presented here in no way earns that sense of outrage. Save that title for an article focused on the extreme prejudice of the American Literature canon taught in schools. Putting it atop this rant is akin to me writing an article about how I felt disrespected by a venue host who asked me to reconsider calling my tour “Poetry Is Gay”, and calling that rant “Literary Proposition 8″ (which was not the other inhuman policy I referenced earlier, but I have no business invoking Appeasement or The Jewish Holocaust of the 1940s). It’s more disrespectful than provocative.
Personally, I believe there’s a universal language when it comes to crowd movement. Slam is competition and requires strategy. Learning to adapt to different social climates and ride emotional waves encourages diversity and adaptation in your writing/performance style.
Just because someone’s emotions were expressed doesn’t mean their writing and/or performance was on point. Who am I to judge? A fan, a listener, a fellow writer, a critic, an asshole – whatever. Point is, if you don’t want your work to be judged and critiqued then keep it off the stage. No one should ever be silenced, but too often criticism is considered hate or structural racism/sexism and is devalued. I believe many artists (performers especially) hide behind these labels to avoid facing the truth – they might not be that great at what they do.
Self-expression is a beautiful thing, but in the world of public performance (slam included), there’s some big, bad standards in place. I would see a “white” male dominated slam scene as a competitive challenge regardless of the structural implications. Some see it as an opportunity to cry victim and pick a fight. “Success is the best revenge” which some would oppose because it may require “compromising their artistic vision”. Again, as valid as these arguments may be, I believe they’re too often oversimplified to mask the fact that some performers just ain’t got it…
Regard every criticism you receive. Ignorant or not, there’s something to be learned or at least considered. And if you can’t take the heat, then what the heck are you doing in culinary school? Straight up.
“She claims to be about getting out the words of strong black poets, but I can’t help but notice that when you click on the “Moore Black Press” store icon, the only product that comes up is her own book.”
What? There are four other poets on the opening page, and every video feature is of Etan Thomas. In fact, I see her product far less than I see Derrick Brown’s work on his press’ site. A poet, no matter how legendary or iconic, still has to hustle.
But that’s not why I’m here.
I’m here because, once again, brown people are reading what a white person wrote differently than how white people are reading it! What the hell!?!?
wait, that’s not why I’m here either.
Honestly, the slam talk in the article isn’t as important to me as is the point Jessica makes about how the “other” voice is automatically assumed as anti-academy. (And is anyone else not blown away by the use of quotations for minority icons? Damn.)
Since Jessica’s been out of slam for almost two decades, her experiences and opinions are based more on how she’s been treated since. And I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that I’m sure she’s been treated as “the entertainment” and not respected on the same level as the other poets/writers/playwrights that she is on the bill with. I’ve only been reading at book/literary festivals for a little under a year, but I’ve paid close attention to how I am treated (fulfilling either the Hispanic or “slam poet” quota for the school) and, as I said in the interview with Jennifer L. Knox on the Best American Poetry blog (I mention it because this discussion is the main focus) I have to hustle a lot harder than anyone else on the roster. Fuck, that I have to hustle at all, at a place I’ve been invited to, is some bullshit. I’m not saying I think I’m on the same level as other literary vets, but having my book ordered when I’m invited to read and sign books at a book festival would be nice. Three out of six festivals, I’ve sold my book out of my purse to people. The books that I had to have overnighted to my hotel room. Now that’s degrading.
I said on my own page, I found several contradictions in the blog post (claiming to not be a slam poet, then taking umbrage for…not being pointed out as being a significant slam poet) but I came away from this article more proud than anything that a widely recognized poet had the guts to call out some real shit. That comes with great risk. Jessica is black all the time. She can’t get away with it.That her “blackness” or minimal slam background is most often acknowledged in an introduction than anything else she’s done in the last decade reminds me that more people need to speak up. I thanked her for reminding me of that. I thanked her for putting her neck on the line. I think Susan put hers on the line as well. But only Susan has the kind of privilege that translates her risk into courage. Jessica, on the other hand, just gets her feelings argued with.
It’s always brave to put your feelings out there, Jessica. I admire you for that. I just have some questions for you.
1. What did Somers-Willett say when you talked to her? Or did you jump straight into this essay the way a slam poet would write “An Open Letter To . . . ” poem instead of having a private conversation first? Email me if you’d like, and I’ll get you in touch with her.
2. Did you know that the term “icon poets” comes straight from “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry”? They even used the quotation marks if I remember correctly. And why wouldn’t they? It’s a religious word that in this context means “one who is the object of great attention and devotion.” Quotation marks seem appropriate when used here, regardless of the race of the poet. And weren’t ALL of the icon poets on Def Poetry Jam poets of color?
3. You object when Somers-Willett argues that black poets often use their “authentic race experience to influence or entertain white liberal guilt.” But later you write that your work is about “my life . . . my skin, my bones, being a girl, and how the world sees me,” and that it “usually makes people . . . uncomfortable.” Isn’t that exactly what Somers-Willett is saying? I’m sure it wasn’t your INTENTION to influence or entertain white guilt, but I’d be careful not to call her observation racist just because it’s observing an effect. I don’t believe she ever uses the word “pacify.” That’s your misreading of “influence and entertain.”
4. Somers-Willett’s “book deal” is the result of years of study in her doctoral program. This book is her doctoral thesis. If you had a PhD, you could get a University Press to publish your book just as “easily” as she did.
5. The poem I performed about being a skinhead was actually Patricia Smith’s poem “Skinhead.” If you didn’t realize that then you missed the whole the point of the story.
Adam,
I wasn’t going to give you the respect of a response to you, because in your first paragraph you assert that I’m somehow “insane.” But after reading and laughing out loud so much as I read this slanted response, I had to say something.
The fact that you think i have to write an essay to prove i’m relevant is a statement to your own arrogance. When a black woman writer, writes about her own perspective of her own life/work, she is masturbating?!! Really. Well, I’ll take that over rape or culture vultures in my bedroom any day. Where in my original article do i mention my greatness?!! lol Are you serious?
When a white woman writer writes about black poets, she’s intellectual. I just need attention?!
Deep.
I have no issue with criticism Adam. But at least when I do criticize a piece of writing, I actually read it. How can you truly give any real opinion about my opinion if you haven’t even read the material I’m critiquing? My essay has absolutely nothing to do with me not wanting to be critiqued on any level. You are critiqued on stage, slam or not, and especially when you write books. Often when you write books, however, they are held with a different level of power. I don’t spend so much time criticizing how people perform. I mentor and teach people how to do that. Books are a delicate issue for me. They hold weight, and often, women of color, especially, are left out of conversations that include us.
You make swiping generalizations about who “pimps” their culture, versus the poets I’m writing about, which are people who actually write about their culture! Isn’t there a difference? And who are you or anyone from another culture or race to determine when someone is “being authentic” or “pimping their culture” as opposed to simply writing about their human experience on the planet!!
The words “Pimping their minority” is riddled with a ridiculous elitist undertone. No one pimps oppression, they survive. How twisted is that? And for the record, I don’t consider myself a minority. I have enough passport stamps to know that the world of women look like me. Praise poetry for that.
Adam, I’m a busy woman with a full life. As much as you may think I was just looking for my “shout out” in Susan’s book, that is the furthest thing from the truth. I was looking for balance, and it’s just not there. You clearly don’t know me or my work, which is just fine. I’m the opposite of masturbation when it comes to my life/work. I’m more of an “orgy” girl. I like to enter with a group. I write in the tradition of writers like Tony Medina, asha bandele, ras bararka, Kevin Powell, Willie Perdomo, Tracie Morris, and the list goes on.
Let me just say something very real to you. Most of the black poets I know don’t ever, have never, and will never write a poem to make any white liberal audience comfortable or sell a burger for that matter. We are not all BlACK FACED COONS hoping for a “10” at a slam.
We write and read wherever we can or could. I read at hair shows, hip hop clubs, bookstores, gas stations, movie theaters, birthday parties, wherever. We have to fight for places for our voices, our perspective, and then when we get it, and start “dominating”, our work is blown off as “identity” poetry??! Susan refers to black poets and the “lower class” in the same breath consistently throughout the book. Every black poet reps Hip Hop? Really? We all from the hood? The projects?? And if we are from those places, if we write about it, then we are using our experience to get high scores from a “white liberal audience.”
Okay, now that is insanity.
Again, my essay was in defense of my peers Adam, not me. I’m sorry you don’t’ see that. I guess I could’ve just brushed the book off, and fell disconnected from the text. I’ve made a living as a poet, writer and performance artist since 1995. I guess I could just be comfortable with my own success and not worry about what is being written about poets that I find valuable. But, THAT would be masturbation, maybe? I’m smart enough to know that histories are all connected. Saul Williams is my peer and the first poet I ever published. Susan writes with very or little understanding for our historical literary tradition and lumps some great poets into swiping, generalized categories. This affects me in a personal and professional way. Something “being out there” and something being the general truth are not the same thing. Find that group of black poets that will stand on what she writes. Where are they?!! It’s so interesting how in 2010 academics still continue to green light other people’s outsider perspectives of who we are, instead of speaking to the source.
For clarity, Literary Apartheid is the title of my next book, and the essay is an excerpt from that. I find it interesting that you don’t see Susan’s book as a part of the same literary canon that, of course, we should write about Adam, and that’s exactly what I am doing here?!! Because you’ve met Susan and she is nice (I’m sure she is), doesn’t mean she isn’t speaking from a white skinned privileged place.
Why do you think we had to start Harlem River Press, Lotus Press, Broadside Press and dozens of other publishing house Adam? Because we wanted the extra work? Who gets published and why is still a reality!
I have received hundreds of testimonies from other writers of colors who have been treated the same in academic settings. English Departments putting up their nose, and not giving funding or support for a very popular black poet or writer on campus.
My story is the story of many. I didn’t write this to get a bunch of hugs via emails. I wrote this because of why I write at all. Because it’s an issue of survival and I won’t allow my work or the work of so many great poets of my generation be deconstructed in this insulting way inside a linear bubble of a a world called Slam.
Peace,
JCM
Go jessica! I loved this!
I keep going back and forth on this. On one hand, I feel that Jessica’s original essay could have used a tweaking on the technical side, with more quotes and analysis for those of us who haven’t picked up the book yet. Because, and on the other hand, I am also hypersensitive to the exact kind of erasure and re-defining that Jessica is decrying here. Either way, it’s become quite obvious to me that the real valid piece of discussion here is the methods by which artists like Jessica are portrayed, disrespected, reimagined, and disappeared. Not so much the slam. And as a Latino writer myself (within, I’m sure, some of Jessica’s spheres of literary influences), I can surely respect that.
Well, Ms. Moore. If there’s a book in you, I’ll be picking that up too.
“Fuck, that I have to hustle at all, at a place I’ve been invited to, is some bullshit.” – Entitled are we?
“I’m not pimping my minority for points. But there are a lot of poets out there who do” – that’s some bold shit. Accordingly, a mockery is made of certain struggles when they’re used to defend shotty writing/performing. Just because your experience is real, doesn’t mean your style ain’t wack…
You should be hustling ’til the day you expire. The day you stop is the day you retire.
Just so it’s clear what I’m responding to in my next comment, this was Jessica Care Moore’s response to me:
Adam,
I wasn’t going to give you the respect of a response to you, because in your first paragraph you assert that I’m somehow “insane.” But after reading and laughing out loud so much as I read this slanted response, I had to say something.
The fact that you think i have to write an essay to prove i’m relevant is a statement to your own arrogance. When a black woman writer, writes about her own perspective of her own life/work, she is masturbating?!! Really. Well, I’ll take that over rape or culture vultures in my bedroom any day. Where in my original article do i mention my greatness?!! lol Are you serious?
When a white woman writer writes about black poets, she’s intellectual. I just need attention?!
Deep.
I have no issue with criticism Adam. But at least when I do criticize a piece of writing, I actually read it. How can you truly give any real opinion about my opinion if you haven’t even read the material I’m critiquing? My essay has absolutely nothing to do with me not wanting to be critiqued on any level. You are critiqued on stage, slam or not, and especially when you write books. Often when you write books, however, they are held with a different level of power. I don’t spend so much time criticizing how people perform. I mentor and teach people how to do that. Books are a delicate issue for me. They hold weight, and often, women of color, especially, are left out of conversations that include us.
You make swiping generalizations about who “pimps” their culture, versus the poets I’m writing about, which are people who actually write about their culture! Isn’t there a difference? And who are you or anyone from another culture or race to determine when someone is “being authentic” or “pimping their culture” as opposed to simply writing about their human experience on the planet!!
The words “Pimping their minority” is riddled with a ridiculous elitist undertone. No one pimps oppression, they survive. How twisted is that? And for the record, I don’t consider myself a minority. I have enough passport stamps to know that the world of women look like me. Praise poetry for that.
Adam, I’m a busy woman with a full life. As much as you may think I was just looking for my “shout out” in Susan’s book, that is the furthest thing from the truth. I was looking for balance, and it’s just not there. You clearly don’t know me or my work, which is just fine. I’m the opposite of masturbation when it comes to my life/work. I’m more of an “orgy” girl. I like to enter with a group. I write in the tradition of writers like Tony Medina, asha bandele, ras bararka, Kevin Powell, Willie Perdomo, Tracie Morris, Kevin Young, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Mitchell L.H. Douglas and the list goes on.
Let me just say something very real to you. Most of the black poets I know don’t ever, have never, and will never write a poem to make any white liberal audience comfortable or sell a burger for that matter. We are not all BlACK FACED COONS hoping for a “10” at a slam.
We write and read wherever we can or could. I read at hair shows, hip hop clubs, bookstores, gas stations, movie theaters, birthday parties, wherever. We have to fight for places for our voices, our perspective, and then when we get it, and start “dominating”, our work is blown off as “identity” poetry??! Susan refers to black poets and the “lower class” in the same breath consistently throughout the book. Every black poet reps Hip Hop? Really? We all from the hood? The projects?? And if we are from those places, if we write about it, then we are using our experience to get high scores from a “white liberal audience.”
Okay, now that is insanity.
Again, my essay was in defense of my peers Adam, not me. I’m sorry you don’t’ see that. I guess I could’ve just brushed the book off, and fell disconnected from the text. I’ve made a living as a poet, writer and performance artist since 1995. I guess I could just be comfortable with my own success and not worry about what is being written about poets that I find valuable. But, THAT would be masturbation, maybe? I’m smart enough to know that histories are all connected. Saul Williams is my peer and the first poet I ever published. Susan writes with very or little understanding for our historical literary tradition and lumps some great poets into swiping, generalized categories. This affects me in a personal and professional way. Something “being out there” and something being the general truth are not the same thing. Find that group of black poets that will stand on what she writes. Where are they?!! It’s so interesting how in 2010 academics still continue to green light other people’s outsider perspectives of who we are, instead of speaking to the source.
For clarity, Literary Apartheid is the title of my next book, and the essay is an excerpt from that. I find it interesting that you don’t see Susan’s book as a part of the same literary canon that, of course, we should write about Adam, and that’s exactly what I am doing here?!! Because you’ve met Susan and she is nice (I’m sure she is), doesn’t mean she isn’t speaking from a white skinned privileged place.
Why do you think we had to start Harlem River Press, Lotus Press, Broadside Press and dozens of other publishing houses Adam? Because we wanted the extra work? Who gets published and why is still a reality!
I have received hundreds of testimonies from other writers of colors who have been treated the same in academic settings. English Departments putting up their nose, and not giving funding or support for a very popular black poet or writer on campus.
My story is the story of many. I didn’t write this to get a bunch of hugs via emails. I wrote this because of why I write at all. Because it’s an issue of survival and I won’t allow my work or the work of so many great poets of my generation be deconstructed in this insulting way inside a linear bubble of a a world called Slam.
Peace,
JCM
1.) I don’t think you have to write an essay to prove you’re relevant. My point is that your essay speaks over and over again about your relevance. What I’ve said, pretty clearly, is that your focus on your personal relevance detracts from your comments on Somers-Willet’s book. You’ve muddled your intent in this article. As for where you mention it? “The smartest thing Willett did with this collection, was write around my history in the world of poetry. I find it interesting that a self proclaimed, “slam scholar” would not put the fact that I was the lone feminine voice of the quite popular Nuyorican Poetry Slam Team of 1996″. You later discuss, at length, your not being included enough in SlamNation for your liking. You even wrap up your article with “I understand that I’m relevant and so are so many writers of my generation beyond race or gender. My writing is rooted in craft and balanced by magic, and no one can compete or score that personal truth. Still, in the spirit of Slam, and the importance of tradition, I’ll happily give myself a row of sharpie-marker 10’s, with smiley faces.”
2.) The only generalizations I make anywhere in my comment is “But there are a lot of poets out there who do. Some aren’t even gay. Just as there are some black poets who pimp their minority for points. Just as there are some non-black poets who do “persona work” or experiences about their black friends in order to try and appeal to liberal white guilt. It happens. Just because you, personally, don’t believe that you do it, doesn’t mean it’s not out there.” Every other comment made in this article is a very specific response to you. It is not my opinion on any sort of slam culture, any sort of ethnic group, any sort of gender, it is about the article you presented here. I’m pretty clear on that.
3.) I’m criticizing your article, not her book. So your comment about me not reading the subject matter that I’m talking about is way off the mark.
4.) “Pimping minority” is a phrase I’ve heard used several times. I first heard it from a poet at The Lizard Lounge who goes by Rejoyce, who used it to describe how I was using my sexuality to win favor with judges. If you find that elitist, take it up with her.
5.) Nowhere do I call anyone’s work unauthentic. NOWHERE. I NEVER said it anywhere. Much like I never hinted that your article’s failing had anything to do with your race. Nor did I mention hip-hop anywhere in my comment. Go back and read it, and please tell me where I mentioned hip-hop. I also, for the record, never called you insane, I called a statement you made “inane”. It was not a typo. I never once questioned your sanity. I am now questioning your reading comprehension skills. And just to be clear, I am not questioning your skills because of your gender, your race, or your life experience. I am questioning it because both your response to Somers-Willet’s book (which I’ve now had the opportunity to see portions of), and your response to me indicate that your perception of what people are saying versus what they actually say are incredibly skewed. I’d like to think that this is because you’re misinterpreting, and not that you’re deliberately misrepresenting people’s words.
6.) The end of your response to me, and the middle chunk of your article, where you focus on the racially unjust literary canon are what should be at the heart of this discussion. But they are hindered by your complete misreadings of people’s words. Your take on why “Icons” was in quotes was off-base, and out of context. It was in quotes because she was discussing the “Icons” section of Russell Simmon’s Def Jam. This is just one example of you claiming racial prejudice because you misread the source material.
Please, if you’re going to respond to this, try to actually respond to the specifics of what I say, instead of throwing terms like “BlACK FACED COONS” at me. I am not writing for/about privilege here. I am not writing because I disagree with your assumption that there’s a lot of racism in slam and in the literary community. I am writing because this article on this page, and your response to me do a great disservice to the important argument you’re trying to make.
Susan would like to have a dialogue with you. She says you have missed her central thesis, which is that the way audiences respond to poets of color often “ghettoizes” them against their will. She asked me to invite you to email her a few direct questions. She would like to do the same. Her email is: susan@susansw.com.
@Adam. I’m going to just agree to completely disagree for the most part with you and keep it moving.
After you’ve actually read the book, maybe we can have a real conversation.
Peace,
jcm
Hi Taylor,
I’m happy the conversation is being had, that’s for sure. Thank You. I want to address your questions
as best i can and thanks for Susan’s info. I don’t know her personally, and i want it to be clear that i would have written this essay and was working on it before i read her book. I was interested in the book because i teach poetry on the high school and college level when i’m not performing.
1. I did reach out to her publishing house online. I didn’t get any response. I left all my contact information. That said, this wasn’t just a personal attack on her. I don’t know her. It was like any book i would pick up and read and have an opinion about. I’d never even heard of her before i was told to pick up a copy from a colleague in Missouri. So, no it wasn’t an open letter to her…and i realize that this is a small community..like a chess team…but i didn’t look at it that way. I was offended by the text. Still, I don’t feel i have to call every author that offends me and speak to them directly. I would be making so many calls daily!! I thought putting the energy toward writing a response was healthier and not as emotional. I guess not!!
2. I know that terms and definitions are often used in one community one way, and not in another. The literal definition might seem strange to to some to use in this context, but for many young black writers, Sonia Sanchez, Lucille Clifton, Gil Scott Heron, The Last Poets, are icons, “one who is the object of great attention and devotion,” but not necessarily in a religious way. I wonder if we were speaking of Keats or Whitman or Eliot, would icon work without quotes. Even if not, they certainly have been deified by the American Canon, wouldn’t you agree? I’m not sure why you mention the race of DPJ icons? I don’t produce the show.
3.Taylor, honestly, i believe her observation is off center. If she writes about the women of Troy or women in general write about women, no one should ever criticize them for that, no matter what race, of trying to appease any audience. Women should write about women because who better to do it?! I’m not saying that my experience isn’t authentic, i’m saying it’s not why i write. It’s what i have to write. You write about being a teacher, because you’ve been a teacher. That makes sense. We pull from our experiences, and i wouldn’t criticize any writer for doing just that. It’s what makes us unique and wonderfully human. I don’t think poets of colors are being humanized enough in this text. It’s difficult to misread the point of the book, even if i didn’t memorize every word. Even “influence or entertain” bothers many black and latino poets. I’m just from a different school of thought, perhaps.
4. Did you run an educational background check on me??!!! When I’m Dr. Moore I’m calling you, and i’m working on it. (smile) I know it’s her thesis Taylor. But i would take caution with saying that every PhD gets published by a University Press, and especially “easily.” I know many brilliant woman of color who’s thesis will never get published. I know women who have stress related health issues working toward Doctoral Degrees from institutions or from prof’s that don’t have an understanding or any belief in their work.
5. I didn’t focus much on which poem you performed, (though i did understand you were doing the same poem she did, and i guess it didn’t come off the same), but more about the comparison. The reality is that poem will never have the same weight not coming out of Patricia Smith’s mouth and living inside her body. There is nothing we can do about this. We look different and i think that’s okay. People are going to look at us, judge us through whatever lens they feel like using and bring all their biases with them. Still, it doesn’t mean that Patricia wrote that poem to get the audience to like her. If she did, then so be it. It’s a great poem that i use in workshops all the time. But, we can’t assume that’s why she wrote it. That is all i’m really trying to say. The assumption is wrong to me.
The point of my book and this one essay, was to tell one of many personal stories that focuses on race and gender politics in relation to my work as writer, publisher, activist and poet for over 15 years. Of course, most of that time has been spent very much outside the world of slam, and i’m definitely not vying for position inside of it now!!
I appreciate your response, and have no issue with being in contact with Susan in private. The public conversation from all types of people/writers has been quite interesting, nonetheless, and i believe, necessary.
i couldn’t really get through his (ADAM STONE’S)response. after a while the words started to blurr into this ignorant blah blah blah blah blah. it was typical of the limited world view of the dominant society, if you will. the fact that he was trippin’ on the use of the word “apartheid” is proof in that pudding. my parents grew up in “apartheid”…better known as JIM CROW SOUTH…but some people refuse to acknowledge that reality as much as they suggest that it is taboo to call the israeli system of oppression thrust upon palestinian peoples APARTHEID. their narrow and ahistorical observations hinder them from seeing the real issues at hand, hoow contradictions or conflict are created by disparities between power relationships….so they get caught up in the racial argument, while we understand the race question is merely a symptom of a broader issue….thus, instead of having a productive conversation, they wanna act like apartheid (though the word was coined in south africa; afrikaans) doesn’t or hasn’t existed anywhere but south africa, and then he hits you with the jewish sympathetic propaganda. GOD FORBID I’D BE SO BOLD AS TO CALL TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE THE AFRICAN HOLOCAUST !! but if he read a little more and opened his mind, perhaps he could understand why you employed the word….but i doubt it.
this was my original response to jessica’s essay:
yeah, see…i had to re-approach cuz, my first comment didn’t quite say what i wanted to say. in the original comment i compared literature and all markets associated with it to the “visual art” world as sort of a parallel universe. it is understood that the at-large society finds comfort in classifying people, things and ideas….and in those classifications (in art/literature, philosophy and political thought) the contradictions of the at-large society are ever present. so i is no surprise to me that racist assertions like you mention here are levied against our cultural fruits and ignore the contributions of our masters and sages…and dismiss our revolutionaries. the ones that are accepted by the at-large society (and we are really talking about academia here) are taken out of their contexts and stripped of the author’s intent when taught in class.
i remember in high school, the harlem renaissance was examined for a short time. we read a zora neale hurston book and a couple of langston hughes poems…but half a century of black literature, black political thought and evolution had occured since. it was as if black folks stopped writing and thinking in the 1940′s after only being an intellectual people for the 40 something odd years since so-called emancipation! the same is true for visual art, where only about 40 years of black visual/aesthetic practice is covered in school and considered fine art while the rest is considered folk or primitive art. this is not to cast dispersions on thoreau, dickens, poe and dickerson….or for that matter da vinci, van gogh, monet or picasso ( toulouse lautrec is a personal favorite of mine) but the academic institutions where i am to learn history (which is really was all education is) is a tool of the very systems that marginalized the lives of the artists, writers, scholars, philosophers and activists that look like us (or don’t look like them)…our chidren’s teachers are educated by the same institutions. so the true meaning of our masters works and thoughts are lost in the lessons. we can only access this information from member of our family or community who at times can be a little eccentric…lol. but there is a contradiction there. isn’t the school supposed to be apart of the community?
what i call “white folks scholarship” tend to look at everything through narrow and ahistorical lenses. so when they criticize our produce or condition (usually cuz they somehow feel threatened) they make erroneous comparisons and distort reality. even their revolutionaries are hindered by their limited world view that history and the world revolves around them. they guard this world view closely and have difficulty recognizing the commonality of humanity in the diversity of expression of that humanity. the art, literary and academic institutions and industry follow this world view.
when i designed your logo for moore black press, i felt like i was bestowing an amulet to a new institution setting out on its journey to serve the community we speak to through which we speak to humanity.
it has meaning, just as a black woman publishing (sharing) the fruits of our people with our community and the world meant something to me….like ida b. wells publishing out of my hometown of memphis, TN.
in fact, i watched your win on apollo months before i was to come to brooklyn, NY to go to college….and so i was honored to be a part of institution building. you stand on the tip of the spear, jess.
i don’t battle other artists with art, but sometimes you have to unsheathe your pen, brush, tongue, camera to defend…defend our community, defend art and defend truth.
gotta go do some henna designs….peace
@Rich. Thank you. And it was/is definitely a work in progress. Will be edited and fine tuned before i actually publish in book form, and yes, it’s coming. Thank you for the feedback.
I thoroughly enjoyed and agreed with much of what you wrote, Jessica, in your article. And the discussions in the comments have been riveting, to say that least. Such passion about such important issues. I miss our interactions. Look forward to the book!
Jessica I agree in whole with what you and Rachel have written. I think it was brave of and important for you to respond and put your feelings about the issue out there, an issue that affects many marginalized artists. I am (or have been) a slam poet, and a spoken word artist, and an essayist, and a brother, and a son, and a soldier and the list could go on but all of things are just polaroids of me, small pictures that could be used to create the larger portrait of who I am as a complete person. I think that’s what many people illustrate through their poetry. So someone may say something about their true race experience that is entertaining to some and invokes white liberal guilt in others and horrifies still others. Different Polaroid pictures to the different listeners but all a part of the large canvas being created. The poet may go on to say something else that educates and doesn’t entertain at all, or that angers and doesn’t educate. Poetry can most certainly run the gamut and it’s width, length and expanse from any race or culture of people can’t really be captured in a snap shot of one event I think the entire scope must be examined. You can’t critique the painting by standing close and examining one minute detail you have to take a step back and look at the whole thing. I have so many thoughts running though my mind that I may pen here today; some will have to do with your (Jessica’s) article and some may not. So here goes something.
Having performed at campuses all across the country I agree that it is usually the student organizations and not the English department that will publicize and push the on campus poetry readings of ‘slam’ or ‘spoken word artists’ (which in my estimation are titles used to get more students to come to the events. Slam sounds now and exciting to young people. Poetry Reading for a lot of young people conjures images of cats in berets reading the bible backward).
I think it’s interesting that the level of a person’s education and/or the number of times they been published serves as a barometer to measure the validity of that person’s right to tell their story. It’s curious to me. I was having a conversation with Amir Sulaiman once and we were discussing how a simile was a comparison using like or as before some decided to call it a simile; and every other literary device existed before someone gave it a nice little neat little name, boxed it up real cure for class. The fact that someone doesn’t know what you call it but can use it eloquently in no way devalues their ability to use it. I know tons of people that can tell you what a metaphor is, they even have degrees to prove they can, but they couldn’t weave you a beautiful sentence using a metaphor if their lives depended on it. I have studied poetry and writing (although my degree is in Economics) and I’ve been invited to perform at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center on several occasions with what they call academic poets. I’m always greeted warmly, then asked where I’ve been published, and when I don’t produce the correct journals or publications I’m instantly relegated to a circle of one. BUT once the mic comes on 9 times out of 10 I connect better with the audience than they do because I have spent years standing in front of people telling them my story and hearing about theirs; and though I don’t have the degrees and publishing credentials others may have I do understand how to connect with an audience and convey a message.
“What place to write from first, if not the mirror?” I think this is an incredibly important point that you make. I know that all of my writings are built on my reflection in the mirror and things reflected beyond my own image in the mirror. Today’s poets (the ones who care and take their time with the art) are in my estimation the extension of the ancient griots. Griots could keep an entire history of a tribe within the recesses of their vast and incredible memories. We as poets have collected the entire history of this nation within our writings. Where one griot would keep it all we have spread it out between us but still it’s all captured. So black people will tell their tales, Latinos will tell theirs, Asians will tell theirs, white people will tell theirs, women will tell theirs and so forth and so on… and in the end we’ll hear it all. Will I be intrigued and possibly entertained by tales outside of what I know? Probably. If I was in a room and heard a poem that spoke to something I knew nothing about in a way that still resonated deeply with me and I was asked to score it, I’d probably score it high? Is that wrong?
Interesting article and interesting responses. Cheers to you Jessica, respect to you Ed and love to you Rachel.
I am not familiar with Susan Somers-Willet’s work. I had planned to monitor this discussion as silently as I have been doing on its Facebook counterpart. Last night, however, I was troubled by one of Taylor Mali’s posts. I had planned to let it go.
This morning, I continue to be uncomfortable. The post reads: “Susan would like to have a dialogue with you. She says you have missed her central thesis, which is that the way audiences respond to poets of color often “ghettoizes” them against their will. She asked me to invite you to email her a few direct questions. She would like to do the same. Her email is: susan@susansw.com.”
If Susan wants to have a dialogue with jessica, why doesn’t she reach out to jessica directly? Once again, I am not familiar with Dr. Somers-Willet’s work nor am I particularly familiar with Slam culture.
I am, however, well-acquainted with practical applications of elitism. I found the “Susan would like…” post egregious. I acknowledge that that was most likely not the intent. I am NOT saying Dr. Sommers-Willet is an elitist. I am not familiar with her work. I do not know her. I am saying that the response through another party FELT elitist.
Had Dr. Somers-Willet responded to jessica privately or even publicly, “jessica I would like to have a dialogue with you. You have missed my central thesis, which is…” the whole thing would FEEL so much more appropriate.
Jessica,
I send you all my love and support from Copenhagen. You have written a very intelligent and graceful response to a book that needs the insight/feedback you have presented. When I lived in New York, I worked with Marie Brown Associates and Glen Thompson…I experienced all that you have written, and you know, when I mention those names I have, I could mention more and more importantly, the experiences entailed, but I know you know and again, great work.
Peace,
Lesley-Ann Brown
So…. Dr. Sommers-Willet is supposed to be treated with kid gloves when she’s gone and written something problematic? Her writings are supposed to be criticized in person, over the phone, in secret? And what? She’ll tearfully apologize, the book will still be out there, and another woman of color won’t be heard?
That’s total bullshit, Mr. Mali. This is intellectual discourse, and deserves to happen in public. This isn’t a personal attack, and to paint it that way is frankly racist.
Hello everyone,
I am hesitant to jump into the fray here since I think some of the comments are producing good discussion of some important issues. I have already approached Jessica directly to engage in a dialogue over e-mail myself, and I am waiting for a response.
I’m sure some folks will think I should launch my engagement with her here immediately, but I would like to discuss some issues with her personally first before talking publicly in this forum. I also want to respect this as her space, listen to her and all of you, and by talking to her privately before publicly, I hope we can each discover that we have more common ground than arguments between us.
For the record, I did not ask Taylor to post my contact information or relate my feelings about Jessica’s readings of my work. He took that upon himself.
I have, recently, and very publicly said that Taylor’s work sometimes comes across as very privileged. And I am in no way recanting that. I fully agree with Rhonda Welsh’s comment that any request for a dialog should have been started by Susan or Jessica. Anything else does come across as elitist, even if it wasn’t intended as such.
That said, Katie’s comment is way off-base. No one has asked for Somers-Willet’s work to be treated with kid gloves. Not Taylor, not Susan, not anyone in this discussion. I think that some of the conclusions people have drawn are very much incorrect. That doesn’t mean the work is beyond criticism. If anything, a book on this kind of subject is designed to be criticized and discussed. No one has suggested otherwise. If I have missed where someone said her work is beyond reproach, please point out to me where that was, and I’ll apologize. But these comments about how people want to silence Jessica are absurd. No one has said that. No one has inferred that.
There are a lot of people putting a lot of words in other peoples’ mouths. And I’ll own that I have done the same. I may be as guilty of misinterpreting Moore’s article as I feel Moore is guilty of misreading parts of Somers-Willet’s book(which I’ve now read a good chunk of, but not yet all). I still see a lot of self focus in this article. And while I think talking about her education experience is vital and important to her discussion of the racism of the literary canon, I think talking about Willet ignoring her in the text, and her talking about how she was cut out of SlamNation come across as self-serving. It would serve the article better if she talked how anyone else was misrepresented in the book and film. MuMs da Schemer, Saul Williams, Sou Macmillan, Patricia Smith. It is very difficult to write an article or book mentioning how you, personally, feel slighted by an omission, without coming across as self-serving. Based on Moore’s comments to me, she didn’t intend it to come across that way. But that’s how it read to me.
While Aaqil Ka is certainly free to label my comment as “ignorant blah blah”, I do find it incredibly hypocritical that so many people who are applauding how willing Jessica is to take Susan to task for expressing her views, decry racism and privilege when someone applies the same technique to Julie’s article. That’s some serious double standard bullshit.
Also since when are gay people part of dominant society? Did I miss another meeting?
Thank you Dr. Somers-Willet for your response.
“While Aaqil Ka is certainly free to label my comment as “ignorant blah blah”, I do find it incredibly hypocritical that so many people who are applauding how willing Jessica is to take Susan to task for expressing her views, decry racism and privilege when someone applies the same technique to Julie’s article. That’s some serious double standard bullshit.” – Word up! It’s discrimination. I’ve found some members of the activist community reason that it’s justified when an oppressed group exercises it and that the dominant society just doesn’t understand the self-expression. Unfortunately, this rhetoric isn’t always used appropriately and ends up making light of some very serious issues in defense of some unworthy people. And by “unworthy” I mean that on several occasions I’ve witnessed fights picked by “victims” based on discriminations and stereotypes of innocent parties. If you continually point your finger at people and call them assholes then don’t be surprised by the energy that comes along with that. Teaching people is one thing, but casting stones at those who want to be part of the solution is another. Generalizations are a motherfucker…
“Also since when are gay people part of dominant society? Did I miss another meeting?” – I believe this was referencing your privilege as a white male. Being conscious of all different kinds of privilege is important, but not always as relevant as some would like to argue. Statistical data can state who suffers more frequently, but it can’t determine whose experiences were more traumatic on an individual level. Arguably, someone holds emotional privilege over someone else who hasn’t experienced as much emotional pain, but there’s no measurement for this. That’s why using systemic issues to classify privilege without first evaluating personal experience is absurd.
We are all born with *UNIQUE* skills and talents. We are not all blessed with the necessary tools to properly engage a crowd just as we are not all blessed with the necessary tools to sing in soprano. There’s something organic and natural about being a great orator that extends far beyond colour/gender/sexual orientation lines. Are you surprised that some academics don’t understand this? If someone’s convinced that they’re part of the revolution then convincing them that they’re subpar writers/performers may prove to be a task…
Sorry, but some people just ain’t got what it takes. And if anyone takes “some people” out of context… they need to leave me alone, sign up for a recreational sports team and start interacting with more human beings on an individual level. Shit.