World renown poet and author, Virginia Tech professor Nikki Giovanni delivers the words that we all feel.
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57 Comments
I had Nikki for two poetry classes at Tech. She is a wonderful woman.
The times when words fail us is when we need the poet most.
I liked most of her speech. I didn’t like the parts where she felt it necessary to infuse her lefty politics into a heart-felt tribute. Comparing this to elephants dying is disrespectful and unnecessary.
Back in the day, she was my professor for African-American Lit at VT. It was one of the best classes I ever took. Ditto to what Jack said; she is one of the finest people you will ever meet.
As a Hokie, I found her poem very inspiring, and judging from the the times I have had it forwarded to me by friends, family and fellow Hokies, I think many others felt the same way.
ALI G: Booyakasha, chek i’ out. I is here wif my main man, Nikki G, my bro from Staines. How is you become poet? NIKKI G: We’re communicators, it’s in our blood. A: Blood, West Side. Now sis, you, I mean, sorry you is my bro now, you is get some edumacation. You went to America, right? N: I went to Fisk. A: Tell me about how you is expelled for crack… N: It wasn’t for smoking crack… A: Wha’eve. You is still my main main, big shout out for poet Nikki G from VT.
I’m neither Black nor female, as a student and fan of Prof. Giovanni, I find this offensive and disgusting.
anon – I agree.
Anon, and vjp,
I find the video/speech/”poem” offensive and disgusting, though not as much as Nikki G’s earlier violent, racist poetry and her constant, poor choice of idols, such as Tupac Shukar. Did you like Tupac Shukar’s worship of misogyny and violence? What about Nikki Giovanni’s celebration of Tupac? She has a Tupac tattoo and has said she, like he, would rather be with the street thugs than with the ones who criticize them (I guess that latter group would include me). I would rather be with those who do not commit crimes of violence, including sexual assault, and with those who are not charlatans who belittle victims of violence by comparing them to baby elephants.
From “Poem for Black Boys”
And this poem I give is worth much more
than any nickel bag
or ten cent toy
And you will understand all too soon
That you, my children of battle, are your heroes
You must invent your own games and teach us old ones
how to play
-Nikki Giovanni
Do you know what is really “offensive”? What Cho did was offensive! For anyone to belittle Nikki Giovanni’s poem, that is offensive! To whoever “anonymous” is, don’t run and hide after making ridiculous comments.
Ms. Giovanni expresses views of the times. Unfortunately, politics are what run this world. Quit fishing for things to bitch about! School massacres, ivory poaching and African, tribal conflicts are senseless tragedies. That was the theme of her speech. If speaking on miseries means playing the “political angle”, then speak and speak well! Thank you, Ms. Giovanni
To Steve,
Ms. Giovanni wears a “Thug Life” tattoo because Tupac Shakur’s mother, Afeni, was a former Black Panther, and Tupac Shakur died a poet. He was a poet first. You can blame society, corrupt police, the welfare system, institutional racism, subpar education and crime-ridden ghettos for creating a generation of angry Tupac Shakurs.
Nikki Giovanni is an activist, poet and professor. Her civil rights history covers almost forty years, probably more than you’ve been alive. Do you know the political climate involved during the late sixities in America? The FBI was conducting illegal infiltrations and surveillance on law-biding citizens. National Guardsmen were patrolling ghettos like occupied territories. The Warren Commission expressed years later that white racism was the cause for America’s civil unrest. Blame the KKK, the police and the Federal government. When war is being declared inside your own country, calling children to arms is a natural reaction; ie. DeGaulle’s France(1968), Vietnam and Prague Spring. Read and learn your history before commenting in the future.
What comment was ridiculous? I certainly had no intention of ridiculing Ms. Giovanni. She came to VT my senior year, and I took two classes with her. I own several of her books, from one of which I pulled the quote to counter Steve’s comment.
Marcus,
Tupac Shakur died as he lived, by the sword, as a thug elevated to stardom as a rap “artist.” I am sick of the cultural relativism which has put rap on a par with real music (like jazz, blues, classical). Rap and hiphop, though understandable as cultural developments, are, IMHO, a negative force, both in the black community (where I was a teacher in the late 80s in Harlem) and in society at large. As a musician myself, I find no redeeming value in this “music.” Apart from that, Tupac, whether or not he was really a poet, was a thug with a criminal record – about that, there is no dispute. I do know my history. Like Ms. Giovanni, I have a bachelor’s in history (from an Ivy League college), but I have two (earned) graduate degrees after that as well. I understand what happened during the 60s, when I was a child and my father was a leftwing professor active in the civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam War movement. Like you, I despise corrupt police, the welfare system, institutional racism, subpar education and crime-ridden ghettos, the federal government, etc., for their role in creating an unfair society for blacks, other minorities, and the poor in general. I don’t think that is a reason to celebrate the unfortunate results – angry Tupac Shakurs. Nor should we apologize for them, or worship them, when they are spewing hate and anger which does nothing to solve the problems faced by victims of racism and oppression. Nikki Giovanni’s We Are Virginia Tech was a missed opportunity to commemorate the real heros (the professor who died trying to save his students, for example) and to mourn the dead without corrupting her poem with ill-considered references to other problems in the world, thereby belittling the massacred. I have no use for angry, violent, bad poetry, whether from Tupac Shakur, who integrated that with a winning beat and music to sell it commercially, or whether from a bad university poet or from her troubled student. Nor do I like what in Giovanni’s work can only be described as racist, unless we employ a double standard to evaluate her work because she is black. I say let’s have some intellectual honesty.
And all that education doesn’t seem to have given you to even the basic tools for understanding what Tupac Shakur represents to an enormous and important segment of America.
You can read, it seems, but you can’t comprehend.
Steve,
You should take back your Ivy League degree. Obviously, you didn’t get your money’s worth. All the book sense in the world cannot replace common sense.
What makes rap music not real music? Jazz, blues, rock, rhythm and blues and rap were born from slavery rhythms. Classical music had come from Old European history. I listen to Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin and Tchkavoisky. Your views are plain idiotic, especially with your expanded, “intellectual” background. By the way, the “bad university poet” has earned several honorary doctorates, including a couple from Ivy League schools. And, you have a bachelor’s, hmm… If you’ve only listened to a few, rap songs than comment on that. Don’t generalize a music culture altogether by only a few samplings. Have you ever heard of “Dear Momma”, “Brenda’s Got a Baby” and “Keep Your Head Up”? Nope. You were only focused on the negative songs he made. Understand this about the hip-hop industry, white moguls run it and tell the artists what to create. If you call the rappers “violent”, “degrading to women” and negative, refer their handlers with those same adjectives.
To destroy another point you’ve failed to make:
An adversial society can create angry, Tupac Shakurs. What should the answer be? In too many, tragic cases, young black males committ suicide to keep from dealing with the constant hardships. I guess that is one way to remove the “black male problem”, huh! You cannot pick and choose over a person’s life. That is what you’re doing. Mr. Shakur had no father to raise him. His mother, Afeni, was a civil rights activist, but she was also a crack addict. The fact that Tupac, later on, got his education and had the influences from the Black Panthers, Black Muslims and poets, like Nikki Giovanni, we should celebrate him for being a decent, human being. Unfortunately, he was murdered. He didn’t go out to be murdered. He went to a Tyson fight in Las Vegas. Why are you condemning him for that? You should be condemning his killer!
Once again, your opinions prove America will never get over the race issue. People, like you, in positions of authority are spreading nonsense like it’s manure fertilizer. As I said before, study your history before commenting. Thank you.
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