Last year as the Black Lives Matter protests strengthened, I read the following poem by Georgia poet and writer, Joiya Morrison-Efemini. I’m grateful she granted permission to re-post here.
EDUCATION
Social media abounds with the posts
by my white
friends
who say
they are listening
and learning
Now.
The first Black people
were shackled
to this country in
1619
Virginia
Four hundred and one years
and
hundreds of thousands
of Black bodies
strung up on trees
shot
asphyxiated
brutalized
split apart
violated
maimed
demoralized
Now.
And with a straight face, you ask me
to teach you.
Teach you what, exactly?
I am a Black woman.
but
how can I speak for all
Black
women?
people?
Just as nuanced as you are,
WE ARE
You do not see
US
Millions of white images
written
heroically
into books
and uplifting
movie scripts
smiling
on television commercials
being productive
in news
clips
My perception of white people
comes from 43 years
of interaction and relationship
with innumerable white people.
So I do not have a perception of
white people.
I can say, “Some white people…”
most
of the time
the words that follow
could apply to any person
of any race.
When God made me,
He said I was good
just like you,
and then He obliterated
the mold
even the most
honest
vulnerable
conversations with
only me
will not give you the education
you say you crave
I have seen your bookshelves
stocked with cookbooks,
parenting books,
books on Christianity,
bestselling novels
about the Jewish holocaust
and the Great Depression,
about Women’s Suffrage
all of your interests
standing in line,
proud
and useful
Enlightenment into
the African experience
here in America
does not deserve your
time
money
or
prideful display.
You prefer it
secretly
over a lunch you pay for,
spoon-fed
and
unbound
Joiya’s honesty and challenge hit me every time I read her poem. I look at my bookcases and she’s right. Among the novels, and short story and poetry collections, there are books about the Holocaust and Viet Nam, immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, books about various faith traditions, gardening, and homeschooling. Tucked in-between are novels and poetry collections by Black writers. Some of them are friends of mine and some I’ve had the great pleasure of learning from.
It’s a nice assortment of books. In Rita Dove’s collection I’m caught up in the love story of Thomas and Beulah. In Patricia Smith’s Blood Dazzler I feel the terror and helplessness of New Orleans’ Black community as they watch and wait for Hurricane Katrina and they have no place to go. I hear the sass and strength of three generations of Black women in Crystal Wilkinson’s Birds of Opulence. Yet, even taken collectively these books don’t provide the full context of the African experience in America.
While I find the fullness of Joiya’s poem powerful, the challenge comes to me in two places. The first, Teach you what, exactly? I don’t know. As I write this post at 4:00 a.m., I’m puzzling out what I’m looking for. I’m aware of the nuances Joiya mentions because of the poetry shared by my Black friends and the conversations we have. We have more in common than not. So what’s missing?
After George Floyd’s murder, hubby and I watched several specials on race. What kept coming across was this sense of a collective history that Africans in America have that seemed almost oral in nature, something innate. I want a better understanding of that history, not just the watered-down, abridged version from history classes. I think understanding history deepens current conversations and connections.
And secondly, Joiya’s final line, ‘. . .spoon-fed and unbound’. She puts the onus of learning where it belongs, on me. The lack of depth in my education isn’t from lack of interest, or from thinking I know enough. It’s from inattention to what’s missing and procrastinating when my curiosity is piqued.
Two years ago I came across the Zora Canon, a list of 100 literary works by Black women, beginning with the first novel ever written by a Black woman, Our Ng, published in 1850, to works published in 2019. The Canon is named after the novelist Zora Neale Hurston. I’d tucked the list away thinking that after I finished writing the church book, I’d start reading through the Canon.
After Joiya’s poem, I decided it was time to begin educating myself. I have no noble goal of completing the Canon this month, or even this year. But this month I’ll work on these five books in the first historical period included on the list, and add Barracoon by Ms. Zora Neale Hurston herself.
I’ll also finish Joiya’s novel, Petrified Flowers, a novel in verse. And I might try to squeeze in a book of poetry or two.
What book or books will you be reading during Black History Month?
I know that even when I finally finish the Canon the education will continue.
For an interview with Joiya Morrison-Efemini, and to read more about or purchase Petrified Flowers.
For the list of books contained on the Zora Canon
A Writer's Window 