SOLSC5: Black Lives Matter on the Street Corner

From June into November 2020 in my upper Manhattan neighborhood of Morningside Heights, there was a daily demonstration, prompted by the killing of George Floyd, to support Black lives. Anywhere from 12 to 25 people were at the corners of 111th and Broadway, with handmade or custom designed signs — “HONK IF YOU SUPPORT BLACK LIVES,” “RACISM IS A PANDEMIC TOO,” etc. — and so many appreciative honks from passing cars, trucks, and buses that some with small children needing to be put to sleep in buildings overlooking our corner complained.

            After the election, on the day Biden was declared the winner, there was a spontaneous gathering of a couple hundred people at the intersection where we had stood. But the daily demonstrators dissipated. However, a few of us knew the issue of Black lives and police accountability persisted, so we have continued to stand at our corner, for 15 minutes every Saturday, for the past almost year and a half. That’s where I was today, with three other women — there’ve been as many as nine, as few as two. The wind felt arctic, though the air temperature was over 40.

            We get honks, and sometimes disparaging comments from passersby. The latter are why we have to be out there.

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I’m participating in the 15th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers. This is day 5 of the 31-day challenge.  It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to slice about.  Join in!

 

 

May Golden Shovel #15.1

source: Unearthing the Roots of Black Rebellion

 

It should not be so difficult, unearthing

America’s past and present in black and white. The

Facts exist today, tomorrow, yesterday, their roots

Not entombed in an ancient past. The face of

Truth is not Medusa’s. How long will it take for Black

Lives to remain real for whites when Blacks are not in rebellion?

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I’m continuing to use Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.

 

30/30: Golden Shovel poem #21

source: A Year of Protest and Reform. What Now for Racial Justice?

 

A moment when people waited nervously, a

Moment when the worst was expected after a year

Of worldwide demonstrations, of

Protests to support Black lives, to protest

Against white supremacy and

A history white people do not know how to reform.

What truth is hard to accept, what

Form of reconciliation is now

Available to those who do not know for

What they must apologize, who believe racial

Connection requires a color-blinded justice?

 

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Here is how I am using Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel poem format, as proposed by the Sunday New York Times "At Home" section, for 30 Poems in 30 Days during National Poetry Month.

 

Take a newspaper headline that attracts you.

Use each word in the line as the end word for each line in your poem.

Keep the end words in order.

Describe the story that the headline is for.

The poem does not have to be about the same subject as the headline that creates the end words.