Speaking Up: The Power of Protest Poetry

51:42

Michael Krasny

Aug 17, 2016 at

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Amiri Baraka addressing the Malcolm X Festival on May 19, 2007 in San Antonio Park, Oakland, California. (Photo: David Sasaki)

The late poet Amiri Baraka once said, “I wrote poetry ’cause I always had something to say. Always.” Baraka’s work is included in a new anthology, “Of Poetry and Protest: From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin,” alongside the verses of other poets tackling topics of racism and the killings of black Americans. We speak with the co-editor Michael Warr and other local poets about how the power of the verse has helped to inspire and inform protest movements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tdw6n1ZJCw#action=share

Guests:

Al Young, poet laureate of California in 2005

Michael Warr, deputy director, Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco; co-editor, "Of Poetry and Protest: From Emmet Till to Trayvon Martin"

Prentice Powell, Oakland-based spoken word artist

Aya de Leon, poet & director, June Jordan's Poetry for the People at UC Berkeley

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