Poet Nikki Giovanni to speak at the August Wilson Center
Whether her prose is poetic and lyrical or bold and blunt, highly esteemed poet Nikki Giovanni oozes authenticity.
The famed poet returns to Pittsburgh for the 2018 TRUTHSayers series at the African American Cultural Center at the August Wilson Center, Downtown, Thursday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $38.75.
Nikki Giovanni, 75, rose to prominence in the Black Arts Movement. She has written more than two dozen books, three of which are New York Times bestsellers. She also is a seven-time NAACP Image award winner and an Emmy award nominee. As a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech, she teaches students how to write poetry for a young audience. “The first story that everyone hears is from their mother — not to offend any of the fathers out there,” she said in a phone interview last week. “The most important thing is that you are going to hear these stories in the womb and outside of the womb and learn language from listening to these stories. What they are doing is important because the language and stories have metaphors that teach the kids.”
In today’s world, some favorite Disney films can be more corrupting than entertaining, she said. The same is true with some Christmas carols.
“I hate ‘ Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,’” she said. “It teaches bullying. [The other reindeer] don’t do anything with Rudolph unless they need something. If I was Rudolph, I would have told Santa to kiss my red-nosed behind.”
This fictional behavior is mirrored in today’s society.
“On Friday night, all of those little white racist kids will cheer for the black athletes and turn around on Saturday and call them names,” she said. “It’s Rudolph. We need to get rid of Rudolph.”
At the TRUTHSayers event, the Fisk University honors graduate
“What is so incredibly brilliant about Black Lives Matter is that they don’t have an office or telephone numbers. Those who are hateful don’t know who to kill. In my generation, we had Martin and Bobby Seale. #MeToo is saying women matter. I am proud they have learned something from my generation. They are bold people and not afraid. They are making everyone pay attention.”
intends to discuss a variety of issues including the environment and the fear sweeping the nation.
“When did Americans become afraid?” she said. “It annoys me to see the [Confederate flags] — they lost. These people lose. These people who are scared and hate lose. Why don’t they wake up and recognize this? People with open hearts are the winners.”
Racial profiling, anti-immigration policies, police brutality and appalling hate crimes — the most recent in Squirrel Hill — are becoming commonplace on American soil.
“Is it a really good idea to grab a 14-year-old girl in a mall and beat her until her kidneys don’t work?” she said, referring to an Oct. 18 incident in which Coral Springs, Fla., police used excessive force in arresting the teenager. “I am 75 years old. Any boy, girl, male, female, black, yellow, brown — I am not afraid of a 14-year-old. One isn’t. How can you be a grown man and be proud that you are kicking someone on the street? That is cowardice. That makes me sick.”
She dislikes President Donald Trump. She believes the Appalachians have the best white people in America because they helped slaves escape to freedom. She condemns Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, stating she sold out American women when she supported Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Does she have children? Grandchildren? You are supposed to be for the country. ... She used to be 16. She used to be in college. She used to party and she knows better. To sit there and say you don’t haveevidence is wrong.”
She also recommends that Yale University takes a few tips from Starbucks, since “two sexual predators” from its institution sit on the highest court in the land.
“When we had the situation in Philadelphia, I said, ‘Oh Dear Lord,’” she said. “I don’t want to have to boycott Starbucks. I was so glad they did the right thing. Yale ought to call Starbucks and ask how they got the nerve to do that and say that this isn’t right.”
She also expressed gratitude to younger generations leading some of the biggest contemporary movements today.
“What is so incredibly brilliant about Black Lives Matter is that they don’t have an office or telephone number,” Ms. Giovanni said. “Those who are hateful don’t know who to kill. In my generation, we had Martin, and Bobby Seale. #MeToo is saying women matter. I am proud they have learned something from my generation. They are bold people and not afraid. They are making everyone pay attention.”
Ms. Giovanni has faith in the future.
“I am going to miss a lot and miss seeing what this next generation does,” she said. “I think they are going to be fabulous.”
She commends the Parkland students, comparing their bravery to that of the eighth-graders who faced arrest and firehoses when they peacefully protested segregation in the Children’s Crusade
— Nikki Giovanni, famed poet
in Birmingham, Ala., in May 1963.
With the challenges young generations face ahead, Ms. Giovanni recommends that young adults live life to the fullest and “learn the difference between sex and love.”
When she is not in the classroom, Ms. Giovanni enjoys a glass of champagne or prosecco on her backyard porch that overlooks a goldfish pond, plays cards and gets coffee with her girlfriends each Wednesday. Her granddaughter greets her each morning, calling her “Grandma Nik.”
In the future, she plans to travel to Antarctica — it will be her second trip — with her granddaughter, and she hopes to find a way to get on “Beat Bobby Flay” and make her “excellent fried chicken.”
Ms. Giovanni tells her students, “Don’t read your old poetry.
“If you do, you will make sure you don’t contradict yourself,” she said. “But if you don’t contradict yourself, then you don’t learn.
“I’m just a poet — all I have is my words, so they have to be honest.”
For more information: www.nikki-giovanni.com