Posted on Sep 8, 2021
Alabama's First Black Poet Laureate Takes A Personal Approach To 'Reparations'
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https://www.npr.org/2021/09/08/ [login to see] /ashley-m-jones-alabama-poet-laureate-reparations-now
The state of Alabama has a new poet laureate: Ashley M. Jones is the first Black poet to claim the title, and at 31, also the youngest.
Jones is honored, but says she has a long-standing love-hate relationship with Alabama and her hometown of Birmingham.
Growing up, she had a visible reminder of the racism that permeates much of Birmingham's history. Her high school was "just steps away" from the site of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
In 1963, members of the Ku Klux Klan set off a bomb under the steps of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church — a centerpiece and rallying place for the city's African American community. The explosion killed four little girls.
The state of Alabama has a new poet laureate: Ashley M. Jones is the first Black poet to claim the title, and at 31, also the youngest.
Jones is honored, but says she has a long-standing love-hate relationship with Alabama and her hometown of Birmingham.
Growing up, she had a visible reminder of the racism that permeates much of Birmingham's history. Her high school was "just steps away" from the site of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
In 1963, members of the Ku Klux Klan set off a bomb under the steps of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church — a centerpiece and rallying place for the city's African American community. The explosion killed four little girls.
Alabama's First Black Poet Laureate Takes A Personal Approach To 'Reparations'
Posted from npr.orgPosted in these groups: State of Alabama
Poetry
Poetry
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."What I mean when I say reparations is that I want what we are owed," she says. "Which means for me as a Black person, I want to be able to walk into a room with my hair however it is fixed, with my skin as dark or as light as it is, and not feel immediately targeted."
Jones hopes that her book — and her work as poet laureate — will help shift that perspective."...
..."What I mean when I say reparations is that I want what we are owed," she says. "Which means for me as a Black person, I want to be able to walk into a room with my hair however it is fixed, with my skin as dark or as light as it is, and not feel immediately targeted."
Jones hopes that her book — and her work as poet laureate — will help shift that perspective."...
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