Douglas H. White: Facing Trump’s America
Black people in America have often led change in this society because our humanity and our liberties were so long suppressed and denied.
George Yancy: Black History Testifies to the Impossible Creative Power of Black Resistance
Literary scholar Farah Jasmine Griffin discusses how Black yearning keeps surviving in the face of racist violence.
George Yancy: Cornel West | We Must Keep Our Souls Intact as We Organize Under Trump Again
“Trump is American gangsterism crystallized, honest about itself, unashamed and bold,” says West.
Richard Michelson: Three Poems
Today, I am weary of my soul, forever dragging behind me,
clanging for attention like tin cans left tied to a coupe fender
long after the sacred vows.
Michael Simms: Writing Prompt # 8 – Start a file of your favorite short passages
Whenever I need inspiration, I go back to a collection of my favorite poems and prose passages that I keep in an electronic file on my desktop. They consistently remind me why I love writing and reading.
Baron Wormser: Remembering the Alchemists & Other Essays
One sentence speaks for all his direct, well-wrought sentences: “We are inside the largest militarist society the world has ever known, and we are at war always.”
Vox Populi: The 15 most popular posts of 2022
During 2022, Vox Populi published 737 posts including poetry, essays and short films. Here are the fifteen most visited.
Adrienne Maree Brown: Accountable to Our Ancestors
Lately it feels like ancestors are talking to me all the time.
Video: state of America (a visual expression)
This visceral piece dedicated to John Singleton unfolds the journey of a black youth moving through the chaotic American landscape into his manhood.
James Baldwin: A Talk to Teachers
The obligation of anyone who thinks of himself as responsible is to examine society and try to change it and to fight it—at no matter what risk. This is the only hope society has. This is the only way societies change.
Jeffrey Sterling: What Happened on January 6th was America the Usual
As the drama has unfolded, the powerful words from James Baldwin linger in my mind when he said “How much time do you want for your progress?”
Michael Simms: Praise the Poet
Empires fall and buildings crumble, but songs and stories survive.
Amiri Baraka: Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
And now, each night I count the stars,
And each night I get the same number.
And when they will not come to be counted,
I count the holes they leave.
Video: James Baldwin debates William F. Buckley (1965)
Here is the full 1965 debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr. at Cambridge University on the question: “Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?”
