Last Updated on December 17, 2024 by BVN
Overview: Nikki Giovanni, a celebrated Black poet, writer, educator, commentator, and activist, passed away on December 9. She was known for her powerful and empowering poetry that celebrated African roots and resilience, and was also known for her courage in living openly as a lesbian during a time when gays and lesbians were not as openly accepted. Her legacy includes a seminal poem, “Great Pax Whitey,” which reflects on the history of racism and genocide perpetrated by white people. Her work leaves a lasting impact on the Black community and beyond.
S. E. Williams
Those of us of a certain age and those with less years but who possess ears to hear, may remember the first time we caught the rhythm, embraced the words and stepped into a Black fantasy rooted in the Motherland as poet Niki Giovanni proclaimed in the opening line of one of her most well known poems, “I was born in the Congo!”
The truth, power, and embrace of our African roots were celebrated in the poetic brilliance of this masterpiece by Giovanni titled, “Ego-Tripping.” I first heard it for the first time when listening to her 1971 album, “Truth is On the Way.” The project was was created with Giovanni being backed by the stylings of the New York Community Choir.
Her words in this work lifted and helped empower a people at a time when members of the Black community were connecting with their Africanness. We were awakening from the western-european brainwashing we’d endured for generations that had us believing we had no history, no culture, no relevance to humanity. Giovanni broke through and brashly and boldly reminded us of who we really are and in celebration of our connection to the Motherland.
Born June 7, 1943, Nikki Giovanni left this life on December 9, gifting to humanity a legacy as one of the most gifted and internationally known and celebrated Black poets of the Baby Boomer generation. Giovanni wrote poems about history, about resilience, about family, about love. She celebrated the accomplishments of Black heroes and sheroes of the Civil Right Movement and beyond. She wrote and published beautiful works for children
But, Giovanni was more than a poet. She was also an educator, a writer, a commentator and activist. And for many of us, she was also, so much more.
As a Black woman who happened to be Lesbian, Giovanni, though on one level a private person, also had courage to live her life “out loud,” She was unapologetic about who she was and who she chose to love during an era in this nation when gays and lesbians were not as openly accepted as we are in many cases today–although there are still miles to go for members of the LGBTQ+ community to be accepted in a country where homophobia remains rampant.
Reflecting on Giovanni’s loss, I was thinking perhaps she left at this time so we would take a moment to reflect on some of the messages in her work as a way of reminding us of the profound truth of her words in what many consider one of her seminal pieces, “Great Pax Whitey.”
As the nation prepares for the presidency of Donald J. Trump and his band of supporters–many of whom are known racist–the words from this poem remind us of what we as people of color have endured throughout history by people of like minds to many of hose whom Trump is appointing to his incoming cabinet. In the poem Giovanni wrote in part:
…Cause they killed the Carthaginians,
In the great Appian Way,
And they killed the Moors just to civilize a nation,
And they just killed the earth,
And blew out the sun,
In the name of a god,
Whose genesis was white,
And war wooed god,
And America was born,
Where war became peace,
And genocide patriotism,
And honor is a happy slave,
Cause all god’s chillun need rhythm,
And glory halleluja, why can’t peace be still?
The great emancipator was a bigot
Ain’t they go no shame?
And making the world safe for democracy,
Were twenty million slaves,
Nah, they ain’t got no shame.
And they bar-b-queued six million
Just to raise the price of beef,
And crossed the sixteenth parallel,
To control the price of rice.
Ain’t we ever gonna see the light?.. .
The poem continues on from there. For me, the burning question Giovanni asked in this poem in 1971, she leaves us with today, especially as it relates to Donald Trump. The question is searing. . . ”Ain’t we ever gonna see the light?”
Based on the number of those who voted against Trump and his band of bigots in the last election, I know that many of us have already seen the light, but based on the results of the last election, it is clear that many more of us, have not.
Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.
Giovanni, may you rest safety in the arms of the ancestors…
Peace be still.
