>> Stephen: HEY, EVERYBODY, WELCOME BACK TO THE LATE SHOW.
FOLKS, MY NEXT GES A BETION SELLING AUTHOR
POET, AND SCHOLAR WHO HAS WRITTEN A NEW COLLECTION OF
ESSAYS, "THE TRAYVON GENERATION."
PLEASE WELCOME TO "THE LATE SHOW," ELIZABETH ALEXANDER!
(APPLAUSE).
>> Stephen: HI, NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN.
LIKE A LOT OF PEOPLE I FIRST GOT TO KNOW YOU AND OF YOU FROM THE
POEM YOU DID AT PRESIDENT OBAMA'S INAUGURAL IN 2009.
IT WAS PRAISE SONG FOR THE DAY, YOU HAVE A NEW BOOK, A
COLLECTION OF ESSAYS TIGHTS ELED THE TRAVON GENERATION.
AND FEBRUARY 26th MARKS THE 10th ANNIVERSARY OF TRAVON
MARTIN'S KILLING.
AND GIVEN THE AMOUNT OF VIOLENCE THERE HAS BEEN AGAINST BLACK
PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES AND MARGINALIZATION, WHAT IS IT
ABOUT THIS EVENT, ABOUT THIS DEATH THAT MARKED A GENERATION
FOR YOU?
>> WELL, WHAT IS, I THINK, VERY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT
THIS GENERATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE WHO I CALL THE TRAVON GENERATION
IS THAT THOUGH RACIST VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE, AGAINST
PEOPLE OF COLOR IS AS OLD AS THE COUNTRY ITSELF, THIS
ACCELERATION OF POLICE VIOLENCE AND THE VIOLENCE AND A MURDER
THAT IS CAPTURED ON CELL PHONE, THAT OUR YOUNG PEOPLE GREW UP
WITH A DIET OF SEEING OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
REPEATED VIOLATIONS THAT MADE THEM UNDERSTAND NOT ONLY THEIR
OWN EMBODIMENT BUT THEIR VULNERABILITY AND THE SPECTOR OF
RACE AS AN UNRESOLVED AMERICAN PROBLEM THAT WE HAVEN'T YET
FIGURED OUT.
AND SO I THINK THAT FOR THESE YOUNG FOR EXAMPLES, MY KIDS,
YOUR KIDS, KIDS IN THIS GENERATION, I WANT TO UNDERSTAND
HOW THEY FIND THEIR JOY, THEIR FREEDOM, THEIR EXPRESSION, THEIR
RIGHTEOUSNESS, THEIR POLITICS WHEN THEY KNOW THAT IT IS A
DANGEROUS WORLD FOR THEM.
(APPLAUSE) THE BOOK IS MANY EXAMPLES OF
POETRY, VISUAL ARTS AND MUSIC INSPIRED BY THE STRUGGLE AGAINST
RACISM.
AND AS A POET I'M CURIOUS WHAT WORKS OF ART SPEAKS TO YOU THE
MOSTNESS I HAVE INCLUDED WORK, I WANTED IT TO BE A CONVERSATION.
SO IT IS MY WORDS, THE WORDS OF THE GREAT LOSE SEAL CLIFTON, GA
WENDALLIN BROORKS OUR GREAT VISUAL ARTIST, ELIZABETH PATLET,
NORTHERNA SIMP-- LORNA SIMPSON, SO NEAN OTHERS WEAVING WITH MY
WORDS TO LIGHT THE WAY FORWARD, BECAUSE I DON'T THINK WORD AS
LOAN CAN DO IT.
>> Stephen: IS THERE ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR, I WOULD LOVE IT
IF YOU WOULD READ SOMETHING THAT SPEAKS TO THIS MOMENT.
>> ABSOLUTELY.
>> Stephen: FROM THE TRAVON GENERATION.
>> THIS IS A PO EMPT BY THE GREAT LUCILLE CLIFTON AND I
WANTED TO READ IT ALSO BECAUSE IT IS SCET AT A PLANTATION IN
SOUTH CAROLINA.
>> Stephen: WHICH PLANTATION.
>> WALNUT GROVE.
>> SO I DON'T KNOW, HAVE I HEARD YOU TALK ABOUT THE WAY IN WHICH
VISITSES TO THESE PLANTATIONS WERE NOT TAUGHT AS PLACES WHERE
HUMAN BEINGS WERE ENSLAVED AND LABORED TO THE BENEFIT OF
OTHERS.
>> Stephen: UNTIL JUST RECENTLY AT LEAST THE ONES WHERE
I GREW UP AS A CHILD, UNTIL RECENTLY WAS HARDLY EVER TALKED
ABOUT.
>> SO WHAT CLIFTON IS DOING IS SCAIING LET'S REMEMBER WHO
WALKED THIS EARTH.
HER WORDS ARE BETTER THAN MINE.
SO THIS IS AT THE SEM FATHER WALNUT GROVE PLANTATION, SOUTH
CAROLINA, 1989.
>> MORNING THE ROCKS AT WALNUT GROVE YOUR SILENCE DRUMMING IN
MY BONES.
TELL ME YOUR NAME.
NOBODY MENTIONED SLAVES AND YET THE CURIOUS TOOLS SHINE WITH
YOUR FINGERPRINTS.
NOBODY MENTIONED SLAVES BUT SOMEBODY DID THIS WORK WHO HAD
NO GUIDE, NO STONE, WHO MOWLDED UNDER ROCK.
TELL ME YOUR NAME.
TELL ME YOUR BASHFUL NAMES AND I WILL TESTIFY.
THE INVENTORY LISTS TEN SLAVES BUT ONLY MEN WERE RECOGNIZED.
AMONG THE ROCK THE AT WALNUT GROVE SOME OF THESE HONORED DEAD
WERE DARK.
SOME OF THESE WERE SLAVED, SOME OF THESE SLAVES WERE WOMEN.
SOME OF THEM DID THIS HONORED WORK.
TELL ME YOUR NAME FOR MOTHERS, BROTHERS, TELL ME YOUR DIS
HONORED NAME.
THEIR LIVES,S HERE LIE, HERE LIE, HERE LIES, HERE.
SO THAT IS LUCILLE CLIFTON.
(APPLAUSE).
>> Stephen: THE THING THAT STRIKES ME ABOUT A PIECE OF ART
THAT CAN REACH ACROSS A CULTURE, A SOCIETY, FOR PEOPLE THAT DON'T
KNOW EACH EAR IS THIS COMMONALITY, THIS COMMON HUMAN
EXPERIENCE AND THAT BEING ALIVE ITSELF IS A STRUGGLE.
AND HOW CHANGE IT IS TO BE ANYTHING AT ALL IS SOMETHING
THAT WE'RE ALWAYS EXPERIENCING.
AND WHAT DO YOU IMAGINE AS SOMEONE WHO HAS WRITTEN ABOUT
THERE, CURATED, WRITING ABOUT THIS WHAT DO YOU IMAGINE IS THE
VALUE THAT SOME PEOPLE SEE IN RACIAL DIVISION?
BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE A GREAT LOSS NOT ONLY FOR THOSE WHO
SUFFER IT BUT IN SOME WAYS FOR THE PEOPLE WHO PRACTICE IT
BECAUSE THEY LOSE THEIR OWN HUMANITY.
WHAT IS THE VALUE, WHAT IS THE POINT OF THAT REALM?
>> WELL, I MEAN, THAT IS A VERY PROFOUND QUESTION AND I
COMPLETELY AGREE WITH YOU.
I THINK THAT ACTUALLY THE FROWNEDDER LOSS IS THE HUMANITY
OF HUMAN BEINGS WHO WOULD DEMEAN OR ENSLAVE OTHERS, I TALK ABOUT
THE CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS AND THE MYTHOLOGY THAT THE WAR WENT
A DIFFERENT WAY THAN IT DID.
WHAT WOULD IT MEAN, TONI MORRISON ASKED THESE QUESTIONS
TO HAVE BEEN TOLD AND BELIEVED YOU ARE A SUPERIOR BEING AND
SHOW DISCOVER THAT YOU WEREN'T.
YOU KNOW, SO I THINK THAT TO HAVE A MENTALITY OF SOCIETY AS
BEING NOT A ZERO SUM GAME BUT RATHER THERE IS ENOUGH SOUP FOR
EVERYBODY.
YOU CAN HAVE MY SANDWICH.
I STHI THAT IF WE OPERATED IN THAT WAY, AND ALSO IF WE TOLD
THE TRUTH ABOUT HISTORY, YOU KNOW, AS YOU KNOW, I WAS A
PROFESSOR.
(APPLAUSE) GOSH FOR MANY YEARS AND YOU
KNOW, TEACHING AFRICAN AMERICAN TO MIXED CLASSROOMS AND HEAR SOG
OFTEN WHY WASN'T I TAUGHT THAT.
WHY WAS THAT KEPT FROM ME.
I DIDN'T KNOW.
YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE TO TEACH PEOPLE THE TRUTH.
WE CAN HOLD IT.
WE HUMAN BEINGS, WE CAN HOLD COMPLEXITY, QUESTION HOLD
CONTRADICTION, WE CAN HOLD GRIEF AND JOY AT THE SAME TIME.
WE NEED TO HONOR THAT POSSIBILITY WITHIN US, WE HAVE
IT WITHIN US.
>> I WANT TO ASK YOU ONE MORE QUESTION BEFORE YOU GO.
AND THAT IS ABOUT YOUR POEM IN THE 2009 INRAWTION T ENDS ON AN
UPLIFTING NOTE IT SAYS IN TODAY'S SHARP-- THIS WINTER AIR,
ANYTHING CAN BE MADE, ANY SENTENCE BEGUNS ON THE BRINK, ON
THE BRIM, ON THE CUSP, PRAY SONG FOR WALKING FORWARD IN THAT
LIGHT.
AND NOW 13 YEARS LATER, DOES THAT STILL FEEL TRUE TO YOU?
>> WELL, I THINK THAT YOU KNOW, WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH SOME
HARROWING TIMES IN THE LAST YEAR.
YOU KNOW, WE HAVE GONE FROM A MOMENT I THINK OF TREMENDOUS
HOPE AND POSSIBILITY AND OF PEOPLE COMING TOGETHER TO MAKE A
POSITIVE CHANGE HAPPEN TO A PERIOD OF TIME WHERE MISOGYNY,
RACISM, VIOLENT LANGUAGE WERE THE ORDER OF THE DAY.
I THINK THAT WHAT WE HAVE COME TO SEE IS THAT OUR PRECIOUS
DEMOCRACY, OUR PRECIOUS VOTING RIGHTS, OUR PRECIOUS
ORGANIZATION OF OURSELVES AS COMMUNITY IS SOMETHING THAT
CANNOT BE COUNTED ON AND GUARANTEED.
YOU KNOW WE JUST SAW YOU KNOW A TERRIBLE SPECTACLE IN THE SENATE
WATCHING A TRULY GREAT WOMAN, JUDGE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON GO
THROUGH THE CONFIRMATION PROCESS.
BUT I THINK WHAT WE SAW THERE IS THE POWER OF HER LIGHT, HER
INTELLIGENCE, HER FOCUS.
AND EVEN IN THE DARKNESS, I STAY OPTIMISTIC.
THAT DOESN'T MEAN I STAY FOOLISH.
BUT I THINK THAT I AM ALWAYS LOOKING FOR THE LIGHT AND I
THINK THAT EVEN WHEN HISTORY AND ART TEACH US WHAT IS CHALLENGING
AND DIFFICULT, WHAT MAKES IT ART IS THAT IT HAS LIFE IN IT.
AND THAT LIGHT IS WHAT COMES FROM HUMAN BEINGS.
>> IT WAS LOVELY TO SEE YOU AGAIN, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR
STOPPING BY.
>> NAH.
>> Stephen: THE TRAVON GENERATION IS AVAILABLE NOW,
ELIZABETH ALEXANDER, EVERYBODY.
WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK.