Nikki Giovanni
Thank you, Nikki Giovanni, for a lifetime of inspiring and empowering lessons nestled between powerful, spoken one-two punches.
Last week, after learning of Nikki Giovanni’s promotion to ancestor, I spent every moment of free time reviewing archives which all seemed to highlight her strong pen, booming voice and beaming presence.
I first learned about Giovanni in high school. And the phrase, "You can't trust anyone over 30," reflected how many from my generation felt about “the establishment” during that time.
Looking back, I’m deeply grateful for Nikki Giovanni leading my way to becoming an elder.
Today, many decades later, I’m inviting you to revisit 1971 with two of my heroes, Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin.
This dialogue is powerful.
Memorable Nikki Giovanni Quotes:
“All mistakes teach us something, so there are, in reality, no mistakes.”
“I don't know what Americans are afraid of. Everybody keeps running around saying things like, well we want to be safe. From what? The craziest thing in the world is us.”
“I'm glad I understand that while language is a gift, listening is a responsibility”
“There are things. . . that should not be touched:
Books when your hands are sticky with chocolate
Cars when your clothes are covered with oil
Men when your heart does not love them”
From Ego-Tripping and Other Poems for Young People.
“Just as people want to make Malcolm X an integrationist, thereby changing the nature of his daring and his truth, people want us to overlook the sensitivity and love Tupac Shakur shows because, after all, if he loves, if he cries, if he, in other words, is not a monster, than what have we done? What a great crime has been committed in the name of, what, the status quo? How awful and ugly of us.
― Nikki Giovanni
From the Giovanni’s forward in The Rose that Grew from Concrete by Tupac Shakur.
Sources:
Link to a (1914-2014) chronology from her website.
Poetry Foundation’s Giovanni obituary with poems and books.
The Essential Black Literature Guide by Roger M. Valade III (Visible Ink Press, 1996).
Ego-Tripping and Other Poems for Young People by Nikki Giovanni (Lawrence Hill and Company, 1973).
The Rose that Grew from Concrete by Tupac Shakur (MTV Books, 1999).
