This is an interview I did with KLCC radio in Eugene, Oregon on the west coast tour I did in May 2007 with my film Finding Common Ground in New Orleans:
www.klcc.org/audio/interview%20w-walidah%20imarisha.mp3
press
Portland Alliance Good Sista/Bad Sista Interview
in
Portland Alliance Newspaper
July 2008 issue
Sistas in Struggle Fight Against Oppression
Sista Walidah
in
Written by Trevor Mattis/Anton Forde
Picked up a name that fell out the mouths
Of many comrades, Walidah
Doing the super sista thing
Social activist, grass roots organizer, woman
On call everywhere it seems, for the cause of
The oppressed, a sister soul jah fo’ real
Heard she a griot too, spoken word artist
But never got an opportunity to check out her art
One day a brotha, a Blue Brotha
Handed me the chaplet called
“The Back Called Bridge”
Three days later with easy nonchalance
folklore/ facts/ fa real
in
This piece is one of the greatest honors Walidah has ever had, and the highest compliment. It was written for her by Haramia KiNassor/Kenneth Foster, Jr., amazing death row organizer and poet who on Aug. 30, 2007 had his sentence commuted to life in prison because he didn’t kill anyone, he just drove a car. The struggle continues for this brotha, and for justice. www.freekenneth.com
folklore/ facts/ fa real
by Haramia KiNassor
- Yo ! Yo ! Yo ! What’s popping over here? Man, who’s dat?
- Who’s dat? Brah, you don’t know who that is? That’s that sista!
- What sista?
Review of children of ex-slaves: the unfinished revolution
in
eview of children of ex-slaves: the unfinished revolution
From Umbrella, Powells Bookstore small press and zine newsletter
[Walidah’s] voice is both strong and compassionate as she tackles such issues as race, gender, relationships and identity, with a special emphasis on prisons and the death penalty. This is a great first chapbook, written with rage as well as insight.
(Powells Bookstore is the largest new and used book store in the country).
Sci Fi Writer Piers Anthony’s 2002 Blog about Walidah
in
http://www.hipiers.com/02aug.html
Let me focus for a moment on a correspondent: I've known Walidah Imarisha by mail for about 8 years and regard her as a black feminist activist, though she may not see herself that way. I was surprised early on when she made an issue of blackness, because her fan letters had come across as lily white. She asked me why I didn't have black characters in my fiction, and I responded that I did, and named several novels. She checked and agreed. That impressed me, because others have asked the same question and refused to accept my answer, accusing me of racism the same way some accuse me of sexism: more interested in the charge than in the truth. Walidah challenges folk, but she also listens. That marked her in my mind as different, and an entity to be respected. It's the way I try to be myself. I have opinionations busting out all over, but I pay attention to feedback. She sent me a booklet of her poems titled "This Back Called Bridge" subtitled "To find a way, to make a way, to be a way." The first poem is "By-Racial Blues" and it describes her early situation. "How come you sound like a white girl?" with the real question being "How come you're not black enough?" Her mother told her just to answer that she was brown. She remarks here (I'm deleting the poetic form, because I have a lot to jam in here; I hope the author will forgive me): "Yeah, that works...when you're six years old. After that, you better have something better to explain your mutt birth, your bastard existence, your lighter skin, your upturned nose. You can not straddle the color line, yawning like a canyon between your two halves. There is no middle ground in amerikan culture expression: you better choose or we'll do it for you." She envied the "shonuff" black girls who ruled elementary and middle school and regarded her as "the Oreo cookie child," black on the outside, white inside. She concludes: "I guess I will continue to be miscegenated and misunderstood, but I think I'm done with the bi-racial blues." That's just the first poem. You can find her via http://poetryoffthepage.com. She's the bad sista of the Good Sista/Bad Sista duo.
Let me focus for a moment on a correspondent: I've known Walidah Imarisha by mail for about 8 years and regard her as a black feminist activist, though she may not see herself that way. I was surprised early on when she made an issue of blackness, because her fan letters had come across as lily white. She asked me why I didn't have black characters in my fiction, and I responded that I did, and named several novels. She checked and agreed. That impressed me, because others have asked the same question and refused to accept my answer, accusing me of racism the same way some accuse me of sexism: more interested in the charge than in the truth. Walidah challenges folk, but she also listens. That marked her in my mind as different, and an entity to be respected. It's the way I try to be myself. I have opinionations busting out all over, but I pay attention to feedback. She sent me a booklet of her poems titled "This Back Called Bridge" subtitled "To find a way, to make a way, to be a way." The first poem is "By-Racial Blues" and it describes her early situation. "How come you sound like a white girl?" with the real question being "How come you're not black enough?" Her mother told her just to answer that she was brown. She remarks here (I'm deleting the poetic form, because I have a lot to jam in here; I hope the author will forgive me): "Yeah, that works...when you're six years old. After that, you better have something better to explain your mutt birth, your bastard existence, your lighter skin, your upturned nose. You can not straddle the color line, yawning like a canyon between your two halves. There is no middle ground in amerikan culture expression: you better choose or we'll do it for you." She envied the "shonuff" black girls who ruled elementary and middle school and regarded her as "the Oreo cookie child," black on the outside, white inside. She concludes: "I guess I will continue to be miscegenated and misunderstood, but I think I'm done with the bi-racial blues." That's just the first poem. You can find her via http://poetryoffthepage.com. She's the bad sista of the Good Sista/Bad Sista duo.
Panel on Black and Asian Relations in Hip Hop
in
Panel on Black and Asian Relations in Hip Hop
http://awol.objector.org/rapblackasian.htm
Walidah Imarisha, Kenyon Farrow, and Jeff Chang.
MAKING CONTACT
in
National Radio Project
http://radioproject.org/transcript/2001/4001.htmlTranscript: #40-01 Urban Renaissance: Youth and Spoken Word
October 3, 2001
Transcript: #40-01 Urban Renaissance: Youth and Spoken Word
October 3, 2001
Program description, guest contact information and audio files at http://www.radioproject.org/archive/2001/4001.html
Shereen Meraji: This week on Making Contact:
Tiger Walsh : We can't wait for justice to arrive at our doorstep. We need to be agents of change, create collective movements that shake foundations of lies teaching us to be slaves and masters.
Bryonn Bain: Using the artform as a mode of resistance and liberation, I think we have some powerful possibilities for us within the spoken word.
Shereen Meraji: April marks National Poetry Month, but during every month over the last decade the young in the United States have been speaking out -- in verse -- on issues affecting their lives. While media outlets knock American youth for being disinterested in politics and world affairs, young people gather together and share poetry with themes that run the personal and political gamut. On this program we take a look at how youth in the United States are using poetry as a tool for empowerment and resistance.
I'm Shereen Marisol Meraji, your host this week on Making Contact: An international radio program seeking to create connections between people, vital ideas and important information.
While media outlets knock American youth for being disinterested in politics and world affairs, young people gather together and share poetry which run the personal and political gamut. Coffee shop open mics and poetry slams in U.S. cities are featuring the poetic work of young artists. Topics range from ethnic and racial identity to love relationships, gender inequality to police brutality. Nothing is Taboo.
Walidah Imarisha:
The unfinished revolution
Born of the streets
Blood poors down the concrete
in turn
birthing tracks in the studio laid down on wax
Manifesting tell-tale stories
duplicating and recreating
the entire color spectrum
Interview with Walidah Imarisha about Haramia KiNassor
in
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=12842
By Hans Bennett
May 17, 2007
Hans Bennett: While many of us gathered here in Philadelphia on April 24 celebrating the birthday of Mumia Abu-Jamal, you were in Texas visting Haramia KiNassor (Kenneth Foster, Jr.) on death row. How was your visit?
By Hans Bennett
May 17, 2007
Hans Bennett: While many of us gathered here in Philadelphia on April 24 celebrating the birthday of Mumia Abu-Jamal, you were in Texas visting Haramia KiNassor (Kenneth Foster, Jr.) on death row. How was your visit?
From the louderARTS Project
in
Described as "a homegirl with a hand grenade", Walidah uses her words to spark crowds. A historian at heart, reporter by day she stays true to the cause by "slapping ya ass silly with knowledge."
Not long after winning the first poetry slam she attended, Walidah went on to represent Portland, Oregon at the 1999 National Poetry Slam competitions in Chicago. The following year, she earned a seat on the west coast leg of the 2000 Slam America Bus Tour. As Portland's Grand Slam Poetry Champion she made her second appearance at 2000 Nationals in Rhode Island.
Walidah 's style slices and dices hip-hop inspired verbage with personal narrative. Author of children of ex-slaves: the unfinished revolution, Walidah 's words have appeared in the Portland Alliance, In Struggle, the Student Insurgent, AWOL, as well as on-line magazines. After outgrowing her work with the college newspaper, she started her own, which remains in print after 3 years. Her performances have been featured on Travel Channel's The Tourist show, the Multi-Voice CD taped live at 2000 Nationals, as well as several radio shows.
Not long after winning the first poetry slam she attended, Walidah went on to represent Portland, Oregon at the 1999 National Poetry Slam competitions in Chicago. The following year, she earned a seat on the west coast leg of the 2000 Slam America Bus Tour. As Portland's Grand Slam Poetry Champion she made her second appearance at 2000 Nationals in Rhode Island.
Walidah 's style slices and dices hip-hop inspired verbage with personal narrative. Author of children of ex-slaves: the unfinished revolution, Walidah 's words have appeared in the Portland Alliance, In Struggle, the Student Insurgent, AWOL, as well as on-line magazines. After outgrowing her work with the college newspaper, she started her own, which remains in print after 3 years. Her performances have been featured on Travel Channel's The Tourist show, the Multi-Voice CD taped live at 2000 Nationals, as well as several radio shows.
