The North Carolina poet laureate, Green delivered the keynote address and sparks Black joy at the 2022 Black Solidarity Conference.
North Carolina’s Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green entreated students not to allow anything to hold their joy hostage during her keynote speech at Elon’s eighth annual Black Solidarity Conference.
By the end of her address seats were empty, hands were clapping, and the room erupted with of joy as everyone began doing the Electric Slide.
“When everyone stood up to enjoy the music and we danced together, it was amazing to see,” said Simone Royal, program coordinator for the Center of Race, Ethnicity and Diversity Education (CREDE). “I wish we had more of those moments together. The turnout was more than I could have hoped for.”
Green, a native of Alamance County, is the state’s ninth poet laureate, the first African American and third woman appointed to the position.
As she spoke, the room began to light up with smiles. “It is time to push, shove, shake, rattle and roll our joy into a sweet, fierce labor. A labor that is bloody, imperfect but life-giving and a choice that we make over and over again to birth revolutionary love,” she said.
“Representation really matters. Jaki’s presence and words reminded students they are visible, and they matter,” said Sylvia Muñoz, assistant dean of students and director of CREDE. “She reminded all of us that despite the challenges we endure because of racial and ethnic identities, there is still pride and joy in who you are and where you come from.”
In 2014, Black students at Elon implemented their own Black Solidarity Day as a form of protest, an act of solidarity among Black students and a call to action for the university campus. The theme of the 2022 conference was “A Black Joy Love Letter: Love, Joy and Resistance.”
“My love letter to all of you, no matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, how you love or who you love, is to know that I see you,” Green said. “I see you changing the world with your orientation to life. An orientation that is rooted in joy.”
To Green, love is belonging, and belonging is what nurtures joy. “Thank you for showing the world that to love only ourselves is escapism, to love only our enemies is self-loathing and to love only others is ineffective,” she said. “I thank you for teaching us that all these practices together make love revolutionary, and revolutionary love can be practiced in our community. That practice is the belonging that sustains joy.”
For Royal, Green’s keynote evoked a sense of pride in being Black and being seen for who you are, your uniqueness, individuality and beauty.
The aim of the Black Solidarity Conference is to unite Black students, faculty and staff by providing an avenue through which Black identity, Black intersectionality and building solidarity are explored.
Green has used her voice and writing to unite the Black community since she was young. She was infatuated with the Black Panther Party as a child and grew up during the Civil Rights Movement. They had a profound influence on who she would become.
She was expelled from a newly desegregated high school after organizing a walkout of about 700 Black students in the 10th grade. “We presented a lengthy list of grievances to the school and school board, wanting a Black curriculum, wanting more people of color is teaching and administrative position, more inclusion of Black student in campus life… long story short we walked out, and they kicked us out.”
Green used her passion for writing to uplift the voices of Black people and people of color. She knew it was her calling after publishing her first book, “Dead on Arrival.”
She has won many awards since her first published work, but her most cherished honor is serving as poet laureate. “To be nominated by your peers is really special.” Although, being the first African American to be appointed “means we still have more work to do,” she said.
When Green is not writing, you may find her cooking, gardening or traveling. She likes to play with assorted flavors in the kitchen and toil the soil with her hands. But it’s what she did at Elon during the Black Solidarity Conference she enjoys most.
“As a 68-year-old woman, its nourishment to me to see that there are young people that will continue a legacy of work to improve the quality of life for Black people, young people who will become the best public servants they can, the most educated in their field to make change,” she said.