Famous poetess, Nikki Giovanni, was given a platform at the memorial service for the VA. Tech victims on campus the 16th of April. Along with Giovanni, President Bush and religious leaders were given the opportunity to speak (VT is over 90% Christian. Why did an imam speak?)
I had the opportunity to read (momma taught me how to do that by the time I was 12) Nikki Giovanni’s work as an English major in college. That was of course after I had left the plantation in Alabama to get edumacated. She’s a brilliant writer but I have a deep suspicion that she is Lebanese. Why’s that Cousin JD? You might ask. Given her short haircut, her fondness of man-clothes and her association with women who do the same I am pretty sure she is Lebanese. Cousin Brian says that she’s not Lebanese but a “Lesbian.” Now i’ve looked for that country all over the map and I can’t find it. I came in third place in Mrs. Nancy Joe Loudermilk’s geography bee when I was in the 5th grade. Grant it I was 15 and should have come in first but that ain’t my point. My point is that I am pretty good when it comes to knowing where places are in the world and I can’t find the country of Lesbia anywhere on the globe. But I can find the country of Lebanon. It’s just north of Israel, and boy howdy let me tell you something I learned after a little studying. Those people from Lebanon, them Lebanese, they sure hate them some Jews. And the Lebanese women like Nikki Giovanni are very peculiar. They like to listen to music by Melissa Etheridge and Janis Joplin. Also, these Lebanese women often have manly features and hang out with other women who look the same…..odd.
During Giovanni’s speech she often mentioned something about Mexicans immigrants dying in the desert from thirst and baby elephants dying because of their valuable ivory tusks. As my dear old grandpappy used to say when somebody said something irrelevant to the matter at hand, “What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?
I think the poor old gal got star struck. There she was on stage with the President of the United States of America and she just couldn’t keep that liberal poison in her lungs. 32 people dead, and in the memorial service where she is supposed to be honoring them, Giovanni wants to about Mexicans and baby elephants.
Evidently those Lebanese women have a hard time showing respect and knowing when to use it.
August 21, 2007 at 7:29 pm
I do understand you have problems with what Ms. Giovanni stated. From my perspective, she was drawing parallels between the pain suffered by other unfortunate incidents to the pain suffered by those in the Virginia Tech tragedy.
Moreover, I don’t see where the subject of lesbians fits in with your topic. This is America. Ms. Giovanni is free to wear what she wants. Sir, you are free to wear what you want.
As my sweet grandmother taught me, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” As a former educator, I learned you can never judge a student by what the way they look, what they wear, OR what they did last year.
If we are to live together and show the world how great “freedom” is, we can’t pigeonhole people, especially our own citizens. What kind of message does that send to others around the world? Common courtesy, understanding, truth, and honor should always be our guiding principles when we deal with each other as Americans and human beings.
Corwyn Mitchell
August 22, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Thank you for your reply. I think you failed to make a correlation between the title of my post and Giovanni’s topics: she used her platform during this great tragedy to push topics of a political nature while she had the President’s attention. Did you read her speech in its enitirety? Somehow equating 32 human lives with elephants dying for thier ivory is ignorant. As far as my reference to her clothes and sexuality, you missed the obvious sarcasm and humor that most people captured (i.e. the “lebanese” reference)