In a speech that addressed topics from slavery to gay marriage to hip-hop culture, renowned poet, author and civil rights activist Nikki Giovanni showed Sunday night that no topic was too controversial for her to address.
"Everyone that comes to speak during Black History Month tries to be safe in order to fit in here at Duke. [Giovanni] doesn't fit, that's why everyone appreciates her," said junior Akosua Kankam, who helped bring Giovanni to Reynolds Theater. "Regardless of whether or not people agree with what she said, no one can contest that she is one of the greatest artists and poets of our time."
Giovanni has been invited to speak in front of many diverse audiences throughout past years and is known worldwide for her speaking abilities.
"Even when she is speaking to a huge audience, she is so down to earth that you feel like she's having a one-on-one conversation with you," said senior Peju Okanlami. "She makes you feel like you can relate to everything that she says."
Reading poems that many audience members were familiar with--including "Ego Tripping"--as well as others dedicated to individuals such as Richard Williams, father of well-known tennis players Venus and Serena Williams, all of Giovanni's poems were met with applause and often standing ovations.
She told the audience of how she once gave a presentation to the employees of NASA, during which she explained her ideas on how to attract more attention to the space program.
"The reason people don't like space is because they don't know anyone who has ever been," she said, explaining to NASA that they could solve this problem by implementing her 10 percent solution. Giovanni's 10 percent solution required every tenth person on earth to travel to space.
"It doesn't matter if everyone who is chosen goes, it matters that everybody's talking about it now," Giovanni said. "I just thought that NASA should hear that, because I'm right," she said, smiling.
While Giovanni often joked with her audience, she concluded most of her funny stories with a hard-hitting lesson.
"If educated people are not going to be at the forefront of the fight for human justice, then what was the point of your education?" she asked her Duke audience.
In a question and answer session that followed Giovanni's speech, the poet answered every question as if she had thought about the perfect answer for 15 minutes.
"You never know what she's going to say when you ask her a question, but you can rest assured that you'll remember her answer," said Kankam.
When an audience member asked Giovanni what she thought about President George W. Bush's stance on gay marriage, the poet didn't hesitate to answer.
"The issue is that we are creating a second class citizen.... Bush would rather people hate than recognize that they have no jobs and that the economy is failing," Giovanni said.
While many of the topics that Giovanni discussed were controversial, questions from the audience provoked the discussion of such topics.
"She is one of the most creative and socially aware activists of her time," said sophomore Cherisse Cobrand. "Everything that she does says something for the community and the world that we live in today."
Many of those in attendance later flocked to the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture to meet Giovanni and have her sign a copy of one of her books..
"Nikki Giovanni blew me away," said Kankam. "She is the epitome of black history."
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