Today we debut the video for ‘Oh My Brother’ a powerfully prescient poem by Jaki Shelton Green (the first African American and third woman to be appointed as the North Carolina Poet Laureate.) The poem stands in solidarity with grieving families across the United States whose love ones are being murdered by law enforcement. A remarkably prescient theme given the unlawful killing of George Floyd by a police officer and the #blacklivesmatter protests spreading accross the world.The accompanying video is directed by Alec Ferrel, watch it below.
Quote from Jaki:
“I wrote Oh My Brother several years ago. An invitation from a poet in New York invited other poets nationwide to submit poetry for the Poetry of Lamentation Online Anthology created to memorialize the murdered and symbolize solidarity with grieving families across the United States whose love ones are being murdered by law enforcement.
Again, writers, musicians, dancers, sculptors, and all artists are called upon to use our creativity to declare, agitate, and resist. We will not perish as long as we remember the righteous fire and light inside our artistic utterances.
Much peace and wonderment,
Jaki”
Shelton Green releases her album The River Speaks Of Thirst on June 19th 2020.
Jaki Shelton Green is the first African American and third woman to be appointed as the North Carolina Poet Laureate. When he appointed her in 2018, Governor Cooper stated that “Jaki Shelton Green brings a deep appreciation of our state’s diverse communities to her role as an ambassador of North Carolina literature. Jaki’s appointment is a wonderful new chapter in North Carolina’s rich literary history.”
Jaki Shelton Green is the author of eight collections of poetry: Dead on Arrival, Dead on Arrival and New Poems, Masks, Conjure Blues, singing a tree into dance, breath of the song, published by Carolina Wren Press and Blair Publishers. Her other publications; Feeding the Light, I Want to Undie You are published by Jacar Press. Her poetry has been published in over eighty national and international anthologies.
