2017 Women of the World Poetry Slam - Jasmin Roberts "For White Poets"

Jasmin Roberts performing at the 2017 Women of the World Poetry Slam.

[@kimberlysimms9050]

this girl is just wow

[@AlliGuaman]

Poets know who are their audience and who will listen. If you are an ally, you wouldn't be offended. This poem is for the poets who follow the trend, who construe this image of profound understanding when all they ever do I watch the news that comes on TV. It takes being actively involved in the combat against racism. Some rappers do achieve this, regardless of skin color. I genuinely believe there are allies, but this poem is not directed at them.

[@jayart9368]

I LOVE THIS

[@esqueilyvargas9946]

Preach it baby

[@r3tr0spctv43]

Yasss momma

[@yahspoetyahu-thepoeticword7322]

wow! POWERFUL SPEECH! straght forward talk!

[@wiscovirgo]

go off girl 🙌🙌🙌 and if your not the kind of poet she's referring to , then you wouldn't get offended. if you do all the things she mentioned in her poem , that's probably why you're in your feelings.😂

[@shayrox100]

She went hard😳👏🏽👏🏽

[@nidhingaihoih9513]

wow

[@yaznerdyswag]

TEA

[@nortstrim]

Drag them...

[@PAWNB3YOND]

Tell them make them hear.

[@Julhi_Verma19]

you should be an ally but we cant talk over the oppressed. we need their stories but we also need allies to bring attention to issues as well. but the opressed whether it be lgbt, women, or poc need to have the floor on addressing societal issues.

[@Opinions567]

Ain't that the fucking truth

[@MattSowerbyPoetry]

OK, so here's my thoughts on this. I'm not the kind of guy that gets easily offended by everything or 'triggered' or whatever but some things in this poem annoyed me. When I saw the title of the video I decided to click because I thought this poem might be meant to be directed to or at least about me, being myself a poet who is white. After watching the video I didn't feel this was the case. I've seen a lot of spoken word about racism and I think that's great for various reasons but I've never seen a video complaining about people who try to combat racism. I think Roberts intentionally misunderstands the motivation of white poets who try to combat racism through poetry; is it so hard to believe they just want racism to stop? One thing Roberts said which annoyed me was when she mentioned that white poets talking about racism was cultural appropriation. I'm confused whether by this she means that poetry is part of black culture of that not-liking-racism is part of her culture. Either way those are pretty universal. Don't see a problem with being eager when performing either; I mean there is nothing wrong with wanting to combat racism or wanting to share a poem you've worked hard on. I also couldn't help getting offended when she said 'isn't that jut like a white person'. This is a stereotype she uses to create effect. As hard as it may be to believe, not all white people are racist pigs. Also, she mentions Iggy Azalea and Macklemore. Rap music may have been widely founded by black people, but it isn't a crime against a black culture if a black person raps, especially if they're as good at is as Macklemore is. I'm not sure how a white person doing spoken word is 'helping ourselves to black rights' either

[@taylortate8014]

I don't get why you getting personally offended. It sounds like she is upset about her interactions with a specific poet. And that maybe she knows other white poets to be similar to the poet she is condemning. But regardless, if you really understood how whiteness harms black people you wouldn't be upset..If you really understood racism in America it should be easy to understand why someone would be skeptical of the motivation of white poets.. or even resent how white poets claims about racism have more authority/legitimacy than black poets claims about racism to some white people.. And if you really understood white supremacy you would see how many white people like to present themselves as "the good white people" and in doing so never have to put themselves on trial.. All of these things would be clear to you so you would not be up here getting "triggered." ...Idk.. i'm just so confused about how you are such an ally for black people but for some reason don't understand any of this. I'm confused about how you are going around truly "combating racism through poetry" when you don't even understand these simple things.

[@MattSowerbyPoetry]

Maybe this poem was based off of an encounter with a specific poet as you suggest, but in this poem she appears to address all white poets, and it is this generalisation that annoys me. You're right in that I don't understand a lot about racism in the USA, as I'm a white guy living amongst white people in a predominantly white town in the UK; I'm the first to admit there are things i cannot understand no matter how hard i try. I do understand (at least in theory) what you're saying about why a black person might be skeptical of a white anti-racist poet - the whole idea, as you put it, of white people trying to prove that they are 'the good white people' and therefore escaping judgement. Obviously these are the wrong reasons, and there is a danger that because white poets are too busy patting themselves on the back that they'll ignore addressing the real issues, but surely there is also a danger in assuming this is the motivation of every anti-racism white poet out there. I can also see how it could be aggravating for black people to get annoyed when white people's poems about racism (frustratingly) get more attention, especially when - I believe - anti-racism poems are more powerful when they contain personal anecdotes. Even so, surely every voice against racism is a voice well placed, it is tragic white voices are often held to higher esteem but if the ultimate effect is that racism is combatted, surely it can only be right for white people to join voices with black people in combat of racism. Also, I write poems but not about racism - not because i don't think its not my place but because i don't think my background gives me a particularly unique angle to go from.

[@mikaylajohnson1733]

Inkling from what I hear and understand. it's more of whitesplaining and using anti racism as a fad and trend

[@DebriaLove]

Inkling she is talking about white people who write about black oppression from our perspective and write it like they were oppressed as well.

[@shanlarren]

I must have missed the general message of the poem. Someone please help me understand her point. So what is she suggesting? That white people (white women to be more specific) should just keep quiet and let African Americans deal with racism? I get that she must have felt the insincerity of other white people in fighting racism at some point, but she does not discuss in her piece where that feeling is coming from, making the piece seem like an insignificant rant about people's words and actions (which she may have misinterpreted). I'm not digging this piece.

[@mikaylajohnson1733]

jordan lol no it's more of a fact of how some white people use anti racism as a fad, or a lifestyle to capitalize off of it instead of the morality of it.

[@mah-rokhan6171]

It's also calling out the fact that white poets who call out racism get higher scores than brown and black people who do poems about their own experiences and trauma. This adds to the idea that they pick these topics (which aren't about their own lives) just to score points, i.e. they are profiting off of the oppression that their people caused. Add to this the problems that come with someone not staying in their lane (accidentally or purposefully using slurs for shock effect, acting like they know more about racism than people who have actually experienced it, accidentally triggering POC in the audience by using language that other white people have used to attack them, etc.) and you've got a serious mess. I was at this slam and it's worth mentioning that earlier in the slam a winner of the youth slam performed the piece that got her to WIN THE WHOLE SLAM and it was awful. A little white girl talking about Aleppo without true knowledge on the issue and equating present America to the hunger games while using "we" to talk about Americans, therefore acting as though Americans are only white.