Porsha Olayiwola - Water

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Porsha Olayiwola, performing at IWPS 2014 in Phoenix, AZ.
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About Button:
Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry.
We seek to showcase the power and diversity of voices in our community. By encouraging and broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, we hope to broaden poetry's audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural appreciation for the art form.

[@ILuvJDior]

"We don't fuck with the rain cuz our hair just got did." Yasss 👏👏👏

[@mgreer1222]

im so grateful that this woman answered her calling. could u imagine all this talent and passion trapped at a call center job?

[@myishenhaines1706]

Oh boy. Speeches on each call. lol

[@CrownVicNiick]

That sounds like an amazing job for her! Or debt collector!

[@nicklahage]

Yes I can imagine all that passion trapped inside something. It's called a gas tank!

[@morbidmanuscript9324]

Amen

[@Ebon_Sean]

I love poems like this. Because it's about more than just what you see on the surface. More than just "the Afro American Community and Swimming". It's commentary on the way that every conceivable facet of Afro American culture - even the small stuff you never take the time to think about, something as rudimentary as swimming - is rooted in racist American culture. This is more than just a history lesson, it's a cross examination. Yes, slavery and Jim Crow have been legally outlawed. But just because the knife isn't cutting anymore doesn't mean the wounds have stopped bleeding, doesn't mean the scars have faded, doesn't mean we can just "get over it".

[@Ebon_Sean]

derpet sohero​ you really don't get it, do you? There's a such thing as generational wealth. And at every point in American history where there was a massive increase of wealth, Black people's growth has been intentionally economically stunted. On top of that, when we created our own wealth, it was systematically, or, like in the case of Black Wall Street, intentionally destroyed. Slavery is not the knife here, Anti-Black RACISM is. First it took the form of slavery, then Jim Crow, and now the school-to-prison pipeline, among a multitude of other factors. The oppression never stopped, it simply changed forms, while keeping the same spirit. My analogy is spot on. The only thing that's terrible here is your understanding

[@Ebon_Sean]

derpet sohero Why don't you point out where ANYONE here said all White people are racist? NOBODY said that. And it's not my job to educate you, nor anyone else's but your own. SO sick of people like you, asking stupid questions. Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, John Crawford, Rekia Boyd, Tamir Rice, and countless others were not "accidentally" shot. You can get all the way the fuck outta here with that shit. Also, "become a better person"? What the entire fuck is that supposed to mean, if not to imply that Black people are inherently bad people. Get your ignorant, arrogant, racist ass off my post.

[@morganwilliams4689]

Angolana it might not affect Africans but it still affects African Americans, we only gained actual equal rights by law in the 50s and 60s so we are still catching up money wise. I will admit that some people do over exaggerate what’s happening. There are still problems like police brutality and the fact that black people get judged when they do certain things but then white people do the exact same thing and it’s seen as cool.

[@deejay7060]

It’s 2018 sweet cheeks. Black people can join swim clubs all across this great country. And at said swim clubs the teach kids how to swim. I happen to this because it’s how my own children learned to swim. Unfortunately, they don not accept WIC or SNAP as forms of payments at these places. And you’ll have to get that yarn that u have sewn into you’re heads wet

[@deejay7060]

Kali Kitti that was the Gospel

[@sierraclark3824]

all of her poems are perfect.

[@cherinetshenegelegne9204]

I AGREE

[@celestejacobs7386]

This "poem" is absolutely horrible. 😂😂. Blaming history for the fact that you can't swim. What a joke. They're called swim lessons.

[@henny6365]

@@celestejacobs7386 yes let’s tell people who have been historically poor that they should just pay for swimming lessons. WOW I CANT BELIEVE WE NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT THAT WOW!

[@celestejacobs7386]

@@henny6365 The YMCA where I taught swimming lessons is free, sweet cheeks. Nice excuse though. I've taught many black children to swim. Instead of blaming the white man, their parents signed their kids up for swim lessons. Genius, isn't it?

[@jasmim6612]

@@celestejacobs7386 you missed the entire point of the poetry.

[@abenaoworae5294]

She has a very powerful voice!

[@jvelazquez4710]

+ScaryViking too bad that you can understand the truth that she is speaking

[@XxxMuseluverxxX]

+ScaryViking Literally shut tf up.

[@mannyk596]

@@scaryviking8657 dickhead, educate yourself because you're the only ignorant one here

[@ucheezy23]

“Jim Crow north and a Ku Kluck(klux) south” i got that the second time. She snapped!✊🏽

[@HIWWPI_2024]

I Still love to hear this even in 2022. Tugs at my heart every time.

[@reaganpratt2474]

One of my favorite poets of all time

[@latoyajackson4314]

I heard this poem played over a short film called 'water' and I had to find the artist. amazing! 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

[@mbalenhlefrans7278]

Which film

[@beautifulpoet1]

"could figure a way to Wade In The Water"

[@BlessingOdera]

I had to pause this half way through..don't know if I can finish it in one sitting!

[@meharimilton5651]

Came back to this after seeing the tragedy that happened in MS. As a black man I feel obliged to do more.

[@arianaanderson1220]

sent chills down my spine.

[@thedynastycontinues945]

Youre a moron. Thats why

[@raytas9140]

The Dynasty Continues why

[@tatianaredden5696]

Still loving and listening !

[@IggyaNation]

This is incredibly powerful and beautiful. As a black woman this really hits a nerve. Lovely poem.

[@thedynastycontinues945]

Youre a moron.

[@joanav3]

guys this is the 2 time I ask for this, I don't want to be annoying but I was wondering if u can please put subtitles in Eglish? because of the fact that I am not a fluent english speaker I don't understand some words of what they say, thank you! !

[@VanessaRC7]

if you press the "cc" button on the video that is next to the little clock the captions come up!

[@Michael-iu2po]

Vanessa Costa While that's true, the captions are usually never right. This video is no exception. I feel like it would confuse non native speakers more than help them.

[@ButtonPoetry]

Thanks for your feedback, Joana! We're working to get accurate subtitles up on all our videos. Thank you for bearing with us!

[@sierra3934]

Button Poetry I'd also love subtitles! Some videos the audience is too loud & it's not always super easy to hear what they're saying.

[@charlesrainey7439]

+onionpiepandarune Thank you for deciding to censor those words and your statement at the end.

[@shaundarauls1924]

Damn this poem made my cry I felt every fucking word!!

[@sweetspotvtoxboutique1991]

Her Ancestors is Speaking thru her SOUL❤🔥👁🖤💥👁🖤🗣

[@erikal5113]

You could really see her anger and it just makes the poem awesome

[@leilaanderson8948]

Sure blame white people for everything

[@reaganpratt2474]

Honestly my fave poet

[@CashportPrincess]

c'mon somebody!! i dont even use that expression but i had to rejoice & concur in the blackest way i knew how! beautiful job!

[@NicoleABaileyR]

If that isn't passion… I don't know what is. Simply amazing.

[@thegamer74717]

Damn. This was the physical manifestation of powerful.

[@mommiesroc]

Damn. I felt that in every fiber of my being!

[@leolucky7570]

Omg yes Porsha❤️

[@malone2k]

If this doesn't awaken something deep within your soul, I suggest you listen again.

[@SuperVendetta9]

Amen!

[@deejay7060]

It awakened something inside me. And that is Black women don’t bother to get their kids swimming lessons

[@morbidmanuscript9324]

@@deejay7060 go back under your bridge, troll

[@figment641]

The captions don't have the exact same vibe, but it's nice to have them!

[@edsondacosta7638]

Best poem I've ever heard in my life, and my ears been open to this since 96. Good night.

[@mikejean8957]

Powerful!

[@CHEFDISASTER]

Yeah you'll see

[@kyoukokirigiri6859]

honestly amazed i got to see her perform this poem last night in philly. she is truly incredible.

[@MISSChocolateFe]

every time she says i heard... oh Lawd. powerful powerful

[@morbidmanuscript9324]

because the stories come from grieving family trying the get people the hear their story ❤️‍🩹

[@izzyamor2849]

Goosebumps the entire time. I almost cried. I felt everything

[@ally.999]

I love this woman.

[@ladysmith7747]

Odd thing is that even when I was a kid I wondered why I rarely saw black kids swimming in the public pool. I knew that it had to be more than a muscle density thing. I even asked a few of them why they didn't go swimming with us. I just knew that there had to be more to it... but what?

[@personperson3804]

Swim team here, on my team most kids including myself are white, some are Asian, very few black people on our team. The ones that are on the team are really good and like swimming a lot, there just isn't very many.

[@happyhiker2023]

Mine by Rachel father took me to the YMCA so I can learn how to swim when I was 5

[@likechxy]

She was PREACHIN cause I know to was the spirit I felt.. Yassssss

[@rebashley]

Not only are the words powerful, but the deliver is impeccable!

[@bernitawalters2613]

I need to hear more of her work! Until then I will keep this on my watch list

[@nakanakes]

Porsha! I’m so glad I found you. You were the confirmation I needed. Continue leaving us speechless with your words ❤️

[@tiffanygarcia3752]

🥶🥶 so cold

[@shawntelwiley8183]

I absolutely love all of her work. The perfect combination of viciousness and truth. #PoetryPerfection

[@ruseangirl]

damn near died cos I held my breath when she went in! powerful!

[@leolucky7570]

The moment she said "why are black people afraid of water" I knew

[@caraawankem9881]

😂😂😂

[@ensolo7852]

Chills. I love her.

[@pla4825]

This lady is fucking fantastic

[@rickybartee477]

Yes, yes, yes, you beautiful, BEAUTIFUL Black Queen!

[@khadijahalred1366]

So raw!

[@abbiebrannon5918]

Im black and i don't like water, but hell ill swim in it if i have too.

[@TruBeauty15]

Chills running down my body right now.

[@thedynastycontinues945]

Because youre a moron.

[@cococowiya1]

Always gives me goosebumps

[@lilmisssunsett]

Damnnn!! this is fire..love it

[@TSpeaks]

Wow, the amount of people in these comments who don’t understand that this is a POEM at a POETRY SLAM is shocking. Y’all this isn’t a debate, it’s art and metaphor. She isn’t saying Black people can’t or don’t swim Now-but it is a stupid stereotype that “Black people can’t swim.” She is challenging that stereotype by confronting it-answering the rhetorical questions of “why can’t black people swim”? This is her response. Anyone who takes it literal is purposefully missing the point. So good on you.

[@DomTrotter2012]

So much raw emotion, you can hear it in ever word. Loved the word pronunciation.

[@clarkkent6035]

Feeling like a fish out of water

[@benjaminaridiscgolf1874]

in Austin, TX they would be yelling "TELL THEM ALL THE THINGS!!!!!"

[@tretaylor86]

Chills..... Wow beautiful

[@samanthasy9290]

the truth just gave me chills

[@jeremyperdomo7618]

Woah. God bless her, cause with that mentality in life, she sure is gonna need it.

[@jahleelahshaheed6481]

Incredible.

[@akeemmartin3056]

My god this is good!

[@pamelagibson4758]

This "one" is POWERFUL! Child you're good, you told our story, you screamed our condition and you told us WHY! That "one" brought tears to my eyes. It was like you reached inside of me and touched the spirit of those ancestors who went through it. The one who imprinted those experiences on my DNA. I'm always "moved" by the "hardships and injustices" of my people of yesterday and today.

[@OhhhLaverne]

Why only 2.23 seconds ... Cant get enough. Im addicted to your voice.

[@Sumayyahsikiru]

OMG!... OLAYIWOLA! I'm so glad she's got Nigerian origin.

[@sashafierce1011]

Solid delivery. Powerful message.

[@tarabesque3328]

So I saw people asking for subtitles and turned on the KZbin ones and they're so inaccurate wow

[@GaryMorin]

that's because most (hearing) people don't give a crap about accessibility and only use people with disabilities for political expediency, to appropriate access when it supports their own cause. adding real captioning is "too much bother" for most people - and ASSume that KZbin's auto-generated captions are "good enough" - they're not.

[@akeylamonea4639]

She is perfection

[@chstrackbeast]

we have heavier bone densities too.....that's why we can jump high and run so fast. So if you're black and can swim well....your perfection lol

[@nolinsummers4776]

The fastest (don't know if he still holds that record) man alive was black....

[@cynthialewis7645]

im black..mixed with other races... but imhorrible at jumping and running. but i can swim well

[@elizaschuyler3493]

I am faster runner and higher jumper than my sister but she can swim faster, she has more upper body strength lol, shes a goalie and Im a forward/mid so it make sense now that I think about it.

[@lucasj04]

Holy shit, that is amazing!

[@Kozenshi]

This is fucking stupid, 2010? The reason modern day black people don't know how to swim is the fault of white people? Pffffftttt of course it is, what isn't? Why should black parents be expected to to teach their kids anything? That would obviously be a ridiculous expectation.

[@leilaanderson8948]

@@Kozenshi ,true, seems to me that nowadays everything is running on emotion instead of logic

[@forestdaydreams9447]

@@Kozenshi yes! the undelying implication is that white people should do everything for black ppl because theyre incapable of doing it themselves , which is ironically quite racist.

[@Calynsaysrawr23]

So, SO powerful.

[@lyniese.bsangin7403]

if she has written a book trust ima find and buy it

[@robh3865]

Now that shit is funny. Anyone can swim if they momma teach them somethin.

[@henny6365]

Yes let people who don’t know who to swim teach their kids how to swim because that makes perfect sense e

[@robh3865]

Flap yo arms and kick yo feet there is your swimming lesson for the day. STOP CRYING ABOUT EVERY GOT DAMN THING.

[@bobbileon33]

She is the truth

[@thedynastycontinues945]

Shes a dumbass. As are you.

[@KyleenRomero]

wayyy amazing much love

[@IMETGODSHEBLACK]

This was too powerful !

[@taylurwitha_u]

Just experienced this poem live last night. So thankful to have found it on KZbin so I can experience it again and again. This is power. This is truth. I am moved by this.

[@ssmith278]

It's delusional.

[@jammintoast]

Fucking REAL.

[@tamarraglover-fowler9476]

RAW! Love it!

[@yontaesamples7136]

This hit me so hard.

[@nthipelengmakgeta1835]

Wow

[@Fashiondiva1998]

I saw her do this live. Great experience

[@Casa.dos.Orixas]

ARITANA DE OXÓSSI 🍃🌼🧚‍♀️🧚‍♂️

[@xcaliber8207]

YES

[@ayannacriner7639]

amen

[@ztwilisrealm]

Im suprised that most black people are water beinders in avatar Also: BLack people are people who are dark skin, not just africans

[@violetnautilus4100]

Pretty sure they're Inuit, not black

[@faithdell]

this is powerfullll!!!! chills my my my

[@RehemaMageto]

I love Porsha so much👏❤

[@UrbanGoddess88]

Literally took my breath away... Incredibly powerful! Great job young lady :)

[@GrannyGamer1]

Even something as prosaic, as common, as water has profound significance in a context of African American history.

[@tlg-]

WOW.

[@miriameclipse7953]

MY GOD HER VOICE IS A GIFT

[@googleisannoying8185]

damn, so much fire

[@michaelprescotjr.3393]

1:47

[@JoeCensored]

The problem is caused by parents not signing their kids up for swim class like all the families with swimming kids do. But blaming others gets more applause I would guess.

[@ceciliachaubo6993]

I think you really do not underdstand at all the propose and the real problem!!!! This is not so easy ! You seem so Ignorant that a shame

[@deejay7060]

It doesn’t get any easier than getting your kids swimming lessons. But I guess when u shit out multiple kids with multiple men who don’t stick around, you’re gonna be stuck with the dilemma of: “hmmmm...what should I spend my WIC card money on? Swimming lessons for my kids, or weave for myself”

[@nickic2783]

It’s called generational trauma, but obviously her poem went over your head

[@morbidmanuscript9324]

Yes they can “blame others” when others directly brutalized and victimized them. Whites can’t throw the stone and then act like it fell out of the sky by accident..

[@exclusivehandsinc.2088]

Powerful.✊

[@anony4645]

COME THROUGH SIS ‼️🔥

[@daniellemcalpine-hawkins6756]

I hope you're a psychiatrist telling her to come through the door so you can help her delusional thoughts

[@mannyb6144]

@@daniellemcalpine-hawkins6756 my thaughts exactly!!

[@nealsade]

Chills🙌🏾

[@simsimma9622]

Most black folks in the Caribbean can swim great.

[@ceciliachaubo6993]

Nope not true at all

[@deejay7060]

Anyone can swim great if their parents get them swimming lessons at a young age

[@ameerar8891]

Always come back to this poem.. I get all choked up every time too...

[@deejay7060]

I’ve got a great poem for u then. Roses are red, violets are blue. Teach your fucking kids how to swim, so u don’t have to worry about them drowning.

[@godofnothing428]

Dee Jay 70 roses are red Violets are blue You missed the whole point How can you be so stupid

[@deejay7060]

David Adesegun I got the point loud and clear: slavery, that happened 200 years ago is why black kids can’t swim today. It has nothing to do with irresponsible procreating, with multiple men who aren’t around to help raise said kids. My wife and I have 2 kids. We got them swimming lessons before the age of 10, and guess what? They can swim.

[@godofnothing428]

Dee Jay 70 yep missed it

[@ashleyr.williams9881]

She gives me chills, you can feel her passion