Comments on: Poetry is Dangerous via Kazim Ali

By: MSimms

MSimms — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:27:35 +0000

Gees…. I am sorry to hear of this… but its nothing new. We’re at war and we’re scared as a nation and we’re tired and we want our people home. You’re the unfortunate receptive of
patriotism gone wrong.
I think the best way to dispell this kind of thing is to be peaceful, show no weapons, palm open; let them get to know that you arent dangerous — show compassion and mercy against those who would persecute you– remember Jesus– turn the other cheek… eventually they will tire of this gambit and find a new one
Lets all hope and pray for peace for the sakes of both our nations. But until things calm down over there, its not gonna be much better.
Praying for the best for all…

By: emily warn

emily warn — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 02:37:08 +0000

Dear Tom Thompson,
We used Kazim Ali’s title from his listserv post. But I get the point you’re making.
Emily

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 20:37:58 +0000

I have mixed feelings about this. Mr. Ali experienced all kinds of isms in that one instance. That’s neither fair nor just but it’s very American and nothing new–it’s the changing same.
This sort of racial profiling, based on fear and racism and whatever else, has happened to me countless times on college campuses. (College campuses have never been safe for people of color.) It’s happened to me more than once as an undergraduate and at my two graduate schools. Each time I was stopped by campus police. Once a white undergraduate female thought me and a friend “looked suspicious” sitting in a car in the dorm parking lot. We had to produce our student i.d.’s when two police cars arrived. No apologies. Nothing. I reported this and many other instances to university officials (at all of my schools), none of whom ever apologized or really looked into the matters.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” How many times have you heard this? How many times have you rallied when injustice affected someone who didn’t look like you, or spoke differently, or came from a completely different walk of life?
When, poets, was the last time you wrote a poem or a letter to a newspaper or to a news station, addressing all the injustice that rolls down like a mighty river everyday in this country and the rest of the world? Everyday.
What happened to Mr. Ali is not exceptional, neither is his written recollection, which, sadly, is quite typical of someone shocked that he, too, could be the object of such scrutiny. Yes, it can happen to you. And you. And you. And you.
So what are you going to do about it?

By: Tom Thompson

Tom Thompson — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:57:06 +0000

The subject heading the poetry foundation put on this post is a bit disingenuous for what is an utterly clear-minded report.Let’s not trivialize what Kazim wrote by using it as a fuzzy excuse to pat poets on the back when we don’t deserve it. That said, I’m so glad this got posted (thank you Kazim for writing, and Emily for posting)… But this has nothing to do with poetry being dangerous; it has to do with one of the ways racism plays out in American culture today. That last line of Kazim’s is totally, completely, magnificently on target. Thank you.