Page 8 - Florida Sentinel 4-26-19

Feature
Renowned Poet Nikki Giovanni Tells GEBA Audience To ’Stand Up For What’s Right’
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
So just how gutsy is Nikki Giovanni? Here’s an exam- ple.
The decorated poet and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., was visiting with the esteemed civil rights activist Rosa Parks, a mem- ber of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., when this dia- logue ensued:
“’Ms. Parks, you’ve done so much it’s a shame you made that one mistake’,” Gio- vanni said. “Ms. Parks was a very cool person. Her face
kind of dropped and she said, ‘What’s that?’
“’You’re an AKA.’”
Giovanni divulged her sassy side Monday during her keynote address at the 36th Annual Scholarship Banquet hosted by the George Edge- comb Bar Association (GEBA).
The 75-year-old word- smith held nothing back from the audience of nearly 400 at the Hilton in downtown Tampa, dishing out stories with humor on surviving breast cancer, Jesus, and President Donald Trump in her trademark crass style.
Poet, author, writer, com- mentator, activist and educa- tor, Nikki Giovanni was the Keynote Speaker for the GEBA Scholarship Banquet. (Photo by Ricky Roberts)
Giovanni (4th from left) posed with several members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (Photo by Kenya Woodard)
Giovanni was frank about her battle with breast cancer, including a mastectomy.
“If you have breast cancer, you think everyone knows,” she said. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
Of Trump, she got right to the point: “I don’t trust any- one who doesn’t have a dog.”
“Democrats are stalling to impeach Trump when it’s ap- parent he’s not service,” Gio- vanni said.
“Impeachment is not about a crime,” she said. “It’s about let’s talk about what this person has done. Is he fit for leadership?”
Trump, has “made cow- ards of white men,” she said. “They are afraid of people coming to this country.”
Giovanni said she was disappointed in evangelical Christians because they “let Trump lie” instead of taking on the true example of Jesus.
Jesus, she said, “didn’t love
everybody. He barely got along with Joseph.”
“We’re not here to love every damn body,” she said. “Some of them are fools.”
Jesus offered an example of this during his crucifixion. The man on the cross to his right, rejected Christ’s words of comfort. But the man on the left professed his belief in the Messiah and Jesus promised he would be with him in para- dise.
“If we follow Jesus, we know to be really, really care- ful to not talk to the man on the right,” she said.
In a moment of serious- ness, Giovanni implored au- dience members to use their voices to fight against injus- tice.
“We need your voice...be- cause what’s going on in the United States is wrong,” she said. “Have the heart to stand up for that which you know is right.”
PAGE 8-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2019