This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at FAMU chapter.
World renowned poet, activist and Virginia Tech professor Nikki Giovanni spoke words of wisdom at The Florida State University on January 14th at the university’s Oglesby Union. The event was a part of the 25th Annual Martin Luther King Commemorative Celebration.
Giovanni entertained a crowd of over 300 guests, expressing her controversial views on gun control, the country’s economics, amongst other topics.
Her approach consisted of a combination of humor and bluntness. Giovanni expressed her thoughts on gun control and stated, “The NRA is crazy.” This was her opening statement to the entire lecture and it set a tone for her explanation on numerous topics ranging from the probing minds of college students to poetry to being colored in America. Her approach consisted of a combination of humor and bluntness. The use of rhetoric by Giovanni as she spoke about the immoral acts that our country is partaking in overseas proved she is against wars and she believes peace is a possible solution. Giovanni voiced her opinion on the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting saying, “If they would’ve showed the remains we would’ve been sick to our stomachs.”
Poetry was discussed as well as the world renowned poet discussed that poets “bring new trues” to reality as they express themselves in print.
In reference to her feelings on college students being curious membranes for learning, Giovanni explained that in a scholarly environment students must understand that “we are not here to learn a job, we are here to learn to be citizens. We are here to learn how to think.”
Giovanni’s concepts of American society as a woman of color were expressed clearly as she stated that she believes December 1st should be recognized as a holiday due to it being the exact day in 1959 which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in Montgomery, Alabama. “If we didn’t have Rosa Parks there would be no Martin Luther King Jr.”
Giovanni closed the lecture by reading “In The Spirit of Martin” which was written in honor of the late civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, for a Smithsonian museum exhibition.