Poet Performs at Assembly

Nationally-acclaimed slam poet Clint Smith performed and spoke at Tuesday’s assembly about historical and ongoing prejudices facing the African American community and about finding his voice as an artist and teacher. He held a lunch in the Latin Study later that day, during which he answered questions from uppers reading his work for their English classes.Smith, a New Orleans native, graduated from Davidson College with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. He is now a doctoral candidate at Harvard University analyzing mass incarceration, the sociology of race and the history of American inequality.Smith discovered the art of slam poetry in 2008 at a New York cafe. Since then, Smith has become the 2014 National Poetry Slam champion, an Individual World Poetry Slam finalist, a Cave Canem fellow and a Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop fellow. He has served as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. Department of State. His writing has been published in The New Yorker, The Guardian, Boston Review, American Poetry Review and Harvard Educational Review, among other publications. Smith has also delivered two TED Talks, which have garnered over 5 million views online.During Tuesday’s assembly, Smith performed several of his spoken word pieces, including My Father is an Oyster, History Reconsidered, How to Raise a Black Son in America, My Jump Shot and What the Ocean Said to the Black Boy. He also read excerpts from his recently published collection of poetry, Counting Descent, which was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award.

“The subjects in his speech were very honest and relatable, and I’m glad he chose to use an artistic media to express them, because his poetry could reach all audience members.”

Through his poetry, Smith addressed themes of racial and social injustices and the effects of former oppression on recent racial tensions. He paired his own personal experience with historical context to create metaphors for complicated racial issues.Lower Alayna D’Amico appreciated Smith’s poetry, and found it an engaging platform for relating the African American experience to a broader audience. “The subjects in his speech were very honest and relatable, and I’m glad he chose to use an artistic media to express them, because his poetry could reach all audience members,” said D’Amico. “Using that media, especially at a school with such diverse opinions, to introduce his topic was efficient because more people listened. His speech has inspired me to be more observant [and] more aware of others’ experiences.”English instructor Christina Breen also found Smith’s poetry to be an effective way to share the African American experience, explaining why she chose to teach Smith’s book, Counting Descent, to her upper class. “The poems [are] topical, relevant, and powerful because they so [clearly] speak the truth of growing up as an African American boy in this current society,” she said.Smith also discussed how important political and social movements, like the Civil Rights Movement, are likened to “caricatures” of the actual event. These movements are often overlooked or disregarded for their vast amounts of reform. “I hope that they [the students] realize how important it is to confront history and challenge history and challenge our traditional notions of what the history of the United States and the world is,” Smith said.Smith embraced the consonance of poetry and political reflection, saying “sometimes we operate under this notion that one’s art and one’s politics should be separate, and that if somebody’s artistic form is imbued with some larger political message, it compromises the integrity of the work.”Smith went on, warning against writing vicariously. He said that he believes that words lose their innate meaning when they are written for someone other than the writer. “I think a lot about history in my writing and what it means to write from a place of truth or a place of honesty and to not write simply to align with the traditional notion of what you think it means to be a writer,” he said. “But instead, to create a new definition for yourself about what that means in what sort of work you want to put out into the world.”He explained that he tries to use his platform to push others to be more thoughtful and empathetic. “I don’t think empathy is at all mutually exclusive from activism, and in order to effectively confront what is a very new and uncertain political moment, you’re going to need a lot of both,” he said.Upper Chi-Chi Ikpeazu agreed with Smith, noting the ubiquitous reception of his words. “I appreciated how Mr. Smith was able to address problems that he saw through spoken word and poetry,” she said. “His message reached audience members in such an amazing magnitude, especially those who are not of color.”Upper CJ Penn, one of Breen’s students, felt that the reception of Smith’s performance was overwhelmingly positive, noting that Smith received snaps and a standing ovation from the audience. “Smith’s delivery in his pieces, which had such meaning to them, was passionate and full of energy. This was clearly shown by the reaction of the audience,” Penn said.Breen concurred with Penn about the audience’s enjoyment of Smith’s performance. “It was exciting for me to see the students respond with the same excitement to Clint’s poems that I felt in first hearing them,” she said. “The students connected with him immediately and seemed to enjoy the audience response elements of spoken word poetry.”Smith expressed his gratitude for the inclusiveness of the spoken word community and how it has encouraged him to expand his views on society.“The spoken word community is a place that has shaped my writing but also has shaped me personally and has shaped many of my politics,” he explained. “It pushed me to be more intersectional in my politics and in my thinking and to consider the ways in which we sort of navigate the world with many of the identities that shape how we operate in society.”