WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.830 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.830 --> 00:00:09.380 align:middle line:84% After Sept-- after 9/11, I wrote some poems. 00:00:09.380 --> 00:00:11.180 align:middle line:90% My daughter had her-- 00:00:11.180 --> 00:00:13.970 align:middle line:84% no her second, the one who's now six-- 00:00:13.970 --> 00:00:16.790 align:middle line:90% her baby a week before. 00:00:16.790 --> 00:00:18.740 align:middle line:84% And she wouldn't put the baby down. 00:00:18.740 --> 00:00:20.270 align:middle line:84% Her husband called me and said, Ma, 00:00:20.270 --> 00:00:22.610 align:middle line:84% she's not going to put the baby down. 00:00:22.610 --> 00:00:25.100 align:middle line:84% And she just sat in the rocking chair and held the baby 00:00:25.100 --> 00:00:26.570 align:middle line:90% and fed her. 00:00:26.570 --> 00:00:28.310 align:middle line:90% And she called. 00:00:28.310 --> 00:00:30.050 align:middle line:84% I talked to her, and she just thought-- 00:00:30.050 --> 00:00:32.000 align:middle line:84% she knew she couldn't protect the baby. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:35.998 align:middle line:84% This had made her think that, and so she was afraid. 00:00:35.998 --> 00:00:37.040 align:middle line:90% Well, we were all afraid. 00:00:37.040 --> 00:00:38.570 align:middle line:84% If we are not afraid most of the time, 00:00:38.570 --> 00:00:39.653 align:middle line:90% something's wrong with us. 00:00:39.653 --> 00:00:42.590 align:middle line:84% We are negating a lot of stuff with what 00:00:42.590 --> 00:00:44.000 align:middle line:90% the world is really like. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:46.520 align:middle line:84% And I tend to think minority people know what the world is 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:49.730 align:middle line:90% like because they've seen it. 00:00:49.730 --> 00:00:52.160 align:middle line:84% I said that until Bush declares the Ku Klux 00:00:52.160 --> 00:00:54.733 align:middle line:84% Klan a terrorist organization, I'm 00:00:54.733 --> 00:00:56.900 align:middle line:84% not going to think he knows what he's talking about. 00:00:56.900 --> 00:01:01.082 align:middle line:84% [LAUGHTER] But that's just the way it is. 00:01:01.082 --> 00:01:05.960 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] [INAUDIBLE]. 00:01:05.960 --> 00:01:10.640 align:middle line:84% Anyway, I taught at Columbia University for a while. 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:13.010 align:middle line:84% I've taught at a whole lot of places. 00:01:13.010 --> 00:01:15.830 align:middle line:90% And when the OJ trial-- 00:01:15.830 --> 00:01:20.190 align:middle line:84% not this current one but the big bad one-- 00:01:20.190 --> 00:01:21.800 align:middle line:84% first of all, I thought it was amazing 00:01:21.800 --> 00:01:25.100 align:middle line:84% that the papers kept saying he was a Black hero. 00:01:25.100 --> 00:01:27.350 align:middle line:90% I've known several black people. 00:01:27.350 --> 00:01:28.770 align:middle line:90% None of them ever liked him. 00:01:28.770 --> 00:01:30.020 align:middle line:90% Nobody ever thought about him. 00:01:30.020 --> 00:01:31.460 align:middle line:90% He ran through airports. 00:01:31.460 --> 00:01:33.740 align:middle line:90% I mean that's not exciting. 00:01:33.740 --> 00:01:36.290 align:middle line:90% He made it I hope. 00:01:36.290 --> 00:01:43.130 align:middle line:84% And the students when the verdict came in were so upset. 00:01:43.130 --> 00:01:45.500 align:middle line:84% Oh, my students were just, Oh, Lucille, it's 00:01:45.500 --> 00:01:48.290 align:middle line:90% a miscarriage of justice. 00:01:48.290 --> 00:01:50.330 align:middle line:90% And why aren't you all upset? 00:01:50.330 --> 00:01:54.470 align:middle line:84% And I said, I'm upset, but I can't get over Emmett Till. 00:01:54.470 --> 00:01:57.260 align:middle line:90% I can't get over Dred Scott. 00:01:57.260 --> 00:02:00.840 align:middle line:84% So it's really hard for me to take this on as a miscarriage. 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:03.200 align:middle line:90% This is one of many. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:06.650 align:middle line:84% Anyway, in "September Song, A Poem in Seven Days. 00:02:06.650 --> 00:02:11.520 align:middle line:84% And then I'm going to end with a poem that has no title. 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:17.220 align:middle line:84% "Tuesday-- thunder and lightning, and our world 00:02:17.220 --> 00:02:19.560 align:middle line:90% is another place. 00:02:19.560 --> 00:02:21.480 align:middle line:90% No day will ever be the same. 00:02:21.480 --> 00:02:24.400 align:middle line:90% No blood untouched. 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:27.450 align:middle line:84% They know this storm in other where-- 00:02:27.450 --> 00:02:31.740 align:middle line:90% Israel, Ireland, Palestine. 00:02:31.740 --> 00:02:35.280 align:middle line:84% But God has blessed America, we sing. 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:42.300 align:middle line:84% And God has blessed America to learn that no one is exempt. 00:02:42.300 --> 00:02:44.370 align:middle line:90% The world is one. 00:02:44.370 --> 00:02:46.980 align:middle line:90% All fear is one. 00:02:46.980 --> 00:02:53.550 align:middle line:90% All life, all death, all one. 00:02:53.550 --> 00:02:54.150 align:middle line:90% Wednesday." 00:02:54.150 --> 00:02:57.040 align:middle line:90% These are direct quotes. 00:02:57.040 --> 00:02:58.920 align:middle line:84% "This is not the time, I think, to note 00:02:58.920 --> 00:03:04.770 align:middle line:84% the terrorist inside who threw the brick into the mosque. 00:03:04.770 --> 00:03:06.900 align:middle line:84% This is not the time to note the ones who 00:03:06.900 --> 00:03:10.170 align:middle line:84% cursed God's other name, the ones who 00:03:10.170 --> 00:03:13.230 align:middle line:84% threatened they would fill the streets with Arab children's 00:03:13.230 --> 00:03:14.610 align:middle line:90% blood. 00:03:14.610 --> 00:03:17.500 align:middle line:84% And this is not the time, I think, 00:03:17.500 --> 00:03:22.230 align:middle line:84% to ask who is allowed to be American. 00:03:22.230 --> 00:03:27.060 align:middle line:84% America all of us gathered under one flag, 00:03:27.060 --> 00:03:32.610 align:middle line:84% praying together safely warmed by the single love 00:03:32.610 --> 00:03:34.665 align:middle line:90% of the many tongued God." 00:03:34.665 --> 00:03:38.590 align:middle line:90% 00:03:38.590 --> 00:03:41.050 align:middle line:90% I'm not going to read them all. 00:03:41.050 --> 00:03:46.090 align:middle line:84% "Friday, 9/14-- some of us know we have never felt safe. 00:03:46.090 --> 00:03:52.270 align:middle line:84% All of us Americans weeping as some of us have wept before. 00:03:52.270 --> 00:03:56.110 align:middle line:90% Is it treason to remember? 00:03:56.110 --> 00:03:59.110 align:middle line:90% What have we done-- 00:03:59.110 --> 00:04:04.150 align:middle line:84% what have we done to deserve such villainy? 00:04:04.150 --> 00:04:09.070 align:middle line:84% Nothing we reassure ourselves, nothing." 00:04:09.070 --> 00:04:10.900 align:middle line:84% I remind my students that the only power 00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:14.620 align:middle line:84% on this Earth that has used an atom bomb 00:04:14.620 --> 00:04:17.410 align:middle line:90% is the United States of America. 00:04:17.410 --> 00:04:21.130 align:middle line:84% Twice-- OK, Hiroshima, but then Nagasaki 00:04:21.130 --> 00:04:25.360 align:middle line:90% to test the starting device. 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:31.097 align:middle line:84% What kind of humans do this to other humans? 00:04:31.097 --> 00:04:32.680 align:middle line:84% And then Sunday morning-- my daughter, 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:34.270 align:middle line:84% Bailey is-- my granddaughter, Bailey 00:04:34.270 --> 00:04:36.940 align:middle line:84% is the one who was held by her mother. 00:04:36.940 --> 00:04:38.650 align:middle line:84% And also, it's interesting to note 00:04:38.650 --> 00:04:42.790 align:middle line:84% that was just around the time of Rosh Hashanah. 00:04:42.790 --> 00:04:47.620 align:middle line:84% Anyone-- people know what Rosh Hashanah is, right? 00:04:47.620 --> 00:04:49.810 align:middle line:90% No or yes? 00:04:49.810 --> 00:04:52.240 align:middle line:84% I mean, if you don't, check it out. 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:54.310 align:middle line:84% You know, Jewish people certainly 00:04:54.310 --> 00:04:57.610 align:middle line:90% know what Christmas is. 00:04:57.610 --> 00:04:59.890 align:middle line:84% Why do we-- why do we have to be the ones who 00:04:59.890 --> 00:05:02.040 align:middle line:90% everybody knows all about us? 00:05:02.040 --> 00:05:04.090 align:middle line:84% And we think the world is full of people 00:05:04.090 --> 00:05:06.310 align:middle line:90% who are American or want to be. 00:05:06.310 --> 00:05:08.530 align:middle line:84% Maybe they want to be who they are. 00:05:08.530 --> 00:05:10.780 align:middle line:90% Wouldn't that be odd? 00:05:10.780 --> 00:05:16.030 align:middle line:90% Anyway, I was at my school. 00:05:16.030 --> 00:05:18.220 align:middle line:90% "Sunday morning for Bailey. 00:05:18.220 --> 00:05:23.050 align:middle line:84% The St. Mary's River flows as if nothing has happened. 00:05:23.050 --> 00:05:28.210 align:middle line:84% I watch it with my coffee, afraid and sad, as are we all. 00:05:28.210 --> 00:05:30.070 align:middle line:90% So many ones to hate. 00:05:30.070 --> 00:05:34.060 align:middle line:84% And I, cursed with long memory, cursed with a desire 00:05:34.060 --> 00:05:38.740 align:middle line:84% to understand, have never been good at hating. 00:05:38.740 --> 00:05:43.750 align:middle line:84% Now this new granddaughter, born into a violent world as if 00:05:43.750 --> 00:05:47.170 align:middle line:84% nothing has happened, and I am consumed 00:05:47.170 --> 00:05:51.600 align:middle line:90% with love for all of it. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:57.000 align:middle line:84% The every-dayness of bravery, of fear, of hate, of tragedy, 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:01.890 align:middle line:84% of death and birth, and hope, true as this river, 00:06:01.890 --> 00:06:05.220 align:middle line:84% and especially, with love, Frederica-- 00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:10.770 align:middle line:84% Bailey Fredrica Clifton Goin, for you." 00:06:10.770 --> 00:06:14.070 align:middle line:84% Bailey-- my daughter, Fredrica Clifton, is one of my children 00:06:14.070 --> 00:06:15.210 align:middle line:90% who's dead. 00:06:15.210 --> 00:06:18.420 align:middle line:84% And on her birthday, Frederica's birthday, 00:06:18.420 --> 00:06:21.090 align:middle line:84% the last couple of years, Bailey has called and said, 00:06:21.090 --> 00:06:21.990 align:middle line:90% Grandma, are you sad? 00:06:21.990 --> 00:06:23.650 align:middle line:90% And I say, yes, I'm sad. 00:06:23.650 --> 00:06:25.230 align:middle line:84% And she says, well, remember Grandma, 00:06:25.230 --> 00:06:29.550 align:middle line:84% my name is Bailey Fredrica Clifton Goin. 00:06:29.550 --> 00:06:31.830 align:middle line:90% Is it better now? 00:06:31.830 --> 00:06:34.930 align:middle line:84% And I always say, of course it is. 00:06:34.930 --> 00:06:36.480 align:middle line:90% And then the last of these-- 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:41.580 align:middle line:84% Sunday, Monday rather, sundown, Rosh Hashanah. 00:06:41.580 --> 00:06:45.120 align:middle line:84% And if you know about the celebration, 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:50.790 align:middle line:84% apples and honey are a staple of Rosh Hashanah. 00:06:50.790 --> 00:06:55.890 align:middle line:84% "I bear witness there is no thing more human than hate. 00:06:55.890 --> 00:07:01.740 align:middle line:84% I bear witness there is no thing more human than love. 00:07:01.740 --> 00:07:07.210 align:middle line:84% Apples and honey, apples and honey, what is not lost 00:07:07.210 --> 00:07:09.380 align:middle line:90% is paradise."