June Jordan

This volume holds key works including "Poem About My Rights," "Poem About Police Violence," "Free Flight," and an essay by the poet, "For the Sake of the People's Poetry: Walt Whitman and the Rest of Us." June Jordan was a fierce advocate for the safety and humanity of women and Black people, and for the freedom of all people- and Barack Obama made a line from this book famous: "We are the ones we have been waiting for." With love and humor, via lyrics...

"Poet, activist, and essayist June Jordan is a prolific, significant American writer who pushed the limits of political vision and moral witness, traversing a career of over forty years. With poetry, prose, letters, and more, this reader is a key resource for understanding the scope, complexity, and novelty of this pioneering Black American writer. From "Poem about Police Violence": Tell me something what you think would happen if everytime they kill...

"A collection drawn from June Jordan's previous books"-- This collection of poems-- some previously unpublished-- provides a distillation of Jordan's very best works over a long career. Her poems arose out of the crises of their eras, but timelessly address subjects such as police brutality, systemic racism, and the struggle for global solidarity among marginalized people. -- adapted from back cover