In honor of Black Poetry Day, FirstRepair held an evening of poetry celebrating the power of Black voices and art in pursuit of reparations on Friday at FirstRepair’s National Resource Center for State and Local Reparations, 1900 Asbury Ave.
The event, which ran from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. featured poets whose work explores themes of justice, community and Black joy.
The emcee of the night, Jerusalem Singleton, is a Chicago native of Haitian descent. He started by acknowledging the history of Black poetry and activism and followed up with two poems called Epstein’d and First Repair, which tackle the legacy of slavery, former slave-owning institutions and reparations.
Other poets on stage included Christopher Simms from Rockford, Illinois, and Moe Momentum from Chicago’s West Side. They performed poetry on topics that touch on Black communities such as self-worth and the effects of the COVID pandemic.
“This is what poetry is born out of — struggle,” said Singleton on stage. “We laugh harder because we cry harder.”
Tina Penick, assistant to Robin Rue Simmons, founder of FirstRepair and executive director, was an organizer of the event along with Simmons’ daughter, Bailee Rue. Penick also participated, singing Stevie Wonder’s hit, “Love’s in Need of Love Today.”
Along with Poetry Day Showcase, FirstRepair has organized several community events, including a presentation on Marcus Garvey for Black History Month, an exhibit on the Norshore Twelve Debutante Cotillion and a fireside chat with former NBA player Craig Hodges discussing his book Long Shot and his experience with discrimination. These events are part of ongoing efforts to engage the community around reparations, black history and collective learning.
According to Penick, the Resource Center is meant to be a hub for all local, state and global reparations and a melting pot of resources, in order for the Black community in Evanston and beyond to learn about their history.
“We want young children to be able to see themselves in the books, and to know that they can be whatever it is that they want to be, and to know about our history. It’s important to know our history so we don’t go back in our history,” Penick said.
Singleton, who was born and raised between Evanston and Rogers Park, applauds their efforts. He recently returned from a cultural exchange study in France. For him, learning French allowed him to speak more intimately with his Haitian-born mother, who had refused to teach Creole to him and his siblings so they could get more educational opportunities in America.
“Tina, who is an old friend, picked me up from the airport when I got back from France, and she told me about the event that day,” Singleton said. “I’m just like, ‘Yeah, of course, I’ll come be an emcee.’ She’d been telling me about FirstRepair for a while, but I really hadn’t experienced it personally myself.”
According to Singleton, as a Black kid in America, he found poetry to be a safe place for him to “put things down unapologetically,” without having to worry about censorship or hurting other people’s feelings.
“When you get to an event, you get to share that piece of yourself, which is really difficult, but I’ve been doing it since I was a kid, so I’m very used to it,” said Singleton. “This is my first time, like coming to any of their events or being in their space. And I gotta tell you, it’s lovely. It’s really nice … I’m really glad that I got to see this. I definitely want to stay in touch and up to date with what they’re doing.”
