One Can Make a Difference (30 page)

At ten, I gave my first public performance in church, and by fifteen I had a pretty strong following in my hometown amongst the African-Caribbean and Asian community. I was thrilled, but even at that age I knew I wanted to reach more people, I wanted to reach outside of the black community. So in 1979, I headed to London. Getting noticed by the public was very gradual for me. I remember around 1982–83 people writing about me and saying, he's important 'cause of all the things he talks about. I would say things that I thought were pretty average and then it would be quoted in the newspaper the next day and I couldn't believe it was that important! Over the years, I realized that it's not just about me. There's a lot of work to be done. Back then, the first thing I set out to do was popularize poetry. The dead image that academia presented of poetry frustrated me. I wanted people who didn't read books, those who couldn't read books, and those who were avid readers alike to witness a book coming to life on stage. My poetry was political, musical, radical, relevant, and, over time, on television! I was able to talk about topics that were important to me in a manner that felt true to me and people listened.

One of the areas I feel strongly about is domestic abuse. My father was very violent toward my mother. Anytime I see a frying pan on the floor I get real shivers. I remember hearing a noise downstairs in the middle of the night, and I went down and my mother and father were quiet because they were surprised that I was there, and my mother was tearful, but quietly tearful.There was a frying pan on the floor, and I thought that was a strange place for it. You don't usually see a frying pan on the floor. I said, “Mom, what is the frying pan doing on the floor?” And my mother just burst into tears and said, “Your daddy hit me with it! Your daddy hit me with it!” The first time I ever ended up in a police station it was because I stabbed my father with this little knife I had bought for sixpence, a toy really, but I had to in order to save my mother's life.

Seeing what my mother went through really made me think about women's rights. In my poetry I express my belief that in many ways women's rights have taken a step back in Britain. A lot of women think that they've arrived because they can compete with the men in the boardroom as if that's some kind of liberation. That because they can earn as much money as men, because they can drink as much beer as men and get as drunk as men, they think that's liberation. I think one has to be very careful. It's not simply just about equality. Equality on its own is not good enough. What's the use of a woman wanting equality with a man who's already oppressed? Do you want to be equally oppressed? No, we should be getting together and having full liberation. It all comes down to politics.

There's a political poem that is really crucial written by Adrian Mitchell. It's a very simple poem, only three lines and the top line is just the bottom line in a different order and the middle line is only one word. So, let me give it to you. It says:

Most people ignore most poetry
Because
Most poetry ignores most people

I think that's beautiful. And I think you can change the word poetry. You can say most people ignore most politics because most politics ignore most people. Nevertheless, positive change can happen in the most unexpected ways. I always think of the suffragette movement. Women in Britain, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States have the right to vote, and it can all be traced back to the suffragette movement. These women have gone down in history. This was never a great big, massive movement. Actually it was a small group of women who sat around eating biscuits and drinking tea, that went, “you know what, why can't we have the vote?” I want to tell people through my work to never feel that you're too small. Even if there are three of you and your cause is just, believe in it. A handful of women in London went, “Hey, we shouldn't take this,” and their actions can be traced to women voting in Africa and Asia and all over the world now. It was never like the civil rights movement in the United States or anything like that. It was very small and dedicated. It wasn't about their numbers; it was the dedication they had that was important.

Resources

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Trekkies 2,
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The National Center for Family Literacy puts parents in the forefront of their children's learning.

Bacon, Kevin
Six Degrees
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Six Degrees uses the concept that everyone is separated by six degrees to raise funds for charities.

Bardot, Brigitte
Brigitte Bardot Foundation for Animals
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Dulaine, Pierre
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Dancing Classrooms teaches ballroom dance to elementary, middle school, and high school students. Classes are available for any child regardless of background or experience.

Fernandez, Dr. Armida
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The Jivamukti Yoga Centers are places for spiritual gathering that offer vigorous Hatha Yoga classes with an emphasis on the source teachings from such ancient texts as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Upanishads.

Gardner, John
ViewPlus
1853 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333
541-754-4002
www.viewplus.com
ViewPlus develops technologies that minimize the communication gap between those who are blind and those who can see. Such products include: a line of four Tiger
^®
Braille printers of various speeds and sizes, two HP Inkjet ink and Braille systems, the IVEO Tactile-Audio System, the Tiger Software Suite (Braille translation software and tactile graphics design studio), as well as the Audio Graphing Calculator.

Granatelli, Andy
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Hartwell, Ru
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Harvey, Larry
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Heimlich, Dr. Henry
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Deaconess Foundation
311 Straight St.
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The Institute encourages others to use the creative portion of their minds in medicine and life.

Hork, Dana
Change for Change
345 E. 77th St., Suite 2E
New York, NY 10021
www.changeforchange.org
Change for Change provides cups and other accessories to communities that enable them to collect change to donate to a charity of their choice.

Hosking, Rebecca
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Level 2, 15-17 Young Street
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Planet Ark works to help people reduce the day-to-day impact on the environment.

Kevan, Robin
Rob the Rubbish
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Personal Web site dedicated to Robin Kevan's work to keep his community clean.

Kucinich, Representative Dennis
Peace Alliance
1730 Rhode Island Ave. NW
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Peace Alliance is a citizen action organization for peace.

Kuhn, Heidi
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1299 Fourth St., Suite 200
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1-888-ROOTS-31
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Laflin, Bonnie-Jill
www.bonnie-jill.com
View Bonnie-Jill Laflin's acting, modeling, and sports broadcasting career.

Maathai, Wangari
Green Belt Movement
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Green Belt Movement provides income and sustenance to millions of people in Kenya through the planting of trees. It also conducts educational campaigns to raise awareness about women's rights, civic empowerment, and the environment throughout Kenya and Africa.

Mazahery, Lily
One Million Signatures Campaign
www.weforchange.info
The One Million Signatures Campaign offers support toward Iranian women who are striving to reform laws and achieve equal status in Iran.

McCartney, Sir Paul
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McCartney, Stella
Stella McCartney Designs
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McHenry, Keith
Food Not Bombs
PO Box 424
Arroyo Seco, NM 87514
505-776-3880
www.foodnotbombs.net
Food Not Bombs protests war and poverty while sharing free vegetarian food with the hungry.

McLaughlin, John
www.johnmclaughlin.com

Mintz, Arthur
Medical Ambassadors (now called LifeWind)
PO Box 576645
Modesto, CA 95357-6645
209-524-0600
www.lifewind.org
LifeWind works in rural villages and urban slums to empower local leaders to address their community's problems by looking at the root of poverty and disease.