The Intercultural Community Center (ICC) and OXY ARTS hosted “They Can’t Take Away Our Words,” an open mic centering poets of color March 28. The event took place at the OXY ARTS Gallery.
The event was open to the public and featured guest poets Aman K. Batra, Yesika Salgado, Alyesha Wise, Tiffany Ike and Bay Davis.
Davis closed out the event with several poems about her experiences with love, self-expression and confidence as an Afro-Indigenous transgender woman.
Reyan Nguy* (sophomore) said the English department co-sponsored the event with the Remsen Bird Fund. Nguy organized the event with Associate Director of Racial Equity Danielle Harris, who was a part of the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) when she was in college.
“We would have poetry competitions and travel all in the name of poetry and spoken word,” Harris said. “Seeing that at Oxy got me really excited. I really wanted to do something to honor the femme women of color in Los Angeles.”
Harris said she and Nguy told the poets to bring two to three poems or a 10-minute set based on the main themes of the event, which included femme empowerment and the phrase “They can’t take away our words.”
Nguy said she and Harris asked guests to wear the color purple for Women’s History Month and wear formal clothing to create an environment where students had the opportunity to dress up.
Nguy said she started the Poets of Color open mic last year during April, which is National Poetry Month. Nguy said this year she wanted to plan the event in March for Women’s History Month.
“I’ve always had a strong relationship with poetry. It is my form of self-reflection and escapism,” Nguy said. “In high school I did a lot of open mics, and I wanted to bring that to Oxy. I’m excited to see how this grows now that we have these relationships established.”
Harris said she and Nguy chose OXY ARTS as the location for the event because it is open to the public and Eagle Rock community.
“I love that Occidental is in such a cultural part of Los Angeles. Folks can come and see different installations and learn more about the school and community at large,” Harris said.
Harris said local restaurant Neighbors and Friends catered food for the event.
“Neighbors and Friends is Black, Iranian, queer and woman-owned,” Harris said. “It opened right before the fires and became a hub for folks in Pasadena and Altadena who were needing supplies. They were one of the first organizations who were giving out Black hair care products.”
Nguy said most of the speakers’ work is rooted in feminism, which is why she and Harris chose them to speak at the event.
“Tiffany Ike is my production teacher at Get Lit, a nonprofit youth poetry organization,” Nguy said. “When I invited her to the event, I told her to write whatever. The fact that she is a woman taking up space for herself is powerful enough.”
Harris said she and Nguy wanted to invite poets from different backgrounds so audience members felt equally represented.
“Yesika Delgado […] is a really big force in the Latina community. She does a lot of work around body shame and positivity,” Harris said. “I thought [Aman Batra] could be powerful. Bay Davis is central in South Central LA and puts on for her hood. They’re both community-minded and organizers at heart.”
Guest speaker Alyesha Wise said Harris was a student of hers at the Spoken Literature Art Movement (SLAM), a spoken word poetry organization that focuses on accessible workshops for individuals interested in expanding their penmanship.
“All of my performances, no matter what, are politically aligned. I consider my poems healing and medicine,” Wise said. “I’m not the first poet to say this, but [poetry] is spirit work.”
Wise said she is also the Director of Programming for Street Poets Inc., an organization that delivers poetry programming to schools and community programs around LA county.
“I truly believe in collaboration. My biggest successes have happened when my community believes in and shows up for me. I believe in my voice now more than ever,” Wise said.
Wise said she believes centering poets of color is important to poetry because society continues to ignore marginalized and valuable voices. She said she believes that art can create gentle and intentional conversations that foster progress.
“No matter what marginalized hat you wear, there’s somebody with more power and privilege trying to diminish your story,” Wise said. “I visualize a world where we don’t need to write poems about what we want or deserve; a world where these poems are unnecessary. Until then, I’m going to continue writing and speaking up for those who deserve it.”
Contact Josey Long at jlong2@oxy.edu
*Reyan Nguy is a former staff writer for The Occidental
