Street Roots • January 16-22, 2015
News
Page 7
A beginner’s reading list
of black feminism
uriya A u fr/s work is informed by
Black Feminism, a school of thought
emphasizes the intersection of class,
gender and race in oppressive social
structures. Black feminist works most
often focus on documenting the varied
experiences of black women and their
struggles for self-realization and identity.
Here are Turiya Autry’s four must-reads
for anyone looking to learn more about
Black Feminism.
■
» Black Feminist Thought:
Knowledge, Consciousness and the
Politics of Empowerment by Patricia
Hili Collins
■ Assata: An Autobiography by
Assata Shakur: First published in 1990,
this critical text was among the first to
specifically name and define Black
Feminism. The book explores the work
of several prominent black feminists,
using their writings across different time
periods and genres to form a critical
framework for Black Feminist thought
and critique. Activist and former Black
Panther Assata Shakur wrote this
autobiography while in exile in Cuba,
where she remains today.
Turiya Autry
The Portland performer, poet and activist hits the stage with a timely
one-woman show about a young black woman’s search for identity
BY ANN-DERRICK GAILLOT
STAFF W RITER
" T - ^ o r the past two decades poet,
M perform er and teaching artist Turiya
Autry has been getting up close and
personal with Portland audiences. Known
for her visceral, lyrical autobiographical
pieces, she works in many mediums, from
radio shows and slam poetry competitions to
her education and mentorship work through
both Portland State University and Caldera
Arts, where she served as education
director.
Last year the seasoned slam poet
released “Roots, Reality & Rhyme,” her
debut poetry book following a young black
woman’s search for identity as she navigates
poverty, violence, oppression and
motherhood. The collection seemed to come
at the perfect time. As police brutality
against African American men continues to
be a national talking point, “Roots, Reality &
Rhyme: offers insight into the much
overlooked experience of black women in
America and the oppression they face.
This month Autry and director Kevin
Jones will premiere “Roots, Reality &
Rhyme: The One-Woman Show.” It’s a
multimedia poetry performance based on
the book. The show will be one of several
works premiering as part of Fertile Ground
2015, a city-wide festival theater festival
focused on highlighting new works in the
Portland performing arts scene.
I recently sat down with Autry for coffee
and to talk about her one-woman show, the
purpose of art and poetry, and what is next
for this tireless activist artist.
JL
A nn-D errick Gaillot: What was the
genesis of this project?
T uriya A utry: It was right around this
time last year that I self-published the book
“Roots, Reality and Rhyme,” and I had this
vision of a one-woman show for this project
to kind of dose the chapter. So this is
actually the stories behind some of the
poems.
It talks about my experience with
domestic violence as a child, my mother’s
experience with that. It talks about assault,
about being homeless briefly, finding out
I’m pregnant with my daughter, all these
really personal things that a lot of people
don’t know about my story. My hope is that
it’s beautiful and transformative. Then my
other goals would be in telling my story,
connecting it to the bigger story. I think we
hear a lot of statistics about what it is to be
black and a woman and poor and a single
mother, all those different demographic
things, but it doesn’t get personalized. It’s
just these numbers. I think people are really
immune to that information. (For example)
there’ve been some recent studies that were
done where they interviewed thousands of
black women and come to find out that out
of the pool like 60 to 80 percent of those
black women have experienced assault by
their early 20s. So what does that really
mean to think that most black women have
been assaulted, that a large percentage will
deal with domestic violence? We see those
numbers but we don’t ever have to deal with
black women as human beings. They’re
always still mythic, separate, as if we don’t
need help. There’s this way where black
women are just pushed to the side. So my
hope is to make us more visible and to make
these situations visible in a way that people
can relate to and think about and maybe
start to engage with the community in
different ways. I want other people to feel :
empowered to share their stories. So while
it’s my story, I’m very aware that it’s not the
individual: It’s this bigger picture and I’m
just one of many people who have had these
experiences.
A.G.: Tell me about translating this book
into a performance.
T.A.: This book has been this work of
pain and joy and love for over a decade. Only
a small percentage of the poems in here are
actually in the one-woman show. It’s not
going to be just me reading the book. I can
cut and pick what I want to be said and I
don’t have to worry about losing something
because the book still exists as is. Some o fit
has been shifting the language, too. There’s
a poem in there, “Purple and Yellow,” that’s
about the situation with my mother and
domestic violence. It still has those poetic
elements and you don’t necessarily know
whether or not it’s my story. In this I’m
actually going to be talking about my mom
and me at the bus station trying to escape
and about how We actually got Out of that
situation. I talk about some stuff in college. I
reference date rape and slut shaming, so it’s
also this kind of retrospective, meaning
being where I’m at, looking back on it,
analyzing it, seeing how those things shaped
» for colored girls who have
considered suicide/when the rainbow
is enuf by Ntozake Shange.
■ Poem About My Rights by June
Jordan: This choreopoem, a collection
of poems meant to be choreographed
and set to music, presents the
heartwrenching coming of age stories of
seven black women, each representing
a different color of the rainbow.
Demonstrating the many varied and
complex experiences of African
American women, the book is a great
example of black feminist thought as
expressed through poetry and fiction.
me. At the end of the day, what I hope
people take away is that even as we survive
through all this pain and hardship we can
still come out whole and beautiful. We can
choose how those things define us.
A.G.: Do you find yourself thinking about
your audience when you are writing or writing
to a certain audience?
T.A.: I tend to think when I’m writing or
when I’m looking at a piece, that I’ll
probably share it because I perform all the
time. So there’s a way that I’m looking at
pieces as far as how does that sound off the
tongue or is that clear, will people
understand? With a dne-woman show,
because I’m going into really heavy topics
I’ve tried to keep it in a way where hopefully
it’s not triggering. I think about those
things. At the end of the day it’s really abdut
being true to me. I write for myself and to
please me, and then I give it out to the
world. I think that’s a better way to write
See AUTRY, page 9