WHQR Presents... Honoring Juneteenth, From a Poet's Point of View

Published June 20, 2024 at 5:40 PM EDT

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This is WHQR Presents — where we platform creators and people with interesting perspectives from around the region. Today’s show, recorded to commemorate Juneteenth, is From a Poet’s Point of View — from Speak Ya Peace NC, a poetry collective and platform that facilitates art and conversations about issues stemming from racism and other forms of oppression and discrimination.

This show was recorded in honor of Juneteenth, the nineteenth of June — it’s the newest federal holiday, but its roots go back to 1865, when the U.S. Army delivered the emancipation proclamation to Galveston Bay, in Texas, where the last enslaved people finally learned they were free — two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln first issued it.

To commemorate the holiday, Speak Ya Peace convened poets and thinkers who go by Carrie Assata, Mama Makeda, Robert Bellamy, aka Scale HamHawk da Poet, Darryl Mishoe, and Sonya Bennetone Patrick. The group met here at WHQR studios to record the round table you’re about to hear.

A quick note — while WHQR supports artists and the arts, these artists’ views are their own, not WHQR’s. Also, this podcast contains some strong language, and some emotionally charged poetry performances — which we did not edit or censor, and which might not be suitable for all listeners.