Thanks for everything, Nikki Giovanni

RIP, Nikkie Giovanni.

I was blessed to see her speak at Van Meter Hall at my alma mater, Western Kentucky University, in early 2004. It was such an amazing and memorable experience for me.

She kept telling the few Black people in the audience: “Black people: we’ve GOT to go to Mars!” It was such a random declaration that wasn’t so random at all. If Whitey’s On the Moon, then why not Black people on the red planet?

Another moment I recall is her take on the Justin Timberlake-Janet Jackson Super Bowl fiasco, which had just happened days prior to her speaking engagement. She said the outrage was not about Pasties-gate. “How dare a Black woman show her Black titties on national television?” she said, which made us all burst into laughter.

She was serious, though. “I don’t know why they’re so mad at her for that.” It was refreshing to hear because Ms. Jackson has spent the next two decades dealing with the aftermath of that bullshit. I stopped listening to his music immediately after that incident.

I was only a sophomore that year, and no other speaker topped her. She was truly one of a kind.

Here’s a great clip of her full interview with James Baldwin: