“You hear me say slavery never ended and you call me insane, but how would you know? Privilege lives in your blood.” 

This is a line from first-year Merry Yirga’s poem that she read at last Thursday’s Poetry Slam—hosted by Black Student Alliance—in honor of Black History Month. BSA invited students from EMU, as well as students from On The Road Collaborative, a non-profit after-school program based in Harrisonburg, to participate in the night of self-expression. The evening’s readings ranged from heavy and vulnerable to lighthearted and funny—they all aimed to honor identities. 

This event happened last year as well, and it has resonated well with many students at EMU and within On The Road Collaborative. “I feel like after today, this is going to be an annual thing,” said junior Jakiran Richardson. Richardson created the event last year with sophomore Alexa Lahr. Richardson said “[He didn’t] think we were going to do it again… But the thing is, On the Road Collaborative reached out to us… They were really excited about it.” 

On The Road Collaborative runs in Skyline Middle School, Thomas Harrison Middle School, and Harrisonburg High School. The program offers enrichment classes that aims to expose students to careers and get them excited for their futures. Students from one of the career enrichment classes called “Voices” partnered with BSA for this year’s Poetry Slam. The class is centered around writing and self-reflection.

Middle and high school students brought in their poetry and writings from the class to the event, accompanied by EMU students who did the same. Whether 12 or 22 years old, many of the readers shared their experiences with racism and struggles with identity. First-year Merry Yirga read a poem about racism and privilege. “Slavery was legal, being black was the crime… Can you really blame me? Can you really blame me for speaking so much about my pain?”

Some of the students from On The Road Collaborative also shared two voice poems about identity—one student stood at one microphone and one at the other. They took turns sharing things that differed between them and then something they shared. Below is a brief example from one of the poems: 

“I play soccer,” one student said. 

“And I play basketball,” the other student said. 

“We both play volleyball,” they said together. 

After they read the poem, Richardson got up and gave them props: “You wrote that yesterday?” 

First-year Skylar Washington shared a lighthearted poem about home. Throughout the poem she described her desire to stay home, closing with, “For I am home, in my bed, I shall stay.” 

That line got the audience laughing. When asked if he had a favorite poem, Richardson said that they were all so good that he couldn’t even pick one.