.org it, just type the other's name in search box is of the page. >> i'm the chairman of the board of directors at the foundation and owner think our friends in the san francisco pretty this year, we began with a unique celebration. and the café and theater and continuing work with another on the most recent for kate,

freedom and decolonization and continuing with the american book award, and the discussion of them bringing us to the 42nd annual american book award. and this addition, presenting far more subsidence and welcoming fission of american literature then any other organization here in the united states, garden that we have cultivated and grown and harvested for many many seasons since 1976, and one of the towering presences in the national arts. in many of america's greatest writers have passed through as members of our board.

[inaudible]. and today, on our board of directors, we have. [inaudible]. united states of america and now calling james, one of our country's foremost novelists. and many others, some in the media today as part of our celebration. i want to emphasize that this inclusion and diversity and equity and more recently become transformed into terms of expediency politically and evocative culture and in fact before this foundation that was led new ground in decades ago

pretty far before these became court hundred corporate buzzwords. it is in fact before elements foundation which was selling this ground. and if not for the american book awards, do not believe that the current trend towards would've ever accord. many scholars and historians and literatures would've agreed with and i think that today, the collection of american book awards serve to emphasize the fact so in considering this vision of of the literature, i want to return to our president on a foundation it. and he will share his thoughts as we formally begin for the 42nd book award. >> thank you for joining us on a sunday afternoon when you can be

watching it and avail football games which i would be watching right now on another screen but thank you for joining us for the 42nd annual book awards hosted by the call this foundation briefly, for those of you have never come to our ceremony so i just want to explain what we do and what we are and how they work. so the columbus foundation was printed in 1976 as a nonprofit educational and service organization it and dedicated to the promotion of an dissemination of contemporary american multicultural literature. and i agree with justin, that these words and diversity and equity and inclusion and multiculturalism has been fashionable but we are talking and writing and celebrating this thing called diversity cycles realism before it became a pump at the hr departments in all across the market and known as asian fusion cuisine, no disrespect there.

but to truly be diverse, multicultural, we needed more than just postcards and slogans and hashtags investors. we need to do the work and specifically, we need to invest in cultural workers. and to have their time and talent in expanding and stretching america to accommodate and recognize uplift and appreciate those many voices and communities and cultures that have always worked to make this country be and to become these voices have talked in the been silenced and sidelined ignored, since hard or band and like many that i'm sure you've heard we live in a post- racial and her than 2008, after we listed and obama fairly we live in a society so we had stop

whining and complaining and in virginia, and alexandria, in loudoun county. [inaudible]. and also entire nation. actually desegregate coming season, loudoun county is ground zero for the national band on crp critical race theory. as time i checked is not being taught in elementary schools no economic it anxiety there but is cultural anxiety so is like saying, but just get over it as of this conversation by diversity and equity and everything is pursuit of imperfectly fine and i give you loudoun county and i give you the aggressive of holden honor education and censoring and silencing those voices in those communities who struggle have basically defined of this

country and the growth of this country on who's back on the rest of us have been able to achieve some sort of the american treatment of this fines ongoing really has not ended and for many of us the way we fight is that we write. so the american book awards and celebrating these authors and writers and poets, today of whom we will be awarding it in his words seek to explain of the three define the reimagined this place in this idea called america or tamika. now how this works, you notice that there is no gold-medal - that is deliberate hand on purpose and every winter is treated equally and it does not matter your self published author, or your percent mother he does not matter if you are many awards and if you are from a big publishing company. what matters is your work of the quality of your work so you will

see next time next year's country is an act together and stop seating - takes it seriously we will all be together as a community in san francisco you will see all of the winners sharing the space equally and there's no courses and the reason why you see this a diversity, of ethnicities race and opinions is because a reflects the diversity of the board which i will get you in a second party and we do not give references to anyone who is from a major publisher or self published party and we do not focus on whether or not it is a novelist or a nonfiction book, we've also written poetry and graphic novels and we really want to write a children's book storytelling and again, it is a word that is elevated as a for all of you now who are winners and it publishers and family members and friends are here, please of the beano that you deserve to be here and it is your work is brought you here pretty again, were 42 years

strong and for many people, it's an award if that is been given to them by writers award is often time once people and to the parts of many others writers and poets and to briefly touch upon the someone reflect a little bit until you better board includes marlon james, and others. [inaudible]. mary anderson, justin. [inaudible]. and we have others on this board. authors and we have playwrights, scholars, historians, authors and it in a guy like me. and we have hundreds every year and we get it down and together as a group and we selected and we debated and then we have the

final brooks and we agree is a book deserving of the american book awards. before i introduce the first american book awards today, please indulge me for a moment, you will notice that we have a different vibe. west coast five, i don't wear a tie nobody judges me and if you were to see us the community and in person and people bringing their parents and people sometimes bring their pets with kids running up and down and there's crying and that's the way it should be. they should be celebrated by the community for the community and often times, there's a certain class that is invited to these prestigious awards. and we have deliberately tried to open it up america literature read and so i hope that you invest in a culture of openness and as such, we are working on this but we do not have the big fancy grass and foundation grants yet.

they often times this is a blood sweat and tears of men and women who do this for free and sometimes you going to the american book awards in the past, they give out a hat and we have evolved and now we have a paypal and website so if you are watching right now, then the foundation is a nonprofit, and tax deductible please go to our website and support the vps and give whatever you can if you paypal please go to our gmail rated and give what you can and everything helps and no one gets rich off of this and it all goes back to the literature in the work in the art and to the artists. hopefully have answered all of your questions. this can got american book awards with the first award winner. receiving the american book award for his brilliant novel

homeland published by company and we heard. [inaudible]. apparently these events and even though the vince's inc. who makes tremendous amount of money and has been renounced by the people actually live in the appalachians, whose essays we awarded a few years ago but there's been for the rest of us that is been ignored as we encounter and survived the 20th anniversary of a the endless war on terror rated were finally in the country grasping with it consequences, some of the communities, and the impact that is had on fellow americans who were seen as enemies predict a fictional novel, and creative know them under novel which makes it sometimes a memoir with personal handed it is a story of how the war on terror has

brought fissures in our country and society, the means and the american dream and who gets to achieve it when he talks about the student who led to the tropism and led to trump and that we are still dealing with now and through the personal story of a father and a son. in the american board send how the charge a coarser pain and grief eventually healing. so it's hard on her to award them and here they are with a brief video. >> i'm very honored to receive this award and particularly thrilled to have been selected by jury fellow writers and want to think the columbus foundation and i just want to express my gratitude and thank you so much.

>> our second award, this multigenerational novel peeled back the historic wounds inflicted by the trauma of slavery, and was abused and raped and through the lens of rebellion of a slaveowner on the black women and two slaved families affected by this and also birthright lie. and died in the workplace accidents, overseas his friend while season on the opportunity to assume his best friend's identity to expose his troubled life. and his wife says the death is

just a confession and gone over every second of your life and the misery that is because you predict immigrants all of them. and they were so deep in the pit of slavery and how can they think they can come out pure. it and daughter of the sugar plantations said that they. [inaudible]. and like the women that they trace their ancestral history back to the cotton fields, it weaves the family quilt into the ghost witchhunt of them in this web of deception crime and workers allies and governor of those part of parcel of colonial slavery predict we.

>> we need to impact the dirt and debris and until the stories that were justly and rapid get debut. [inaudible]. >> thank you for the honor and what i first to start to write this book is a very personal project and i was thinking about that distance and silence my own family i was thinking about all the way so we can relate the history to make the president more tolerable. and i didn't know if it would be published and whether it would resonate with anyone so i would really like to think my agent for believing in me and for signing me also like to thank my editor kristi handed also

schuster, simon & schuster. and also i would like to express my appreciation to those who approached me for this novel and also that we can be writers with that we could be authors. so every word of encouragement really meant a lot to me. i would especially like to thank many others. as well as the people who didn't name and especially those about whohelped. i would also like to thank my family as well and my grandfather died in january who inspired this book and owner think everybody who reached out to me is that this book resonated with them and thank you to everyone who is watching.

>> i'm sure your grandfather would been very proud of you in the spirit of healing i am sure. anthony cody performs an autopsy of the history and poetics and dissect the racist perceptions of the mother in this case, the of a mexican of the certain slaves and outlaw, outcast property pretty and with poetry in public within the government and the editorial the phase did in 19 and the corpses to the present and the persecuted and often victims of racism in our leverage and disgruntled and come into the minds that their

descendents are still among us. and in the mining camps in order to poison detention centers, and it reached the landing that once had no borders and congratulations to anthony cody for this borderland debut. >> thank you so much for the introduction for writing that stand from. [inaudible]. and now california. [inaudible]. in each of those knowledge and honor the true story of these lands and the land itself read a lot of hank the foundation the board and so many life altering voices who have come before me which you have honored.

and i'm able to be alongside them and with others here today and shout outs to literary heroes. they impressed so much of my life and first with this award, was asked about the. [inaudible]. and what you do in the ethic studies in the latin american studies. quiet resonated to me in a way that it never had a before and for the first time in my life, it was a real not only was my story being told that maybe i could be a poet, a writer. i think that is an important because someone like me that came from a very rough area, with an extra highly but often times like i see and novel were

bodies show up. and more people are murdered on my street than ever graduated from college let alone - and when i think about that a lot and i'm reminded of how fortunate i am to have good parents. and also answer jenny and my grandparents. and they sacrificed so much for me my brother my cousins michael and mary, that have helped me understand and know that everything that i do has to move us forward and find a way forward. i'm thankful to them to know in that they had some little they had a push forward and find more. i still don't even know how the

people who have come before me to help put this book into an award and i just want to this at a few list of folks in one thing my publisher rusty and ken for doing all the hard work pushing out pretty and from here to california and the first teacher and my professor. [inaudible]. carmen, roma, and others. [inaudible]. and the libraries and to others and i'm so fortunate to have a life with her. and also in this world of poetry. i just want to say that the

truth goes together and also within mexicans and mexican-american and so easily selected or slipped away and how i learned grade and how it can be in power a bowl with words like acquisition, expansion, and injustice. and also reliable presence how easily it becomes to start her history that would never hold, and how we are telling stories of the archives to seek and to know. and sometimes it is for and sometimes it is hurtful, but always it remains a necessity to eliminate our true and thank you so much for being here today.

>> thank you so much anthony cody for joining us this afternoon pretty we have the honor of joining us as well tod. and then note books. and from now until the end of time, here in the united states and throughout, we increasingly find ourselves in a situation not unlike that of the battlefield triage in which everyday decisions will determine the life and death of us all. across, 67 million slaves from the homeland in here internally from families and increasingly, from a global warming and

disasters of the deteriorating claimant environment. and then beautiful note of work in the notebooks, and now ended time not unlike the text that we might find from a future and familiar of a healer. and in many ways the book is at the hands to salvage the truth. and to resuscitate the spirit and keepers spiritually intact grade encourage and so, tremends honor to present the american book award, and a very happy to

welcome you to this afternoon's ceremony. [inaudible]. thank you for that introduction and i'm happy to be here today. and really humbled. and i want to thank a few people. my good friends who really stood by me for a very long time now. my editor and publisher. [inaudible]. and also the institute and without your support i would never be here and a lot of hank

others my partner also for her work last year. and i think a lot of people in his say that and might have suggested it that i give a face to my background. and they began writing in 2017, you remember. [inaudible]. i needed to understand all of that and how it came to be, you also need to understand, and how it can matter in such a world is this one. an answer those questions, the two years i can show you.

in the isolation by which has been forgotten. [inaudible]. and for many of us, over the last 18 months, we had separation and read but the pandemic and people and the strengths and inside out. [inaudible]. and actually the various. [inaudible]. moreover, we can survive alone

but we can't stay alone least on in this universe. and in history and we see progress for some, have the extent of all of the others. and it always has been. and all that it demands and that we can even speak about hit. it and encouragement and the commitment to one another and crossing the borders in the

space. and everything on this planet except for the human beings and we built this collectively. ..

everybody that has come before us. these impossibly strong strength intercedes and beauty are beyond words. words we cannot pass -- we can

let the silence speak weekend retrace paths that have been meticulously erased. we can center stories that have been picked to the margins. we can resurrect the dead. we can imagine the infinity of features other than the one to which we are told we are doomed. this is all to say at this moment if we are worth anything done proud writers we won't mind the violence or the web beneath. we will dive in deep and searched for the shimmer of that net so others may catch a glimpse of it. to remind them and ourselves to hold tight to the hands that are squeezing hours already. remember that the matter what we have been told and no matter what it feels like none of us is alone here. thank you again. to the extraordinary opportunity be here with you all.

>> thank you so much been ehrenreich. in recent years many of the most and criminal elements in american politics have been able to achieve extraordinary power that it isn't any accident that part of that momentum has come out of this so-called two-party system this oscillation between jekyll and hyde which created the space for these and criminal elements to take up so much power. indeed in a recent attempt at a coup many of the co-conspirators some of them governors of the states, some still in the senate continue this oscillation between jekyll and hyde but one of the things that both parties agree upon is that day and they alone should run united states government and thus this country. along with that there has been

over the last decade a violent historical eraser of the period in american history in the late 1960s through the early 1970s and attempts to flatten out and erase this history largely in an effort to encourage the vision of this period that political revolution is not possible. during the cultural revolution revolution of the 1960s and 70s indeed we approach the precipice of political revolution and that is precisely why such works of militant scholarship as we honor today are so critically important. in fact it was that. of time and which the vision that is embodied today by the foundation came into being and it's the reason why the american book awards were created, precisely for books like this, precisely because it's a cause

to bring these books into being and to tell the true history of our nation, its peoples and the struggle for self-determination among those peoples. it's a great, great honor to welcome scholar at joanna fernandez to the american book awards and again honoring her book the young lords. joanna thank you so much for being with us today and thank you for sharing your wisdom. >> okay, thank you. we are him on writers not the northeastern elite. that polices the profession or the calling really. i'm honored. thank you justin for that introduction. i am honored to be among my hero's, the folks who have gotten this award and including

and there are many but the ones that i mock all my work after gerald voran, roxanne dunbar-ortiz, robin kelly, edward sayed. toni morrison. so this is an incredible honor and thank you for doing this work for so long before the columbus foundation and thank you writers for taking time away from your writing to do this laborious work. i don't even know where to start because i didn't even know this was happening, this thing happened to me. i spent the week in the hospital and i just got out but maybe that's a good place to start.

the young lords in their activism as the counterpart of the panther party they dreamt bold dreams. they prefigured the new society and activism and organizing they did in east harlem and chicago in the bronx. they occupied a hospital in the bronx in 1970 to dramatize the conditions of health under which black americans and puerto ricans were being treated at a moment in the post-world war ii period where profit became the primary modus operandi of the health care system in the united states, the moment when technology and machines and specialization undermined the

centrality of humanity and the patient in health care and that is something i've lived and experienced in the hospital. there were plenty of tests and fancy machines and often very little attention to the patient and we know that american medicine is organized around right that medicine at the expense of public health and the fallout is tremendous. the young lords drafted the first and own patient to a bright, which essentially established the parameters for how people should be treated and they called for free health care on-demand and health care for

all. they were anti-capitalist self-proclaimed socialist and they believe that we could do better as a society. they believed that the fight to save the environment was a fight where people were at the centers at -- of that struggle, they were among the first activist and organizers to expose environmental racism and so much more. the book is a lot better than the speech. i want to thank, i haven't thanked the press yet and my editor in particular brandon for reading the manuscript and immediately saying yes, this is it. i understand it, it goes.

we publish. i want to thank the people who funded me for many many years. i dillydally did made a film and a political prison out of the average mall while writing this book. i did everything under the sun but write the book but finally i wrote it through these many years. they were critical to my research and the schomburg center funded my research and my work and gave me important time off. very importantly the center for african-american urban studies and the economy at carnegie mellon and my dissertation adviser a million and one years ago. many many years ago the late

danny marable, and i was a student at the history department at columbia without funding and the african-american studies funded my work. my ph.d. work at columbia and i haven't mentioned that anywhere publicly. i think that bears articulating. the young lords inspired me to stay the course. their history, their courage, their dreams were fears and i also have my father to thank. my father was orphaned at the age of six in the dominican republic. he was an incredible man and he was my ethical compass.

i was one of those kids who was born in the united states but english was my second language because no one spoke english at home and my parents still don't speak english so wind which is this incredibly important thing. in second grade they couldn't speak english and so language becomes this that i have to slay but it also becomes this beautiful thing and it represents latin america with minot knowing it, my parents and their struggles in this country. my father died, my father died because of the botched medical care in a bronx hospital. he was saved for a minute in the

ruling class long island hospital where i was at four a week just this week. and in many ways this history i write about because they did an enormous amount of work around health care and poverty and the rise of medical empires in the united states in the post-world war ii period or it's just that this history i wrote about about the deadly consequences of health care for-profit would come to my doorstep. i finished the book right after my father died. he is the most important person in my life. he is my alpha and my omega and if this book is worthy of this award is because of his work in this country. it's because of the values he instilled in me and his

determination to be an ethical being in the world and to be of value to society. he wasn't itself proclaimed socialist but he was definitely an organic intellectual and had socialist proclivities. thank you so very much for this work that you do and for doing it for so long and for amplifying the voices of writers of all walks of life. thank you. >> thank you so much. in darkness, in darkness however terrifying the eyes, the vision, looking out find light.

find light summer in and corners that would not otherwise be visible were it not for the prevailing darkness. in many ways i think it can be said that this harvesting of life is the function of poetry, the poetry cannot only revive and resuscitate the human spirit, but also show the cohabitation and the co-mingling of that spirit with all things even under great duress, even in darkness. it takes an extraordinary agility of the imagination and a deeply agility of these situation to commit to such extraordinary poetry and power as we find with carolyn and the

lateness of the world. it is poetry that speaks with tremendous authority of feeling and a deeply agility of the imagination that as i mentioned earlier with ben ehrenreich helps us to rediscover what is salvageable and what can be excavated and what it is that makes our lives worth living and sharing with each other with love and respect. it is a great honor to welcome carolyn to the ceremony this afternoon. again an american book award winner for the lateness of the world. thank you so much for being with us today. >> thank you justin for that wonderful introduction. in speaking to you from the traditional lands of the piscataway people. i thank all of you to join us

this afternoon in the celebration the second to be held during the devastating pandemic that has afflicted the whole of humanity. i followed the work of the foundation throughout the past 42 years and was able to be a member of the audience. there is no greater honor for me than to be recognized by writers poets and playwrights whose work has reflected clear awareness of the world for the whole of their lives. the members of the board and the foundation our litany of those whose courage and vision and artistry have transformed literary culture. i thank them for everything they have written and everything they have done. the french resistance poet robert beznos wrote for if the earth is a camp led by thousands

of spiritual fires at the hour of darkness one all over the world. i have long held that image in my heart of lights scattered on the hillsides signaling to each other in the night of these harrowing times, standing against racism misogyny war and genocide against the destruction of our biosphere, recognizing that humanity is to survive there must be a deep transformation and there is little time left. i would like to send my small fire to the fires i see. those who marched for black lives to matter in our cities last summer the water protectors the waters rekindling indigenous languages folks who recognize the evil of extracting industries and the exploitation of human labor.

may all of us see each other and be sustained. they tell me throughout the history of humanity all times and been harrowing maybe yes but this darkness is ours to fight against. the fires that light it are ours to tend now. in the lateness of the world a book written on most over two decades in conversation and communion about the shards of my life to refract light and to assemble it into something that resembles the pattern as in a kaleidoscope. they are dedicated to deep friendship and love to journeys and migrations difficult memories and the exemplary souls i've known along the way. they are watery palms of bridges and lighthouses boats, the rebel of war's aftermath.

they came to me slowly and persisted in coming despite all that happened during the years of their making. thank you for honoring them. i would also like to thank my late parents michael joseph and louise, mike grandmother anna and all of those who lead me to my early path to realize the dream of going to college and urged me from the age of nine to love poetry. i think the anti-activists who inspired me during my youth and all those salvadorans who educated me later in the world. it is as if i was a small baton passed from one to the next. thank you to the late ginger barber who believed in me from the beginning and bill clay, christopher richards and all

those from penguin press to help this to be published in 2020. thank you to my husband harry madison and her son sean madison for their decades of love and support. on the cover of my book there is a crane rising out of the lake lifting its wings to pull itself into the air. i have always assumed that flight was easy for birds that came naturally to them but what if it isn't in waterfall along they have been teaching us how to rise? thank you and be safe. >> this is the great demon kings a memoir of poetry death and

enlightenment by the late john gerardo who passed away in 2019. it said in buddhism that during the dying process recognizing what is occurring is the key to enlightenment. preparing for death is a lifelong this. buddhists engage in something called deity practice where one visualizes in vivid detail only to dissolve the image in order to better understand the nature of reality into fantasy called self. it is only revealed to us upon death unless we are enlightened. the great demon kings referenced

god's the confronted self reception with laser honesty. some practitioners go to extremes such as giorno did indulging in drugs and alcohol to confront the inner demons that would see their empty nature and attach on them. it's a memoir of poetry art in death and enlightenment was 25 years in the making. it's a long meditation. it mirrors journal's lifelong journey every deity in the buddhist pantheon has a consort and his remarkable role to the greatest influence of -- influencers at this time robert and william burrows who give

intimate bedroom insights into the personalities and psyches and sexual fetishes of these demon kings doing what he called the golden age of promiscuity when aides raged. they shared one thing in common, they were all at a time it was still not acceptable nor marketable to be. he gives us a valuable account of major figures through his uncompromising critique of that critic terry world and its decadence. jurneau tidy pretension and hypocrisy of any sort and he fought not only for sexual liberation but for the liberation of poetry through his recordings poetry happenings and a sound poetry and its open

sexuality in simple language and a notion of what a the poetry establishment deemed poetry. he exposes the naked truth is lived and breathed by jurneau in this profound feat of a memoir and the foundation is proud to honor the american book award was to mislead to the great unsung demon king john jurneau. elizabeth d of the john jurneau foundation will be accepting his award. >> thank you so much. my name is elizabeth d and i'm

the director of the john jurneau foundation. we could not be more thrilled to accept this award before the columbus foundation. i just want to thank everyone involved with the organization and recognizing john's greatness and i also want to thank the trustees that were involved in this decision and everyone at the organization and the san francisco public library and everyone involved. we could not be more grateful. john giorno is such a force in the history of america and art history between the heat poets in the pop artists and also in his work on buddhism. there is so much dimension to john's contributions historically is a poet and a writer is someone who performed

and a wonderful collaborator with other artists from all generations in all walks of life. this was very much a part of this purpose-driven track this. that is only evidence in its complete form in his life's work which he called his memoir, his story and for those of you that may not be aware this book demon kings was 20 years in the making. it was an epic project of proportions that he never rushed and wanted to give time and thoughtful attention to and it was written with great love and compassion for everyone that was involved in his life. he thankfully completed this 20 year project a month before he suddenly passed on in 2019. we are also deeply grateful and just feel so overwhelmed with

gratitude that we have this book to share with the world in multiple languages and multiple countries and that this is touching people's lives and creating an entry point to john's work that maybe wasn't even possible just looking simply at the writing at the poetry at the recordings are the artwork itself. this brings everything together so that's why this work is so very special in this bracket -- and i know john would have loved to have been here to be accepting it in talking to you personally about that journey but on behalf of the trustees of the foundation and myself please know that we are so delighted and just feel his intentions continue to spread throughout the world are they also want to give the very special thanks to colin j. kerman our publisher who is also the grateful for

giving john the opportunity to write this book and tell the story. it has been really consistent collaborator and since john is passed on he's been a great support to all of us and make sure that everybody sees the vision that this book has. i know john would have won it to personally thank him and to everybody at the publication. we could just not be more thankful. in john's spirit i want to say thank you. >> no. i want before we get started i want to say a been a board member before columbus foundation since its very beginning and i've emceed many of these book award ceremonies and you can imagine being virtual what it's like having a group or writers all in a room

together can imagine the energy and this virtual award show does show us some of that but hopefully next year we will again be in person at the library together these amazing writers together and in person again because the energy is really astounding. i am here to introduce an amazing book minor feelings that during the rise of anti-violence last year there was one book that kept pace with the other side of this rise in anti-violence and kept getting mentioned all over again and that is kathy's minor feelings. it's really a mirror into the

soul of asian-americans sense of self. it's an echo chamber of the things we refuse to say or admit about ourselves even as asian-americans. we are lucky to have a public accomplished poet lead us away with this book. kathy park moves to the front of the line to lead so all of us can pay attention to what she is saying and throughout the past year since the book came out her words have resonated with everybody particularly asian-americans and for those of you who don't read "time" magazine or subscribe to "time" magazine and many of us in the room are not subscribers and i know that for a fact.

"time" magazine heard about the fact that we were presenting the award to cathy park hong so they rush to their issue out to try to underline the before columbus foundation american book awards and they beat us to the punch. the name is cathy park hong one of the most influential americans in the nation. i am a fiction writer so i'm allowed these moments of fantasy. but if you didn't read "time" magazine he wrote the following about "minor feelings" could she said i felt so sane i couldn't believe that this book existed. this is a book to read when you ask me how can i be an ally? this is a book to read if you want to educate yourself.

this is a book to read if you want to be more in touch with your humanity. once again as an accomplished poet cathy park hong speaks with a kind of weaponized honesty that is so needed at this particular time. it's my great pleasure to introduce cathy park hong. >> thank you to the illustrious board members at the before columbus american book awards and i have to say thank you especially to sean wong as scholar who i admire and his actually edited the asian-american literature anthology that put all of us on

the front of anthology that help start amplifying asian-american writers. i am honored to be a participant in such piercing ineffective authors who have changed the narrative. "minor feelings" was edited by an asian-america designed by an asian-america published by oneworld owned by chris jackson and his editorial staff is -- and when it was out and i wish her that no one was going to read it because i am a poet, an experimental poet and when it book comes out it's like at the calm before the calm and nothing happens but when it was out the

most passionate viewers were advocates for me i'm asian-american community putting into the hands of their friends and i mean that figuratively considering covid times and no one is pressing anything into anyone's hands. and my agent and haley sure and thank you to my husband my daughter my mother my daughter and my sister. to be able to receive an award before the before columbus whose diversity from the beginning and integration makes my heart soar. you know since last year i have talked about the rise of a

asian-american hate but today i would rather just celebrate community especially since i do have moments of nihilism and in fact i was voicing at it the other day but i was talking to my friend who is a fantastic poet robert reed telling him about this high school student who said her generation she was about the future because there was no future and i was thinking the same at that moment. he reminded me that his ancestors lived the apocalypse and not only survived but thrived in art music and writing and i think for everyone in this room like many of our ancestors those who are indigenous or refugees have lived and persisted and thrived.

i'm just really grateful to all the writers in the room and all the thinkers in the room who are creating literature that acts as an imperative to pull the plastic -- the passed in to the president provided blueprint for the future. thank you. >> hello. i want to show everyone the book cover. poems #and poems 289-129 he queries in the opening poem animals produces how they store

and? horton opens the collection with his descendents in the american prison industrial complex not unlike dante's and invites the reader enduring a no-holds-barred physical dissent but there is no recourse for breath for the audience to look away from the horror. calling out ancestors or other political prisoners such as south african -- it becomes clear the true indictment is that of this racist and patriarchal system that allows and encourages the dehumanization of black people in the diaspora. when words are weapons horton says they should be firing like machine guns into the. he later cries out where is the baraka of our generation cliques by paying homage to other intellectuals incarcerated or condemned for their color constructed existences porton

scientifically exposes a lineage of erasure. some of his titles such as how to become the invisible man and narrator eliminate his poetics. this book #poems 289-129 his command of poetics and continuance of a literary conversation pushes forward the art of poetry. each poem is in a series preceded by a indicating that the series the epic journey in fact is unified such as we see in the title itself embedded in parentheses. jail is a number and not a title. this number is a number assigned the prisoner. the reader is invited to follow

the narrator # 289-128 were sights and sounds and smells continue to evoke memories of prison the clanging of the tracks the opening closing of doors the shadows in the darkness but in his freedom he suddenly blare of a limited freedom of the female body. this is a surprise of the collection. in his final poem's horton says i am not post-racial or post-human. and color constructed and you cannot take it back. this view he addressed is the colonists the white supremacist. it is america. it is the prison system. this is an important book because is so densely packed to raise a discussion that we must have in this country. we collectively choose to let the media and the dominant

culture define her interpretation of the prison industrial complex. were silent passengers and it makes us all guilty. could one say that americans who have not visited a prison are not impacted by the prison system under complicit in this form of quick statistics are not hard to find. in 2014 or 2.3 million black people in prison and this does not account for the families and children left behind. in his final poem after ruined he invokes imagery of the lynching with the haunting words and the after image of the figure is that which will become again and again. # 289-128 a repeated action. before the come columbus foundation is to present ronald horton with this american book

award. >> thank you, thank you. during my time in the housing unit inside cell 23 after lock in edited versions is a poet i didn't know this moment could even be a possibility or that a poet could actually win an award or they didn't know one such as myself caught up in the melodrama the society puts upon the human mind and body would lead to what i experienced on the inside to give value and meaning to those left behind in the weight before i -- i have two pay homage to sebastian for the little pieces of humanity they

gave me when struggling to make sense of the risen sentence in hagerstown maryland a place where the motion of the second hand on the clock it's very speed was more precious than life itself. each one of these men played a role in the development of myself as a writer. i say thank you to -- who read every single thing i wrote when we were dreaming of freedom. i'd can't think about what society has given me especially in the social structures that oppress for wasn't for them. each time these two brothers would spend extra time to challenge what they knew and to make me think about what i

didn't know and why. i have to say much love to sebastian for teaching me what it meant to have a moral compass. change is always -- you have to be changed to do change. years later as i was when i was in the chicago workshop i would appreciate the presence of one who is quick to let me know if i alienated my audience offering a critique. it made me stronger to get those left behind. 13 years ago the department of corrections assigned me to 289-128. i wanted to take that stereotypical narrative the state tried to attach to me long after his release from prison. i wanted those numbers to bring attention to the various

injustices tied to a number with the scales of justice never tipping to those outside of the community the ones who never renovated from a supposedly democratic society the ones who have lived the narrative of exclusion. anyone who knows me knows that never claimed to be amiss carrier of injustice. i don't claim to be the sympathetic face of justice but i didn't go to prison as a juvenile nor do they get locked up by mistake or by mistaken identity. i had become disillusioned with the possibility of the american experiment and it was only through language that i was able to find a path back to the experiment a way forward that allowed me to look towards a brighter future. just like you can't take back my

in a post-racial society you can't take back what i saw behind the iron bars a systemic cycle of injustice that is indeed criminal. thank you university of -- jackie wilson drew buoyed and julia for drawing up the vision that would put this book into the world. a special thanks to the columbus -- before columbus foundation to be the special place that you are for recognizing the forces and to understand that differences amidst the universality to congratulations to all of the 2021 winners of the special award. in 1998 my father traveled from birmingham alabama to stand

before a circuit court judge. this proud, proud man a man who grew up in the jim crow south who one timed worked on the broward track in alabama man who was perhaps as? to why he couldn't -- placed his pride in his back pocket and delivered an oration that left not one dry tear in the courtroom. he begged someone to save his son. what other choice did i have been to climb out of the hole that i had built myself? everything i've done since that day has been supported. thank you mom and dad thank you ruby mario horton and al ramos. i love you. thank you.

thank you randall horton. a thread from cathy park on what he was describing the end times and looking forward to preeminent historian here in the united states of america who received the american book award for the donning of the apocalypse the roots of white supremacy similar colonialism and capitalism from the 16th century. now i say picking up on that thread because just as there are those today who would is to do believe the so-called middle east demarcated in 1948 there people here in the united states of america who would like us to believe that this all started in 1776 but when we start to a long

get the art and panorama of the histories of the americas, when we start to eliminate that history by including european colonization from his earliest date and its collaborators here in the united states and elsewhere we start to see much more clearly exactly the situation we found ourselves in today which is to underline and emphasize that as terrifying as it is and is also a period in which the missing and mutilated and murdered are being asked to forgive and forget as if this were some sort of virtue, as if suffering itself or some kind of redemption. the before columbus foundation isn't going for that. gerald horne has never gone for that and as the historian who i

mentioned earlier joanna fernandez, gerald horne writes with a rigorous incentive and powerfully deciphering quality that also reveals itself in exceptionally clear and startling prose which for those of you in the kevin meaney no is an exception in academic writing which is often quite turgid and impenetrable. again one of our preeminent historians who has penetrated into this history with a forensic death, and it's a great honor to welcome gerald horne who is generously joining us by video and winning this year for the donning of the apocalypse, the roots of white supremacy and capitalism in the long 19th century. gerald horne.

>> i would like to thank the before columbus foundation for honoring not only made that the intellectual tradition for which i sprang for this prestigious honor. the book you have singled out as many facets and purposes much is which is reflected in the subtitle and that's genealogy would add modestly that connects to the elongated black american tradition of critiquing our plight in the face of my acid -- my estimate creationist a tradition that takes us back to david walker's appeal in the 1830s to avoid black reconstruction of the 1930s i would argue that this tradition has accelerated in recent years not only with the filmmaker and his riveting multipart documentary series exterminate all the brutes to be insightful

to colin nick johnson or 6019 project to the protean read in the celebrated spoof of the broadway become disney extravaganza hamilton to the stonewall inn is enthralling book white freedom and i would be remiss in embodied in the work of roxanne dunbar-ortiz. all of these creators are seeking a new narrative sweeping aside the creation that still prevails in this nation a myth of founding fathers who supposedly walk on water. it's utterly unique were constantly constantly told however when you raise the meddlesome manner of the mask of african-americans like a lawyer their argument switches to everybody's doing it.

in other words they were ordinary and not so special after all. the book and indeed in a series of books i've written including the apocalypse of colonialism the counterrevolution of 1776 comrades of the crown confronting -- and the magnitude of the enormous haitian revolution the book i'm now running on the counterrevolution of 1836 on texas and why it's leading to fascism in these hooks and others i have sought to construct a new narrative like hannah jones stole ball and dunbar-ortiz. in short i argue in the book that you honored in the 16th century a minor monarchy speaking of england was able to rub the first movers advantage joined by catholic spain which sponsored columbus in 1492 and

england did this despite the fact that they followed martin luther's posts 1517 defection from the catholic church and embrace the partisan sect pouring more gasoline on the fires of the religious wars featuring fear of the muslims not to mention anti-jewish fervor could one of them which expelled its own jewish population a late 13th century back against the wall and praised the jewish population fleeing spain and portugal in the wake of the inquisition and cut a deal with muslim turkey against catholic spain however this deal worked and suggested by the fact that many of us including myself were sitting on land seized from spain which in turn it'd seized from the indigenous and communicating now in english. this deal was divided among by catholics just as many socialist

post-1971 d righted and lambasted the deal cut by communist china against the socialist soviet union. that deal now has beijing passing however washington's obsession with undermining socialist projects also was revealed in a similar thing a few years later with religious zealots who profess to be muslim speaking of the carter brzezinski intervention and if you nestande circa 1972 lure the ussr into quagmire by 1979. debt deal also worked and is so far as it contributed to the collapse of the soviet union by 1991 pre- time will tell if i could deal with china-u.s. imperialism thought it was using this giant that actually the reverse was true and time will tell if the united states that

it was using religious zealots that turned the musings of mr. haqqani now the minister of the government in kabul in afghanistan the united states perhaps is laying the groundwork for the construction of a global or even regional caliphate. in any event the crowning glory of london comes in 1591 when an allies with muslim morocco to destabilize the empire in today's mung a potent political order in a war which ricocheted what -- western southward as far south as today's nigeria for it the benefit of the russian african. which not only build enormous wealth in north america but propelled assignment paying his dispossession of not just the indigenous from the atlantic to the pacific but the population a

origin in the west and the southwest as well. past years there was a four cornered structure in europe africa and north and south america not to mention the caribbean that lurched from religion as the axis of society per spain to quote race for england or the latter served to disrupt the former and it's revolting swamp now headquartered in washington finished off the spanish project of the religious sect during-ism in florida about to introduce a go and texas about 185 years ago and in the philippines 120 years ago. the race project intern was disrupted by the haitian revolution of 1791 to 1804 which ignited a general crisis of the entire slate system that could only result in a collapse which he proceeded to do in the south

by 1865. this gives rise to a class project struggling for an eight hour day organizing humans which gives rise to a socialist project that eartha bolshevik revolution of 1970 which in turn in the scottsboro case of the 1930s which i wrote a book about a few years back that put jim crow and south african apartheid on a glide path towards diminution however as suggested the class project has been in retreat of late in unsurprisingly we had to recant essence of the race project is reflected in a tidal wave of police killings capped by the death of george floyd in may of 2020 and outcomes that continue to beset the population of african descent in north america. this is also reflected in the recent articulated view of a

major candidate for governor of california who suggested that reparations for should be considered i.e. reparations for owners whose property was seized post-1865 without compensation. of course he and many others in this country are adamantly opposed to reparations to the as hannah jones has sought to suggest. the life outcomes of descendents are directly tied to this peculiar institution of. likewise the race and class projects are intertwined not only because the formerly enslaved have much to gain through working-class power but also the united states of america continues to be in the continually -- redistributing

wealth which are seen as involving the same expropriation of private property of 1865. this current dispensation will -- with china in the 21st century and the seeming inability of. in any case i think the before columbus foundation for the honor you have accorded me. >> it's remarkable and fortuitous timing because gerald horne ends on -- which takes us to our next award winner -- the legacy of white supremacy and american christianity and i assure you a was not a conspiracy or planned on our

part. not to be confused with bob jones robbie jones begins his book with this quote i will flatly say the bulk of this country's white population presently is so impressed me for a very long time. it has been beyond any conceivable hope of moral rehabilitation. they have been wide if i may say so too long james baldwin finnair times, 1968. i hope you are paying attention to gerald's masterful history lesson that he just gave us of the past 70 years and we see the intersection of the marriage of religious and racial chauvinism and the birthparents of this country. it is made a nightmare for the rest of us. rodney jones is the founder of

public religion research institute which is a fantastic research institute on politics culture and religion that we rely upon to understand this. he could have tackled this subject with his cane academic i but he goes a step further. robbie as we learned in this book is a product of southern baptists. he knows the bible and verse. he's gone to the church. he has been trained in it. his parents, his relatives is loved ones as elders have given him these american myths and stories both beautiful and as he described in this book that is led to a situation where majority of white christians in america see their chosen one as donald trump the man who said his personal vietnam is avoiding

stds and they see him as cyrus a flawed man but nonetheless chosen by god to do god's will. so you see why christianity that follows in the footsteps of jesus, i went to an all boys catholic jesuit high school where i turned out to be a jesuit and i've read the bible. this jesus would somehow be against vaccines and climate change and would be so towards people of color in towards women towards immigrants and say they come from should whole countries. how does this reconcile with the bible and the religious teachings of jesus and robbie jones not only dissects and explains it but something more remarkable is the dissects and unpacks his own narrative the myth said he has been told and takes on a personal journey where he rejects those myths in

a? to heal and to do -- to discover new christianity and to create a new narrative. it's easier said than done when you are offering yourself and your family and your community criticism and public dissection but that's what robbie jones does. he leads us on a journey about how we got here to this country and this particular moment by focusing on the specifics but it's personal it's painful and revelatory and i recommend every one purchase it. drop the john's congratulations. take it away. back thank you so much. i'm so happy and honored to be here especially in light of all the stories and amazing writers here so thank you so much for this recognition. i'm deeply grateful to receive

an american book award and to be in the great company of people working for social justice this year and the legacy that these awards have created for more than four decades. and the work that supports and portrays the full rich diversity of america. a couple of personal thank yous but i want to thank my wife and partner jodi kantor who is a scholar and fellow writer and intellectual partner and my son and my daughter who as we all know has a solitary endeavors and we have made that in her family's lives into my agent and my amazing editor at simon & schuster bob bender and finally to my colleagues at the research

institute who are not only experts in collecting all kinds of data demographic public opinion otherwise but who provided me with such a rich intellectual community. all writers have intellectual and moral debts and i want to take a short time to acknowledge that and it's gratuitously red from the quote by james baldwin because i wanted to just focus my time on gratitude about the work and life of james baldwin for whose life the title is taken. the writing of the black author from harlem a generation of time that would resonate with me a white straight guy who grew up as a southern rap just on the working-class side of jackson mississippi but for the first

time i had described is to grab a word for my religious upbringing as communion. i knew i had a moral responsibility to answer. the words pushed me for the first time as a social scientist to learn to write in the first person. i was moved by his unflinching perceptiveness and as white americans and white churchgoers he refused to dip his pen into the well of hatred. i also found in christianity attracted and disappointed him and i found myself coming back again and again to the quote they just heard and i'm going to read it again with more context. it's just such a beautiful and amazing piece of writing. again this was written in the

wake of the assassination of martin luther king jr.. i would say both of those countries white population impresses me and it's impressed me for a very long time as being beyond any conceivable hope of the moral rehabilitation. they have been white too long. they have been married to the idea of white supremacy for too long and the effect on the grasp of reality have been as devastating to the lava which to mobilize the citizens of pompeo. they are unable to conceive that their virtual reality which they want us to accept his mental to my history in a parody of bears and an intolerable violation of myself. i was seven months old when these words first circulated. as i read all one is an adult i was haunted by his repeated calls to particular white christians to emerge from herself and his wife supremacist

psychosis. i read this as a blatant attempt to baldwin one that embraces hope with enough courage and love they might achieve a country in the racial nightmare to change the history of the world. as was provocatively noted the civil rights movement began when people began to wake up collectively to would have what had happened to them for the question today and one baldwin put the force to have the centric is whether we white christians will awaken to see what's happened to us and to grasp once and for how white supremacy will rob us of our inheritance in our ability to be in assistance with god so thank you james baldwin. during your lifetime we white christians were using debilitating content -- contributions of our own reality. we were unprepared to heed your call of truth telling repentance

we may still prove today but we have a better chance of freeing ourselves from white supremacy because of the testimony conserved in your -- preserved in writing. this is the magic of writing that it can transport experience and ideas across distances of time and culture that can hold an image of the looking glass until we are able to see it but i can reserve a seat until their soil to preserve it and sustain us in our time of need. thank you. >> thank you so much robert jones. in recent years particular over the last couple of decades in the san francisco bay area we have seen a tremendous influx of people migrating from the five

boroughs of new york many of whom have bizarrely attempted to declare the bay area not only there is but a new oro bureau of new york and as we all know there is no truth to this and one can only imagine if some brothers and sisters from oakland were to land in any one of these boroughs -- so it is a great medicinal truth telling mission that julie juanita has been on for such a long time and telling it like it is in the tradition of the blues spirituals of jazz of the great creations of african-american

culture and indeed she writes with authority a feeling an undeniable sense of reality and even in her title it is something of a tonic for those of us in the bay area. manhattan might ask, you're in oakland. we are pleased to be a will to bring you the book and the american book award in before bringing judy juanita to help celebrate and accept the award i will read a few words from ishmael reed who was hoping to be with us today but unfortunately he had an application. the towns surrounding it don't want to be associated with it. judy juanita even points to sections of oakland that don't wish to be associated with it. it's profiled in the section of

oakland but when juanita -- which juanita calls pretend berkeley could her glee as the whitest city in the county regardless of its radical reputation. a city where one might be profiled evening culture institutions. both juanita and i were profiled at the berkeley repertory theater to in her book "manhattan my ass, you are in oakland" will oakland become rikwa and? not if judy juanita has it anything to do with it. juanita stands up for a city that is more than a place of surrounding cities and where they dump their words of ishmael reed and it's a great pleasure to welcome jerry with -- judy juanita the ceremony and

"manhattan my ass, you are in oakland" with american book award. judy thank you for joining us today. you are muted there. you are muted judy, you can't hear you. >> unmute. good, good. the first thing i want to say thank you, thank you. i want to squirrel myself away and buy all these books and read them because i love all the premises that i've heard so far and thank you for allowing me to be in this company. i graciously accept this american book award for my poetry collection. "manhattan my ass, you are in oakland." i'm so honored for my work to be

recognized as can shooting to diversity of american literature. oakland, my oakland. oakland is of american cities. they will keep rediscovering oakland and when they do they uncover more treasures. they get more gold but it seems that it is endless and we hope it is. my parents albert h. hart jr. and marguerite juanita hart migrated here in the 30s and the 40s. as a child i heard these incredible stories that i thought were tall tales. each relative getting off of the

santa fe terminals and berkeley shepherded by kindly black pullman porters, my dad at tuskegee airmen saluting his ceo benjamin o. davis in italy, each person in my family saving the down payments for their homes even though granddad was one of oklahoma's black oil millionaires. many of these poems in the look came out of these stories i heard as a child. i was busy having fun enjoying the sunshine, the beaches the excellent schools in oakland so i didn't really feel the impact of what my parents felt until i

got a little older. in my late teens i became a black activist and some people know here that i was a member of the panther party and for a time i was in editor-in-chief of the panther newspaper but i left as a black activist and a black panther. i lived in new jersey with some of us call living in exile when we moved away from the bay area and the radical aftermath of the 60s that i returned here in 1990 on the tail end of the major drug war. i returned to my parents house which was a stone's throw from the epicenter of the drug wars

from felix mitchell's drug empire. he had even named one of his daughters after my sister. i sat there in my parents home writing and listening to the soundtrack of urban warfare, sirens, gunshots, machine gun fire, ambulances. sometimes i would sit near lake merritt basking in the sunshine and wondering why do i keep seeing the dark side of california? why do i c. the underbelly of kelly? i came home to my aging parents and i finally got it, that they

had thought the sordid underbelly the whole time they were in sunny california. my parents generation, which was told after world war ii, go home. go back down south just like black people once they were finished with us after we had built this country they said go back to africa but my parents stayed. we all stayed, most of the state. i do want to take too long but i want to say that even when we are being driven out as we are now by foreign real estate developers this day even when we move away least day. i worked for a time as the temp at pacbell and they had us all

come to a big hotel in downtown oakland with a panoramic view of oakland's rather plain skyline at the time. that was 1999 and mayor jerry brown was our speaker and mayor brown said we are going to change oakland. we are going to make oakland real. it's going to be all tall buildings downtown. we are going to touch the flat lands. we are going to build up oakland so over the next 20 years i saw that happen and i also saw many friends move, friends and relatives moved to atlanta modesto merced sacramento. they moved away but with all purchased and paid for dearly our destiny here in oakland.

so i want to thank the before columbus foundation and particularly the guy we call uncle ishmael, ishmael reed for believing in oakland for saluting our humanity our poor treat our sonnets are straight sonnets and i also have to thank and of course i think my parents and i think i've done that in my family members but i want to thank two people because i want other people, perhaps younger writers to understand how it's done sometimes. i want to thank mr. gonzalez and new jersey where he lived cheaply for nine years in a very posh suburb in new jersey and i was able to educate my son there

and also my landlord here who are realtor friend told me as one of oakland better landlords. i've lived in this apartment for 21 years. eight bucks and 20 plays and it's only been possible by paying very low rent here and having rent control. there are many factors that go into those of us who are writing and i thank everyone that i've encountered in this helps me. thank you so much. >> take you so much judy juanita. we are absolutely elated this after that at the president of the artist i.t. kelly the wife of the late author william melvin kelly who is being honored with the american book

awards for his novel dunford's travels everywhere. for those of you who made not be familiar with i.t. kelly there are some big beautiful surprises. william kelly to be sure one of the most innovative and exciting authors in the history of our language and i will read directly from the citation which appears at before columbus.com. the opportunity to honor william melvin kelly with the american book award is indeed a great privilege to before columbus foundation is delighted to welcome his work back into. thanks to anchor books and its unique thrill to seed dunford's travels ever illustrated in this new edition and only honor with this year's awards for the

majesty of william melvin kelly's vital contribution to international letters remains urgent and cosmic in scope. it's a unifying embrace a panorama of human experience embodied in the mythologies that we all share in the americas and throughout the world is unique in his work and its momentum and extraordinary sensuality. it's syncopation and invention of imagination unheard of really and the history of art is often a history of -- so i hope all of you will join me not only in honoring william melvin kelly but in understanding the greatest writers are to be returned to be cherished, to be honored as we are honoring

william melvin kelly today is a great pleasure to welcome i.t. kelly to accept the book award for "dunfords travels everywheres" what she illustrated and thank you for being with us and being generous with your time and honoring melvin kelley's work. >> thank you so much justin. that was just amazing. thank you and i would like to sincerely and deeply thank the before columbus foundation for existing and for the american book award but i want to thank ishmael reed especially. ishmael who supported kelley's work has meant more. thank you ishmael. this reward -- award is a meaningful recognition of "dunfords travels everywheres" could kelley's work of eccentric

ironic genius inspired by james durst is quote my soul frets in the shadow of his language. he invented his own language in "dunfords travels everywheres" and i can make it visual. we worked together like billie holliday and mr. young improvising and riffing and swinging. like jazz always improvising on themes on the spoken rhythms of our people and in what you've seen and what you think you have seen. i and iced willies genius when we met in april 1962. we got married that december. we shared one soul sometimes warm and soft and comfortable as old moccasins and sometimes contentious crackling with

thunder and lightning. we were living in jamaica in a sweet house with an outside room that commandeered thoughts. in this room away from the cacophony of family life he could enter the portal of the soul and create the language of "dunfords travels everywheres." in the evening sitting in our small kitchen table he would read me what he had written. the world came alive twisting and leaping full of double, it triple and quadruple anton does. yup baby you got what i saw. specified the essence of women and his manner, my soul.

it has taken a long time to write this art. 52 years to be exact. we had to wait with excruciating patients for technology to be able to stand the drawings, to send them over the internet and for one daughter to grow up and become a graphic designer. and here it is now the way we saw it, the way we wanted it to exist. i know willie is well pleased by this looking down from heaven. i want to knowledge our team at this point particularly tracy fischer for getting this book republished with illustrations the way we want to be but the covers that we wanted and the publisher of penguin random

house. from the depths of our shared soul willie and i want to say it again with gratitude and humility, thank you. >> thank you. >> i'm very much aware of time and i will be very brief which i'm comfortable with being. it's an honor to introduce my distinguished colleague and friend dr. mariam mccrab for this occasion which is a very special one for both of us but for all of america. dr. graham has an extraordinary vision of what needs to be

explored and what needs to be said. as founder of the project for the history of writing dr. graham has consistently demonstrated skills as a gifted scholar, you will literary and cultural critic and extraordinary teacher and setting new directions for the study of african-american creativity and productivity which also casts a light on what productivity and creativity are. ..

doctor graham recently completed the interracial biography. i am going to take the risk of saying, it is a national treasure. therefore, being recognized and her indisputable accomplishments >> thank you. my partner in crime. this is an experience.

i am honored in multiple ways. the most public attention to the talented work that they have unnoticed the value of all of those and the projects. hundreds of scholars, educators and students, readers and writers part of the community. talking about those terms. you know who you are and i'm grateful that you never questioned why we are doing this work. some of the most labor-intensive unattractive work in the fields. many of us know the back story.

remaining perhaps one of the few institutionally based initiatives that exist entirely all because of the support from all of you. what also makes it more visible and authentic work ethic to be transformative. today, they are essential to american and real culture. the recognition within the system is increasing. looking forward to fellowships and monitoring to support their work. recovery and making the detective work which is what we are doing and produce the new knowledge that demands that

everyone matters more than ever. three principles that guide the sustained work say it all. research intensive and public facing. as they came from hooper's college. rather than individual work as an intellectual professional priority. dominating the studies at that time. educating the process where we have collected and it is inclusive. as a result of the amazing network and partnerships that sets what is allowed. i respect the difference and commitment that keeps us current

this year marks the 275th anniversary. he said in public in 1746, the spoken word. the anniversary of the first published black lives in america. none other for the corruption on various subjects. we also now know the first work left published in 1859. i am not the first to make the observation that the more work we uncover, the more we realize the foundational way of black women writers and black women

writing. the suite and festival that marked the 200th anniversary of the publication. from this back in 17, 1973. visiting graduate students having a lasting impact. we know the 19th century of the south and the title of the 1892 collection. one of the most educated of all times to offer the declaration as it becomes a mantra. only the black woman she said. in the quiet undisputed dignity

without violence or special privilege. then it is with me. i did not see this at the time. neither feminist one. the reality that some gal like me that had been raised by generations in the south. my mother, my godmother and a great aunt. insisted on teaching me how to read before i could go to school i saw them after that cooper talks about. and like many writers we study, we eventually settled at the university of kansas with the support.

our success in these 22 years is not ours alone. our reputation will spread, many of you set out for the day. all of our programs. there are others within alternative space, coming into our own with support and guidance that forced you into a particular mold. to the member before the columbus foundation, i thank you for this award. i especially want to thank my family who was not necessarily willingly having to play second filling to this work.

a huge debt and gratitude, a longtime partner without him we would have survived. i remind you it is too often whip service for the same support. the tradition is incomplete. continuing our work to recover it to the fullest extent possible. today, we have recovered some 4000 mostly unknown writers. students in the public having assets to all that you have and more. decades of our work. thanks to the generous report of the foundation who will create the most innovative today.

an information portal offering everyone an opportunity to engage in what is often unavailable to us precious new scholars. the opportunity to step back and allow the move to unfold. bringing this to age and will also be the beginning of the new leadership. we welcome the director for working with our ongoing. there is my sincere thanks. the next generation. i am planning to remove all of the books that i've heard about today. a perfect way to begin.

thank you again for this opportunity with writers of such power in reminding us why to continue our work of preventing and protecting written literacy and tradition on a fine ruling. thank you. >> thank you so much. the lifetime achievement award. throughout the many joys and pains, satisfactions, refusals, triumphs and failures, i ask the republic one of the greatest failures to be sure to embrace

black leadership. professor douglas to more recently, martin luther king. at one time, either to represent the ideal and promise of the nation, to reveal its horizons of potential freedoms to the rest of the world and to embrace that humanity as part of its vision. of course, containing many names and it would not be complete without mentioning the name of paul who, as we now discover through this arraignment, perform and function. it informs black internationals

and identity at its highest level. an organizer, a performing artist for spreading the message not only of potential freedom and survival and political revolution, but also his deep and abiding love for his people and the people of our planet earth. it is a great honor to welcome shawna this afternoon. i want to thank them personally for this beautiful work. much needed and deeply satisfying. thank you so much, shawna, for bringing this work. >> thank you so much. personal and public in languages from all over the world.

one time or purpose yet many, including myself, humble approach and hopes that our rigorous dedicated pieces will begin to bring him into focus. the shining reeling them into this in which she wrote on the road to damascus, and was blinded by that light and looked into the darkness and embraced that darkness. i am paul, but i saw the darkness and i am that darkness. then he raised his voice singing songs. i am the lion.

do not fear we are all in daniel's den. the songs that arise from these present still to populace for the future they built. it has been an honor of my career to be of his study. white people understand the significance of this honor. and the community who dream these stories. i am honored to be in this number. i offer my profound thanks to my beautiful, talented loved ones and co-conspiracies conspirators

including my brilliant partner and professor who speaks the name in my ear. the ever dedicated thoughtful chairman of the board justin. for whom this is awarded and who lived courageous lives. my editor and duke never questioned what or why. they inspire and challenge me to think and write better and more. i offer my appreciation to you all. thanks eternally to the abolitionist and movement people that make our story possible and

resignation. one of the most terrifying brutal violent episodes in their history of the americas is taking place right now with the thousands, tens of thousands of children who have been separated from their families. including many that came into the united states of america by themselves. tens of thousands of these children that remain in concentration camps and its chain of private prisons along our border. this fact of our daily life, we understand through the work who we honored earlier is, in fact,

many, many centuries old. very few continue to apply any sort of attention to this issue. many have continued. the late elijah cummings was one of the very few in the congress who stood up to make it very clear to be something that is an urgent part of our public political life to bring an end to this abuse and violence and terror. fewer still among them mainstream of corporate news media for any real abiding attention to this issue. one of the very few is a winner of our ward this year. jacob and he wrote the book separated, inside and american tragedy. the anti-censorship award going

for his noble and powerful work separated inside an american tragedy. >> i am very deeply grateful to everyone at the foundation and the american book award. it is an incredible honor. eyewitness one of the most shameful chapters in modern american history. forcing separation of over 50,000 children from their parents at the border by the trump administration by positions of civil rights. government child abuse. the truth is i did not see it. this kind of treatment for the united states.

it was not that unfamiliar. life around the border. ms-13. drugs coming in. i ended up in the middle. whether it was in that 250,000 square-foot walmart at the epicenter of the policy and taxes. paraphrasing. in particular this anti-apprenticeship award is very meaningful to me. no promotional video. any of the media showing the realities of life. there were 10 or more wanting that to show.

the families that are separated. this has been for a lifetime. the biden administration was promised for every last one. he said that there would be a thorough investigation. but instead it has not happened yet. they have not had the ability to stay in this country permanently yet. continuing to share the story and what i learned to be truthful about what i knew and what i did not. i want to continue doing that. this award is a huge validation of that effort. it means a lot to me. thank you. i appreciate it. congratulations. >> thank you very much.

that brings us to the conclusion of the 42nd annual book awards. i would echo the earlier message from our president. please do find us on the internet cap before columbus foundation.com and give generously to the foundation. we do not have the myriad corporate sponsors of many of the other in the united states, nor do we have any grant supports from educational institutions. our support comes directly from writers and readers such as yourself. please, again, all of you, i urge you to visit us online where you can find this recording and many others of our efforts and give generously to the before columbus foundation.

thank you again to the san francisco public library and thank you tv.

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