Because of the Kentucky Supreme Court’s recent ruling for Breonna Taylor, America’s current political climate has been on my mind. My American Literature class was just assigned a short project to write a poem imitating the style of Allen Ginsburg’s “America.” It was pretty open-ended, and the only requirements were to have it be 25-30 lines and to ask America a rhetorical question and a metaphorical action you intend to follow up with. This was perfect timing because my creative juices were flowing since the first Presidential Debate and Breonna Taylor were fresh on my mind, as well as the school’s attitude towards it all. I was also just finishing up a TV show about Jeffrey Epstein, which was on my mind as well. I wanted to make sure my poem was loud and confrontational, something to make people really consider who they’re voting for. This is such an important moment in history. This election itself is quite possibly one of the most important, in my opinion. Not to mention that 2020 by itself has been an incredibly large year for the modern-day Civil Rights Movement. It’s fair to say that the BLM movement of 2020 has impacted all of our lives in one way or another. I felt as though the opportunity to write this poem was a perfect way to tie all of these issues together- sex trafficking, racism, homophobia, and people who disregard COVID-19 even when it has taken the lives of over 200,000 American citizens.
After writing the poem to a point where I was happy with it, I set aside a weekend (and spent about 9 hours) filming the video with a greenscreen and editing with Filmora. I posted the video to Youtube and Instagram. About 50 people reposted it on their own social media accounts, and it got about 1,500 views. Quite a few people were commenting and tagging local politicians, news outlets, and local celebrities before my instagram account was disabled for “violating community guidelines.” My video had gotten reported enough times that my entire account was being looked into. After an appeal, I received my account back and everything was back up the way it was before. However I received a notification reminding me to follow community guidelines regarding hate speech. Neither the poem or the video contained any hate speech, and I made sure not to bash anyone or any group. However, the piece had a very deeply rooted leftist theme and I can understand how some may disagree with it. Regardless, I feel unapologetic for this poem and this video. I feel as though it needs to be heard and needs to be seen. I feel very passionate about this topic and I am thankful for the opportunity to share it with Agnes Irwin through The Wick.
