Nikki Giovanni is shown speaking with iOne Digital on Nov. 9, 2024. | Source: iOne Digital
Legendary poet and educator Nikki Giovanni spoke to iOne Digital during the month before her death in one of her final interviews.
NewsOne has begun posting clips from the sit-down interview in which Giovanni touched on some of the familiar themes of her impressive career, including topics like finding joy, growing old and writing banned books. In fact, during the interview, Giovanni — died on Monday at the age of 81 following a battle with cancer — was proudly wearing a t-shirt that bore the following message: “I write banned books.”
MORE: Nikki Giovanni’s Insistent Black Love: A Memory
To be sure, Giovanni left behind a rich legacy of love for Black people expressed not only via the written word but also verbally, as shown in her interview with iOne Digital, a subsidiary of Urban One that owns and operates NewsOne.
In one portion of the interview, which was recorded on Nov. 9, just days after the presidential election, Giovanni reflected on her career – which spanned nearly 60 years – and emphasized how important it is to “remember the happiness.” She notably juxtaposed that sentiment with the sobering current-day political reality that “a bunch of fools and Nazis are gonna be running the country for a while.”
To that note, Giovanni offered some advice.
“You have to still find some joy,” Giovanni said. She called Black Americans “incredibly lucky” in that context because “we always still find some joy.”
On the topic of aging, Giovanni said she recommends “being old,” something that she acknowledged isn’t guaranteed.
“There’s a time cycle on all of us, so, clock is ticking,” Giovanni added. “So, eventually, the alarm will ring.”
When the interview drew attention to Giovanni’s aforementioned t-shirt about writing banned books, she explained how she came to own the garment.
“I save it for special occasions,” Giovanni said of the t-shirt before explaining how “meaningful” it is to her.
“I hope I do write banned books,” Giovanni said. “I hope the people that I hate always know that I hate them. Because I want the people that I love to know that I love them. And you can’t have both ways.”
At least one of Giovanni’s works — “Rosa,” a children’s book about Rosa Parks — has been banned in a U.S. school district.
Follow NewsOne for more as we continue to celebrate the life and legend of Nikki Giovanni.
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