"Tell me if you hear the fence rattling..."

October 19, 2014 7:40 AM

Life Academy of Health and Bioscience is a small public high school in Oakland, California. In 2011 a small group of student poets evolved, calling themselves "Rapid Fire" . "At a recent “spoken word” event, senior Monica Mendoza performed her poem "Faggot" . With steady determination backed up by thoughtful research, Mendoza explained why people should never use the word. Her crescendo invoked the names of young gay men who lost their lives because of their sexuality. “Every time you use the word faggot…tell me if you hear Bobby Griffith’s prayers begging for God to forgive him for being gay/ tell me if you heard the truck smash him to death…/ tell me if you hear the fence rattling after Matthew Shepard was tied and tortured." (The original article in the Southern Poverty Law Center's "Teaching Tolerance" project site)
posted by HuronBob (2 comments total)

Very powerful! Thank you for posting.
posted by harrietthespy at 2:52 PM on October 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

That was fierce. Hard hitting and well done.
posted by oceanjesse at 7:22 PM on October 19, 2014