By Romaine Washington | Contributing Columnist
This month marks the one-year anniversary for the publication of “These Black Bodies Are… a Blacklandia Anthology”, published by Inlandia Institute. To celebrate its birth and belonging in the world of books and readers I want to share the joys and challenges of curating and editing the piece.
The Catalyst
Some acts are so horrifying they demand a response. In the midst of a pandemic the world witnessed the murder of George Floyd committed in broad daylight. Nationwide, corporations offered diversity training courses for their staff. Books about what W.E.B. DuBois termed “the problem of the twentieth century…” were being read to try to gain a better understanding. “How to be an Anti-racist” by Ibram-X Kendi and “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo ranked in the top 20 nonfiction book sales for 2020.
The Call
Nothing can bring back a life, or erase a violent memory, but we can try to heal, listen to one another, and provide a platform for education. Nonprofit communities rallied responses of concern and support and Cati Porter, executive director of Inlandia Institute reached out to Black creatives in the Inland Empire where we decided to provide culturally enriching creative programs, and workshops to nurture meaningful, informative dialogue in healthy community. Blacklandia is still thriving with Conversations at the Culver, panel talks about afro-futurism, as well as Black art writing workshops.
Inlandia provided an opportunity for me to produce a Black Lives Matter anthology. To have the expertise and support of an established nonprofit publish a collection of work by Black writers and to have free reign on the project was an unspoken dream of mine come true. However, it’s one thing to have a dream and another to dig in and do the work.
The Collection
The work didn’t feel like w-o-r-k. Everything was a joy! I relied on two things in the planning stages, the five Ws: Who – What – When – Where – Why and my years as a writer and teacher to guide me through this journey.
Who will I invite? The Submittable entries included places as far as Canada and the Caribbean. There were award winning authors and poets willing to share their work, writers I have admired for years submitted and I wanted to make sure that there were writers from the Inland Empire. I offered free writing workshops through New Hope Missionary Baptist church, and many of the people who attended are included.
To the best of my ability I tried to treat the writers the way I would like to be treated when submitting work for publication. I emailed and would sometimes host Zoom conferences to talk about suggested changes. Through this year-long process I came to feel a sense of community with the authors.
What do I want to focus on? While I was elated to have this opportunity, I realized it might be the only chance I get to do something like this. I wanted to have as far of a reach as possible and to be topically inclusive. I decided to approach the submissions call for the anthology with the same openness in which I create lesson plans. Write about the Black Experience and as a Black person, it could be anything, from a victim of racism – Ahmaud Arbery – to a heroine of history and social justice – Opal Lee – and anything else you would like to submit.
When will it be published? The first suggestion was that the book release date be the date of George Floyd’s murder which is a great marketing focus, and perhaps I should have chosen it, but I was given the creative freedom to choose Juneteenth in honor of the spirit of emancipation and Opal Lee.
Where will we celebrate? Juneteenth and picnics go hand-in-hand and Fairmount Park in Riverside was one of four publication reading locations along with Feldheym Library in San Bernardino, the Riverside Art Museum, and a Zoom reading on MLK Day.
Why? After the pandemic and witnessing George Floyd’s death I wanted to curate and edit a life-affirming anthology to remind us that yes – our lives matter, and yes, “These Black Bodies Are…” We endure and we thrive. The title was created as a statement of life and whenever I felt overwhelmed in the process, I would remind myself why I was doing this.
The Cover
An attractive cover that illuminates the focus of the book is priceless. In 2021, I interviewed Professor and artist Richard May and world-renowned local artist Charles Bibbs for an event titled Artists of Blacklandia. Because of this event I felt comfortable in reaching out and requesting to use his artwork on the cover. As I browsed through Bibbs’ work it was his piece “Shared Knowledge” that captured the idea of community growth and life and one that I felt truly resonated with the book’s message. The beauty of the cover alone makes this a collector’s item.
If you haven’t purchased the anthology, it is a great way to celebrate Juneteenth. Make it part of your holiday ritual, every year choose one or two passages to read and talk about it. At least, that’s what I plan to do.
Romaine Washington is a twice-nominated Pushcart poet and educator.
