Suheir Hammad

 Suheir Hammad’s poetry is precise and cutting and filled with emotion. Her writing has a slam poetry style that I feel really reflects her childhood in Brooklyn. This rawness also translates into her acting in the movie Salt of the Sea. She might have had a character name but she was/is a real person/people. The rhythm with which she writes is pulsing and vibrant. In her poetry book title, “Born Palestinian Born Black” I believe she is using black to mean not white, other, the minority among the majority. Like she says in one of the prefaces in the book, like African people in America or Indians in England or, as this book heavily addresses, Palestinians in Israel. I think she gave the book this title for a couple reasons. The title really catches the eye, if it were simply Born Palestinian it would probably be less likely to be picked up. It makes others feel included in the story, the feelings and events she is talking about are ones that many different groups of people can relate to, whether it be segregation here in America or apartheid in South Africa. Others know what it feels like to be othered. The title also pulls inspiration from the poem she mentioned and said heavily influenced her, Moving Towards Home by June Jordan. Hammad fights to have her voice and the voices of people like her be heard through her poetry, acting, and other endeavors. Because of the genocide that is currently happening in Palestine, the Palestinian people do not have as many resources to speak out which is why Hammad’s work is so important. Poetry is so much more invigorating and impactful than a simple news story to me. Hammad’s poems capture pure unfiltered emotions that can not be found in some news article by someone that has nothing to do with what’s going on. 

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