Poet Nikki Giovanni's Speech at Virginia Tech

“We are Virginia Tech. We are sad today and we will be sad for quite awhile. WE are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to know when to cry and sad enough to know we must laugh again. We are Virginia Tech. We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did not deserve it but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, but neither do the invisible children walking the night to avoid being captured by a rogue army. Neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory; neither does the Appalachian infant in the killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy. We are Virginia Tech. The Hokier Nation embraces our own with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid. We are better than we think, not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibility we will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears, through all this sadness. We are the Hokies. We will prevail, we will prevail. We are Virginia Tech. "

I studied Giovanni in high school. I had one of those radical English teachers, Ms. Gulledge, who taught us about the Harlem Renaissance and later African-American poets, including Giovanni. The teachers who made the most impact on me, when I was "growing up" were those, like Giovanni, who were tough, inspiring and creative. So, in light of this week, this tragedy, and this senseless loss of so many human lives...I pay tribute to my teachers. To Ms. Gulledge, Ms. Wilson, Ms. Jennings, Ms. Wheeles, Mr. Souther: thank you for being tough enough to keep the classroom a creative environment, but one where we were safe and free to learn.