Facing racism, a poetic defense
Poet Omekongo Dibinga still remembers his first poem: he wrote it in seventh grade, sitting in his guidance counselor's office at the Boston Latin School, fuming after an argument with a teacher.
Dibinga says he felt violated and singled out by a teacher who called him a punk after pulling him out of class for ''acting up." As one of the few black male seventh-graders at Latin, he feared being stereotyped as a hoodlum.
To vent, he pulled out a notebook and wrote, ''A Young Black Man's
That was 16 years ago.
Now Dibinga, a published poet living in Rockville, Md., has his own publishing company. He's published a book of poems, ''From the Limbs of My Poetree," and two poetry albums, including ''A Young Black Man's Anthem."
Dibinga returned to Boston this summer because he wanted to help the new generation of students, some of whom are just like he was: young and angry. He says he wanted to give students the power of poetry that was his lifeline growing up in Roxbury.
For two weeks in July, Dibinga worked as a poetry teacher for the Ailey Camp, a summer dance and communication program held at the Boston Renaissance Charter School. This is the first year the camp in Boston has incorporated a poetry class.
On Thursday, the camp culminates in a variety show by the students, ages 11 to 14, many of whom have chosen to perform poetry, having discovered the therapeutic value of spoken-word style through Dibinga's class, they say.
His goal, Dibinga says, was not to enlighten kids with Shakespeare or Keats, but to help them look at their own lives' struggles through poetry's revealing and delicate lens -- something Dibinga did a long time ago to make sense of problems here and in Africa.
As a child, says Dibinga, he and his eight siblings were constant subjects of ridicule in their schools and neighborhoods -- in Cambridge where he was born, and in Roxbury where he grew up.
When Dibinga was in seventh grade, his father went to Zambia to teach at a university and barely made it back. Zambian officials attacked his father, who was politically unpopular, with a crow bar, Dibinga says.
In high school at Boston Latin, Dibinga says he was racially taunted by white students during his campaign to be president of the predominantly white student body.
At every stage of his childhood, Dibinga has had to use his words to ''show people who I am," he says. ''I don't want to be one of those guys calling people racist names because that's what they call me," he says. So Dibinga continued writing.
Dibinga, who's never taken a formal poetry class, specializes in spoken-word. It's a style of performance poetry that is politically didactic and dramatic, and that focuses more on the message than the form.
On a 2003 album, ''Signs of the Time," he spouts political polemics about a range of topics, from the perils of reality TV and cellphone culture to the Catholic priest sex scandal, and as he did in middle school, he talks about the hardships of being a black man.
He shared these topics easily with his 80 middle-school students, who say they've seen their share of poverty, gang violence, and the effects of stereotypes in their communities. The students were selected after applying and interviewing for the camp and represent ''A students and D students and everything in between," spokesman Jack Wright wrote in an e-mail. ''We look for campers that haven't found a personal direction yet."
''After I met Mr. Omekongo, I opened my eyes. I can write about issues and poverty," says Joe McCaffrey, 12, of West Roxbury.
On a recent Thursday, the group of middle-schoolers cheered on Dibinga as he took the stage in the gym at the charter school near Park Square. The noisy room became instantly silent when Dibinga began his recital. His first poem: ''Don't Talk to Strangers."
For five minutes, the students were saturated with Dibinga's Afrocentric take on the roles of black men, as he lyrically criticized popular TV shows that show black men cross-dressing or giving women a hard time.
The kids giggled when they recognized his allusions to different shows.
''We live in a society where most children are being raised by TV," he told the group.
After his performance that day, he returned to Maryland to start doctoral studies in international education and policy at the University of Maryland.
But he plans to return for Thursday's performance, and perhaps for more teaching.
''People get their education here and leave," Dibinga says.
''Boston raised me, so I feel like I owe it a lot."
