Poetry: Toni Morrison Speaks Posthumously on the Oprah Winfrey Show After an Audience Views When They See Us by Yolanda J. Franklin

In “Toni Morrison Speaks Posthumously on The Oprah Winfrey Show After an Audience Views When They See Us,” Yolanda J. Franklin recalls the history and prevalence of racism in America, specifically The Central Park 5 Case. Written with an alarming clarity, Franklin debunks racist talking points like “It has nothing to do with race,” by showing that “Whiteness/ is a master magician.” We must not let the trick be on us.
Toni Morrison Speaks Posthumously on The Oprah Winfrey Show After an Audience Views When They See Us
Yolanda J. Franklin
Blood Vinyls (Anhinga Press) is Yolanda J. Franklin's debut poetry collection that Roxane Gay insists is a "must-must-must read." A three-time Fulbright Scholar Award Finalist (’19, ‘18 & ‘17), Franklin is also a Cave Canem and Callaloo Fellow. Her poems appear or are set to appear in Sugar House Review, Southern Humanities Review, and The Langston Hughes Review. Franklin's poetry also appears in the recent anthology It Was Written: Poetry Inspired by Hip Hop. Also, she is a two-time recipient of the J.M. Shaw Academy of American Poets Award. Franklin is a proud third generation Floridian, born in the state's capital—Tallahassee.