Alice Walker’s prowess as a writer is hard to challenge and her National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize winning The Color Purple (1982) somewhat changed the landscape of literature forever. Other works such as Meridian and The Third Life of Grange Copeland has set her down as a living legend among writers.

Now Alice has written a beautiful poem in response the Jesse Williams, the buzz around him and the force of which he exudes after the speech he gave at last weeks #BETAwards where he started with the strong words “A system built to divide, impoverish and destroy us cannot stand if we do”.

The media buzz has only strengthened his message, give power to people and now with a living legend immortalising him in a beautifully vivid poem it feels like something has really awoken.

Read Alice Walker’s poem below:

Here It Is
2016 by Alice Walker

Here it is
the beauty that scares you
-so you believe-
to death.
For he is certainly gorgeous
and he is certainly where whiteness
to your disbelief
has not wandered off
to die.
No. It is there, tawny skin, gray eyes,
a Malcolm-esque jaw. His loyal parents
may Goddess bless them
sitting proud and happy and no doubt
amazed
at what they have done.
For he is black too. And obviously
with a soul
made of everything.
Try to think bigger than you ever have
or had courage enough to do:
that blackness is not where whiteness
wanders off to die: but that it is
like the dark matter
between stars and galaxies in
the Universe
that ultimately
holds it all
together.

-AW

Poem source: http://alicewalkersgarden.com/2016/06/jesse-williams-bet-awards-speech/

See Alice Walker’s Writings here on Amazon.