I've been googling for the last ten minutes trying to find the - friend of James Wright? - who died in 2018, with a persona poem in the voice of an old woman getting on a bus. It's both appropriative and empathetic, I think.
When I first discovered African American literature - moving back to the US after twenty years - Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison, WEB DuBois, James Baldwin, Richard Wright - it blew the top of my head off. I had thought I had some understanding of African American experience, based on common sense and sympathy. I had no idea. This to my mind tallies with Susan's argument regarding what first-hand voices can offer that second-hand voices almost by definition lack.
Cheers,
John
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