“Baby, some spaces just aren’t for your kind.” 

This is a line from “Spaces”, a poem by Hannah Drake.

Drake performed her poetry on Tuesday, April 5, in the Jody Richards Hall Auditorium. The event was sponsored by the departments of sociology and criminology, English and history as well as the Gender and Women’s Studies and African American Studies programs.

Drake is an author, poet, speaker and activist known her commentary on racism, feminism and politics. She has written 11 books including “Dear White Women, it’s Not You. It’s Me. I’m Breaking Up with You” and “Dear America I’m Still Rooting for You”.

She was selected as one of the Best of the Best in Louisville for her poem, “Spaces”, and was recently honored as a Kentucky Colonel by Governor Andy Beshear, an honor recognizing an individual’s noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service.

During her performance, she recited four poems. The first was titled “Formation”, which she wrote after Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance in 2016 after the release of her album “Lemonade”.

The second poem she performed was “Spaces”, which she wrote after seeing two young Black girls at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville. It was her most requested poem.

“[The girls] were looking at me in such a way I could tell they’re looking at me like there’s something that this woman is speaking about that pertains to me, or [something] I need to pay attention to,” Drake said. “I went home that night, and I wrote the second poem that I’m going to do which is called ‘Spaces.”

After performing the well-known poem, she urged people of color – especially women – to stop moving out of people’s way as a part of her #DoNotMoveOffTheSidewalk challenge. 

“I do not enjoy being in these spaces,” Drake recited. “I no longer want to subject myself to these spaces. Then I am reminded as I stood in these spaces that I see the faces of these two little black girls watching me perform in awe because I’m a woman with kinky hair and skin that looks like theirs.”

Her third poem she shared was inspired by the controversy involving former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, when he began kneeling during a NFL game. The poem was titled “All You Had To Do is Play the Game, Boy.”

“I wanted it to be tough,” Drake said. “I wanted it to hurt. I wanted everybody that watched it to listen, because I wanted to start this conversation.”

Her final poem she performed was titled “I Love Me”, describing her battle to find self love.

“I choke at the thought that I could actually love myself, that I could speak those words out loud and perfectly into the universe,” Drake recited.

Content Editor Debra Murray can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @debramurrayy