Rolling out publisher Munson Steed spent a few precious moments with literary icon, Maya Angelou, and Common, who were both in Chicago to host the Common Foundation’s Annual Gala over the weekend.
During the course of their talk, Angelou shared her pearls of wisdom that may very well be the secret to repairing and renewing black male and black female relations.
Here’s what she said:
Maya Angelou: You are good looking. We have some good looking men in here. [laughs].
Munson Steed: I’m going to have to remember that. Common, you have to tweet that. She said, ‘Munson Steed looks good.’ You’re my witness.
Common: I got you!
Munson Steed: You’re the most beautiful angel here, and that’s critical.
Both of you have given so much. Common, I applaud everything that you’ve done and, currently, you’ve been given the gift and carry the voice. How is it that you’ve found giving to the community so easy?
Maya Angelou: Common could be my son. I love young black men. I love old black men, too. Being a mother and a grandmother to two young black men and a great grandmother to one, I [reach out] to young black men and young black women in particular, but also young white men and young white women, Asian, Spanish people … I reach out to the young people. And I think, darling, you’ve already been paid for. Let me remind you of who you really are.
And so, when I had heard Common the first time I thought, “Who is this child?” I interviewed him for a radio show, “Friends of Oprah,” and I thought, “My goodness gracious, Almighty, this could be my son.” Young son, but still, when I talked to him again, he was so pleasant, and that means a lot to me.
Munson Steed: You’ve had two distinguished Chicago men that you’ve been next to: one, obviously, our great president and Common, both of them standing up. If you had to say something to young men to distinguish themselves and make the marks that both of these men have made across the world, what would you suggest that these young black men do?
Maya Angelou: This is going to sound very strange because I’ve never been asked that particular question. I would ask the young black men to forgive themselves. We were sold and bought together black men, African men and women. They were dragged along the sandy beaches in chains together.
Black men, African men could not reach over and protect their women from slavery, and they began to feel unmanly. And black women began to feel, “You didn’t even protect me.” This has gone on from 1619 to 2011. Black men feeling, “I’m not capable of protecting them from slavery, so I must not be all that tantamount.”
So, now, your version of your vitality and your strength is in my crotch, not in my mind or in my arms, you see? I want black men to forgive themselves. They didn’t own a rifle, they didn’t have the guns. And to be a man in this time. Be present in this time.
–zondra hughes
