Lani Guinier – Educator, Legal Scholar, Civil Rights Theorist
Love Letter to Lani (Guinier)
Dear Lani,
You believed in me way back
Back when I didn’t see
Myself the way you did
Sure I knew I wasn’t stupid
But I didn’t see what you did
I mean who did?
Mama and next of kin
But to you I was the new kid
The future was far from lucid
You helped me find my way
How was you the same age
When we met back in the day
as I am today?
No clue how you
Would show and prove
Lame zero sum games
Played just for us to lose
Didn’t know the half
Hadn’t done the math
You gave me the game
From your magical laugh
To critical race gender class
Between Hauser Hall and
Temple Bar, nobody was
more beloved on the yard
Than Lani
Namesake of royalty
Champion of democracy
Radical as we need to be
Taking on the old boys
Fearlessly so peerlessly
Born with an extra eye open
Informing us of what you see
Imagining possibilities
Beyond the fall of tyranny
Laws that won’t set us free
You even gave Theater to me
I represent Brooklyn
You raised hell in Queens
Showed me so many things
Ain’t always what they seem
Helped build a movement
in penitentiaries worldwide
To provide a path to guide
Untold stories of humanity
The one and only LG
Leader and G.O.A.T.
LG – Lover of Growth
LG – Lion of a Generation
Warrior of Hope
Defender of the Vote
Protector of us cuffed in
America’s unjust chokehold
The stories you told
Of canaries in old mines
Helped our minds unfold
To sing your song on and on
Until Mother Earth yawns
Her last dawn and the sun
You made shine brighter
On us all burns cold
Rest in Peace and Power!
-bryonn
#LaniGuinier
#BlackHistoryMatters
#BlackLivesMatter
Written by Bryonn Bain @bryonn_bain
Recent Posts
Statement on Dr. Cornel West Joins the Board of Black Lives Matter Grassroots
In many ways this is a revisitation of the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, in which ruling Justice Roger Taney claimed, “African Americans had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”.
Statement on Jordan Neely
In many ways this is a revisitation of the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, in which ruling Justice Roger Taney claimed, “African Americans had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”.
Statement on the Election of Donald Trump
Our flight has never been dependent on who occupies the White House. It is driven by our secret duty in our deep commitment to justice and the liberation of our people.
