Interview with Lesley University on Race, Education, and Poetry

“If Dr. Matthew E. Henry’s debut poetry collection, “Teaching While Black,” had been published five years ago, it would still have been relevant, it’s just that fewer people would have realized it.

In a country reckoning with centuries of systematic and internalized racism, Henry’s forthright verse is an important entry into the conversation…”

So begins my interview with the good folks at Lesley University, which is where I earned my PhD.

The title is also very telling:

“Dr. Matthew E. Henry’s unapologetic poetry addresses racism in the classroom: Teaching While Black chronicles 18 years of ‘come to Jesus’ conversations.”

Read the rest here.

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The interview also includes a reading of my poem “when asked why ‘all lives’ don’t matter.”