Poetic justice: Black Ink event celebrates history with verse

Black Ink sets out to engage and entertain people with words while educating them about black history.

"People will be enlightened by history, educated about black culture and entertained by poetry," said Vincent Phipps, local author and senior communications coach.

Mr. Phipps is host of the fourth annual Black Ink poetry competition, set today at Rock Point Books. More than a dozen people are expected to use poetry to celebrate topics, people and events concerning black history. After the readings, there will be an opportunity for questions and discussion.

While black history is the focus, the event welcomes people from all ethnic backgrounds, Mr. Phipps said.

"It's not just for blacks, but for all who want to write about black history," he said.

The key is simply to express yourself, said Eric Atkins, who helped coordinate the event.

"It was Abraham Lincoln who said, 'Malice toward none. Charity toward all,'" Mr. Atkins said. "That's what black history is all about. Binding wounds of the nation and looking to the future."

Cash prizes sponsored by the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will be given to the first, second and third-place winners in children (17 and under) and adult categories.

The local interactive poetry group Rhyme-N-Chatt, founded by Mr. Phipps, co-sponsors the event along with the NAACP.

"It's a celebration of Black History Month," said Valoria Armstrong, local NAACP president.

The motto is "speak, sing, salute black history," Mr. Atkins said.

Local journalist D'Wauna Young said she may participate today. In previous Black Inks, she read a poem called "Another Black History" in which she wrote about various local history makers who were also her teachers and neighbors.

"They are neighbors, parents and teachers," she said. "Some of them are still well-known civil rights icons today."

At the event, Mr. Phillips will read his poem "Black History is American History."

"As we've come a long way, we still seek solutions," it reads. "Some people still think that black history started with chains during slavery's institution."