Hammad’s world of art and activism

Palestinian-American poet and political activist Suheir Hammad's voice is unique with its fusion of Palestinian and Arab culture and politics with Hip Hop sensibility. Vijay Dandige blends himself with a gamut of emotions that hope to bring about some change

Every vision needs an artist, every cause, an activist. In one corner of America, that job falls to Suheir Hammad, poet, raconteuse, torch-bearer, espouser extraordinaire. She was born in Amman to Palestinian parents. When she was four, she was whisked away to Brooklyn, New York where she studied and grew up. Today, at 5' 9", she stands as a striking woman with chiselled features.

Thirty-one-year old Suheir Hammad has flowered into a Palestinian-American poet and political activist. Her poems, as well as her books Born Palestinian, Born Black and Drops of This Story, have received critical acclaim, establishing her as one of America's foremost young artists. As part of the Def Poetry Jam show, she was the first Palestinian to ever receive a Tony Award on Broadway. She has also been published in numerous periodicals and anthologies, including Essence, Stress Hip-Hop Magazine and 33 Things Every Girl Should Know About Women's History. She has bagged several poetry awards, including NYU's Emerging Artist Award. Hammad is a frequent reader at New York reading venues, including numerous radio appearances.

Apart from her creative work, she has written and spoken out about issues such as the defence of Mumia Abu-Jamal, domestic violence, sexual abuse, racism, and homophobia. Hammad's voice is unique with its fusion of Palestinian and Arab culture and politics with Hip Hop sensibility - the form of creative expression giving voice to young, ethnic, urban populations that exploded into the American mainstream in the early 80s.

On her way to Jordan, Suheir Hammad recently stopped at Dubai and gave a reading of her poetry at Five Green, a trendy boutique that is the hub for art, fashion and musical events in the city. She spoke to Weekend in this exclusive interview.  

When and how did you start writing?

Many writers, and I include myself among them, begin writing when they started reading. I started at the age of 5. Even though I didn't consciously think of myself as a writer where you put down words on a page in a narrative form. Reading books was my absolute imagination and reality at the same then. So, the love affair that started with books, poetry, novels etc. at a young age was the origin of my writing. I do believe that if your vocation is writing, you begin when you experience the art form as a reader or as an audience member the first time. 

When do you think your poetry became activist, rather than merely an art form?

I don't think there ever was a separation, either personally or professionally for me. I don't think you can exclude your political situation and circumstances from your art. Some people do it, but in my opinion it is not organic - to your art and to your personal experiences and convictions. My political awareness was always there in my poems since young age, though the first poem that I read out publicly was in 1982 about my uncle, Hammad who was killed by Israeli and Lebanese forces in Lebanon. I was 19 then. Till then, I was writing and keeping it to myself.  

On one hand, you are known to be very passionate about your Arab roots. On the other, you freely use these ultra-modern expressions in your poems, words that are almost taboo in many cultures. How do you explain this phenomenon?

Many people live outside of their ancestral homeland. And whatever the dominant narrative is, these forces, of your lineage and the present, can become opposing or complementing forces within you. Growing up in an urban Brooklyn neighbourhood within a refugee immigrant home, I saw the same contradictions when it came to freedom of speech and freedom of movement, in both communities. I grew up in a Muslim household and I also grew up in a hip hop culture, which is very much like poetry, with a beat and a rhyme. Everywhere you go in the world, whatever the language is, you will find that the streets, the community and grass roots people use their own language. So, these two influences or origins of oration and cadence and rhyme and content came together within me and flowered as my expression. And I don't believe in separating poetry and literature from everyday experiences and everyday people. So, simply, I know that I come from Brooklyn as much as I come from a Palestinian refugee camp. 

How do you experience living in America, especially when there is this shadow over Arab people?

The idea or assumption that there is a shadow against Arab Americans or Asians in general is not different from the effects of disenfranchisement found all over America. What I have always known is that there is more than one America, and I always had a different experience. I experienced America as a poet immigrant, as working class people, not as a daughter of wealthy assimilated educated people. And that is a very different America than the one sold on cable and TV and through the White House. Poets use words and language. The only craft that uses absolute communicative tools is poetry. For me, it is a blessed place to be in, to use the tools that people can use to destroy or dehumanise or to silence, and to take these exact same words and put them in different order, with a different intention to illuminate, either an image or a story. So, there is this connection for me that I can go into a refugee camp in Palestine or a ghetto in Scotland, and see completely different languages and movements and still feel that I understand the experience.  

You have written about Palestine, sexual abuse, racism, domestic violence, women etc. Do you believe your words have the power to achieve anything or change conditions?

I can only speak from my own experience. And I've been transformed by the vision of other artists. I've read or heard a poem and viewed a work of art and seen the world differently, because of that artist's vision. I believe that if an artist is sure of his or her art, creates something true and real, from the deep recesses of the heart, consistently reviews, refines and challenges his or her intention within the art, then there is no doubt that there will be people for whom the expression of that art resonates so deeply that they are changed. And for me, it's people who populate the world, not corporations and governments. I don't think you set out to change governments and corporations. You set out to express yourself, to transform your own self, your vision of your own presence in the world through your writing. And if one person reads your poem and says: "Yeah, I felt this but didn't express it this way, or I never saw it this way" - that's good enough. So, I believe that my writing has the potential that it will change one person. I don't aspire to more or less than that. I write many things that I never publish. But the things I publish, I think I have a responsibility to care that it goes down well into the world - because the whole concept of sharing your work is to have an interaction with the audience. 

You are well known in America but have a low profile in the Middle East. Doesn't it bother you, especially since your work often champions the cause of your people?

I've been writing professionally for over 10 years. The notoriety that I have, if I may so, has been very hard-won and very slow in coming. I understand that I write within the landscape of contemporary American poetry. So, I am happy when someone outside of the States finds my work and likes it. And I hope that more people in Arab countries and Asian and African nations were English readers and will pick up the work and find the connection to it. I understand that I am an American artist as much as I'm a Palestinian artist, or a woman of colour or an immigrant. That's the world I live in now, and if I were to move to an Arab country, I'd hope that I'd be able to reach those audiences.  

What is your vision of a free Palestine?

My vision for a free Palestine is my vision for the whole world - which is respect for human life, which comes from respect for the land. I don't think you can truly respect the land and not respect human life. And within respecting human life, there is gender equality, religious enrichment and understanding, and safety, whether physical or emotional, and the right to education. And I wish this for the whole world. Of course, the focus is often on Palestine and the western media, because of the West's own investment and interest in keeping Israel as the State as it exists now. But all the semantics and language around the creation of the state of Israel really mean nothing when you think of the reality of the facts on ground: the bombings, the killings, the continuing build up of settlements, theft of water as well as of land. So, I wish for every piece of the planet to be respected that way. As for me, I'm connected to Palestine, ancestrally and emotionally, but I feel like I can love every part of the planet. I believe if you can respect one piece of land, you can respect all the pieces, the trees, the birds, the whole environment. And then, loving human beings who inhabit the planet just becomes the logical and emotional next step.