{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/gh9b56g75s/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Oral history interview with Marcus Amaker"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/212/original/LOHI_aviarybanner2.jpg?1741032082","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["6/27/22"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["Marcus Amaker is a dad, husband, and Charleston’s first Poet Laureate. An opera librettist and Academy of American Poets fellow, he was inducted into the S.C. Literary Hall of Fame in 2024. He’s published ten books, released 44 albums of electronic music, and designed for No Depression. His work has appeared in PBS Newshour, NPR, The Washington Post, and more. His opera The Weight of Light debuted in 2024. In 2025, MacArthur Fellow “Genius Grant” winner Rhiannon Giddens performed his words on Songs in Flight by Shawn Okpebholo."]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["Copyright © Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture."]}},{"label":{"en":["Access Note"]},"value":{"en":["For more information contact the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, 125 Bull Street, Charleston, SC 29424."]}},{"label":{"en":["Access Statement"]},"value":{"en":["All rights reserved."]}},{"label":{"en":["Interviewee"]},"value":{"en":["Amaker, Marcus, 1976-"]}},{"label":{"en":["Interviewer"]},"value":{"en":["Brown, Millicent E., 1948-"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Topical"]},"value":{"en":["Black lives matter movement","African Americans","Political activists","Activism","Political participation","Community organization","Social movements"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Personal or Corporate"]},"value":{"en":["Scott, Walter, 1965-2015","Mother Emanuel AME Church (Charleston, S.C.)","Black Lives Matter Charleston (Charleston, S.C.)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Geographic"]},"value":{"en":["Charleston (S.C.)","Orangeburg (S.C.)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Geographic County"]},"value":{"en":["Charleston County (S.C.)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Contributing Institution"]},"value":{"en":["Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston"]}},{"label":{"en":["Media Type"]},"value":{"en":["Oral Histories"]}},{"label":{"en":["Resource Locator"]},"value":{"en":["AMN 1168.001.025"]}},{"label":{"en":["Digitization Specifications"]},"value":{"en":["Mp4 derivative audio and video created using Davinci Resolve. Archival masters are all mp4 files."]}},{"label":{"en":["Date Digital"]},"value":{"en":["2022"]}}],"summary":{"en":["Marcus Amaker is a dad, husband, and Charleston’s first Poet Laureate. An opera librettist and Academy of American Poets fellow, he was inducted into the S.C. Literary Hall of Fame in 2024. He’s published ten books, released 44 albums of electronic music, and designed for No Depression. His work has appeared in PBS Newshour, NPR, The Washington Post, and more. His opera The Weight of Light debuted in 2024. In 2025, MacArthur Fellow “Genius Grant” winner Rhiannon Giddens performed his words on Songs in Flight by Shawn Okpebholo."]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["Copyright © Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture."]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Lowcountry Digital Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Lowcountry Digital Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/212/original/LOHI_aviarybanner2.jpg?1741032082","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/298/978/small/open-uri20251217-4125201-ss3go3_1766000884.jpg?1766000886","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - open-uri20251217-4125201-ss3go3.mp4"]},"duration":2274.623,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/298/978/small/open-uri20251217-4125201-ss3go3_1766000884.jpg?1766000886","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-cofc.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/298/978/original/open-uri20251217-4125201-ss3go3.mp4?1766000877","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":2274.623,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["DTA Interview - Marcus Amaker - Edited Transcript.docx [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nOkay. My name is Marcus Amaker, M-A-R-C-U-S A-M-A-K-E-R.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=0.0,7.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nAnd Marcus, where do you call home?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=7.0,10.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nHome, to me, is a long answer. I was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, and we moved to England, and then Maryland, and then Japan, and then Texas. Then we moved back to South Carolina, and I say back to South Carolina because my family is from Orangeburg. So probably 90% of my family was born in Orangeburg, except for me. But Orangeburg was always where we came back to. So Orangeburg has a bit of that definition for me, but I don't feel too emotionally connected to it now. Charleston is more home than anything to me because I've lived here for 18 years now","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=10.0,56.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\n18 years you've been here.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=56.0,58.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYes. I'm not good at math, but it's around 18 years. Yes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=58.0,61.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOkay. And what label or title do you put on yourself, either professionally or personally? How do you identify yourself?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=61.0,73.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nWell I hope folks know me as a dad and a husband first. And then after that, first Poet Laureate of Charleston, a graphic designer, and a musician, as well, and a mentor.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=73.0,90.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWonderful. What new musical instruments?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=90.0,94.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nI play a bunch of drum machines and synthesizers and things, so I make a lot of electronic music. I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to that, but I love it though.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=94.0,106.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOkay. Well, you understand that you, we asked you to be a part of Documenting the Arc because we just know you to be some present very publicly for a good part of those 18 years, I guess. But especially in the timeframe that we're talking about, starting perhaps with Walter Scott's murder, and going, really, up until the present day of 2022. And so, we just wonder how you describe what roles, if anything, you saw yourself playing as all of these kinds of things were going on in the Charleston community.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=106.0,164.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah, that's a great question. I believe that there was an awakening that happened within me after the Walter Scott murder, because up to that point, my awareness and my interaction was a little hands-off. It was where I needed to be at that time. I didn't feel like my voice mattered as much prior to these things. But then when things started happening and I started seeing more open conversations going, I started feeling like my voice did have worth, and it did have power. And I started to see a lot of younger poets and younger artists, as well, expressing themselves.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=164.0,213.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nPrior to this, if we rewind the timeline a bit, when I first moved to town, everybody - rightfully so - was really upset with the George Bush administration. So I was involved with a lot of protest art shows. So that's doing poetry at a small venue or something, and there's posters around that had depictions of George Bush as a pig and things like that. And I was happy to be involved with that, but it almost...it was almost like, yeah, performative to me. It wasn't necessarily about changing things, it was about, \"Oh, look at what I'm doing.\" And then that's it. You leave the show and that's it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=213.0,256.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nWhen Walter Scott happened, obviously it felt so close to home. And I really had this awakening, like I said, that people are looking to me, and people are looking to others as well, to lead them on how to react to this. One of my big things in life is to make sure that we don't discredit our anger. So I really made it a focus to let folks know it's okay to be angry about this stuff. A lot of us want to rise above it and burn sage and go hug each other and stuff. But no, we need to be angry.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=256.0,296.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nSo, the way that I express my anger is through words, I feel like that's a healthy way for me to do that. So I started to lead a lot of poetry workshops to remind them that that option is there for them as well. Whatever they are feeling, you could write about it. I don't expect a poem to change the world, but I do think that if we are handling our anger and our anxieties in a healthy way, change can happen from that. I really feel like it starts with us.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=296.0,327.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nSo my role really started to change with that Poet Laureate position in 2016. So it  found myself in front of a lot of students and having deeper lessons with these students. Prior to the Poet Laureate position, and prior to the Walter Scott murder, it wasn't like I wasn't doing emotional work with them, but it was more surface level. We really dug in deep after that because you couldn't not be affected by that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=327.0,361.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nFor sure. More detail about who was attending those earlier sessions. You said you were leading writing sessions and whatever. Who was your audience?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=361.0,373.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nIt was anywhere from elementary school all the way to colleges. And my specialty is fifth graders or eighth graders, I don't know why. But fifth graders or eighth graders really seem to dig into what I'm saying. So I visited, and I still do visit, a lot of schools to lead them into workshops, to just explain within poetic confines. But it's really has been the best way that I felt that I could make change is through mentorship.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=373.0,409.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nMy strength is not being at a rally holding a sign. My strength is not being on a political forum, which I've asked to be on, and I'm just like, \"I don't know what to talk about.\" It's just not my strength. So my strength is really with mentorship and leading folks to a path of knowing that they have created freedom, but also to express [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=409.0,430.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] and not to discredit anger, and not to discredit anxiety or sadness around what's happening.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=430.0,439.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nNow, were you doing this formally? Is this a paid gig? Or is this all being done volunteer-wise?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=439.0,448.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nPrior to... Around that time, actually, prior to 2016, 2015, I was doing it for free. And it filled me up more than a lot of paid gigs did. [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=448.0,460.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] just to be able to find a path where I can get paid to be in schools. So that's what's happening now. I get support whether it's from a grant, whether it's from the Gaillard Center, or the city, there is money there for me to be in schools and do things. And now I've created my own poets in schools program, so I can control the money flow a little bit better and pay other people to do things as well. But yeah, prior to 2015, [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=460.0,493.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] all free. And after that, I started to get paid to be in schools.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=493.0,499.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nBut you talked about the shifting consciousness after George Floyd. Did that introduce you to a new group of people at that time? What helped that different consciousness evolved?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=499.0,520.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah, it was knowing that once I put the energy out there that, hey, we're going to have an open mic for, for example, that talks about George Floyd, and the amount of people that came to it and the amount of folks who wanted to speak on it really opened my eyes to what's going on with a lot of people in Charleston. And prior to that, I never would've met those folks, or never would've known that is going on because we like to keep things pretty pristine here. But it was... It's cool to realize that there are a lot of people willing to speak up.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=520.0,556.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nAnd what I think was important about a lot of those nights, too, was that people would come up with questions, not knowing how to react to it. Not knowing [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=556.0,565.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] completely cool, because a lot of times we don't know either, we just know that it sucks, for lack of a better word. So yeah, there was a lot of open mics that I helped to host and put together that were social justice-themed, and those people would pack a room. And we would just let it all out. Tears and all types of stuff. It's great. MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWhere were some of the venues?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=565.0,591.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWhere were some of the venues?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=591.0,591.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWhere were some of the venues? MARCUS AMAKER\n\nA lot of those places have since switched hands and changed, but one of the first places that we started doing things was it was called [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=591.0,601.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] on Spring Street, it's now 132 Spring. But it was a bookstore, record store, coffee shop. And the owner there was really into the types of stuff that we were doing, so it was packed. And it was great. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=601.0,620.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nAnd packed with who? Tell me more specifically, who's showing up?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=620.0,626.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nIt was a lot of Black folks in Charleston. It was a lot of queer folks in Charleston, as well. So it was a good, I don’t want to use the word, but it was definitely a good mix of people.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=626.0,640.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYou didn't want to use the word “diverse”?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=640.0,642.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah, no. Yeah. I do not want to use that word. Because what I found is that, for the poetry events, that naturally happens, I don't have to say, \"It would be great if we had trans people come.\" They naturally come. But it was that. It was a view of Charleston that I wish I saw more often. I [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=642.0,665.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] like that. I guess it's just a human condition, or human nature, but trauma brings us closer. But in those moments, I think that that's when we need our people most. So yeah, I started to see a lot of people like that come out to the events.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=665.0,686.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nAre you surprised by any of the folks that showed up? Did you start seeing some students that used to be young Republicans, or...? I'm just wondering. Because it's one thing that you attracted your creatives and folks who perhaps saw themselves as marginalized anyway. But I just wondered, did you see others coming out that would not have normally been present?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=686.0,721.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYes, definitely. There's a lot of people who came up to me after events and just for the, thanks me for putting on a thing like this. Because people who know what is right and know what feels wrong are coming out to these events to meet like-minded people, but they might not feel like they have the opportunity to spread, to share their words. Or they didn't really feel empowered enough to do so. So just meeting somebody in that environment was healing for a lot of people.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=721.0,757.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nI had a message from somebody, it was a young white man, who said that prior to these events and reading some of my work, he was an “All Lives Matter” guy. And now he realizes the error of his ways after reading my work. So things like that happen, and it's really empowering for me to read messages like that. Because I'm not necessarily wanting to change somebody's mind; I'm just expressing how I feel. So if somebody does change their point of view after reading a poem, that feels good to me. That shows another layer to the work that wasn't necessarily [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=757.0,801.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] at when I was writing it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=801.0,807.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWhat did - after the solace maybe that those kinds of settings can offer to people -  what did you then see people doing? How do they take a Marcus Amaker poem and what they do with it?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=807.0,824.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah. Well, a lot of different things. So I've seen students particularly write responses to my work. They might take a line from a poem and write something from that line. There's a line in my poem about the Emanuel 9, where I talked about the unbearable heat, but we were still able to hold our hands in unbearable heat. It's alluding to that. And somebody wrote about what it was like to hold like a stranger's hands and have the sweat and all of that. So things like that will happen from a lot of [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=824.0,864.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] ...emotional, me thinking about it now, but I'm honored that my work has inspired others to tell their truth and look at really the details of a certain event.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=864.0,878.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nI think that, particularly with the Emanuel 9, people might focus on one aspect of it, but I just think that it's important to really look at the whole thing. I mean, look at the fact that the church is on Calhoun Street. I even hate saying that name. And all of things [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=878.0,898.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] ...There are these little things that led up to moments like that. And I think that if that were to happen again, nobody would be surprised by it because those things are still in place to support terrorists like that. So I write about that a lot.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=898.0,920.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWhat was your reaction to the national, if not international, identification of Charleston as a city of love and peace and healing and forgiving?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=920.0,936.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nSo going back to my earlier statement of making sure we don't discredit our anger, it angered me some, because I don't... It's my belief that we can't really reach a place of healing without looking at all of the different emotions that we are going through. And I think that that was a narrative that the media made [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=936.0,962.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"].","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=962.0,964.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nI know plenty of people who are still angry. I know family members who have not forgiven the terrorist. So when I see that their stories aren't being told, or it's told but it's on a blog and it's not in the newspaper, those sort of things anger me because I can't help but think about the family member, that's still so upset, who cannot go back to the church, who it's even hard to even speak about it. So for that person to be going through what they're doing, and then you see on the news, \"Oh yeah, love and peace in Charleston,\" and we're all holding hands on a bridge. It didn't seem like, and it isn't, the right way in my mind to really reach a place of reckoning and healing. Yeah. It's okay for us to be angry. Imagine that. So yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=964.0,1020.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nTell us a little bit about, whether it's around Emanuel, or even in the aftermath, what did you see happening in the communities that you are moving in and out of?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1020.0,1041.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nI saw a lot of things. One of the things I saw was a lot of performative action on social media. So posting photos of birds flying in the air and something, and just being like, \"Let's all heal.\" I saw a lot of that. It sounds like I'm judging, I might be a little bit, but-","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1041.0,1062.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYou're allowed.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1062.0,1063.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah. But yeah, so there was a lot of that going on. And in my mind now, I'm just realizing that's just how people need to deal with it. I also saw a lot of anger in the streets and stuff, and people protesting, and really holding people accountable in a lot of white spaces in Charleston [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1063.0,1088.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] here. But I also saw a lot of white spaces and white-owned places like the Gaillard Center step up. And by stepping up, I mean realizing that the way that they have been doing things isn't necessarily the best way. So they decided to change things. And so I've seen a lot of things from different perspectives.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1088.0,1116.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nI also, overall, [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1116.0,1118.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] there's just been a deepening of our consciousness and an elevation that happened as we started to really...and, “we”, meaning people who didn't necessarily want to talk about racism, were talking about it now, which I think is a healthy thing. Whether that leads to action, who knows? But it was enough for me at that point to at least have conversations with people. It was almost like it was the elephant, and the giraffe, and the cheetah in the room. So we finally talked about it, and that felt good.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1118.0,1164.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWhat are your thoughts and hopes that that conversation is continuing, or will continue?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1164.0,1175.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah. I definitely hope that it does continue. I see it happening on a scale. Again, that's not in mass media. The real truth is [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1175.0,1185.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] ...And that's why I love being an artist because you do have that creative freedom to speak on whatever you want to. So I'm hoping that that continues and it leads to actual change. And that, in my mind, change is through policy change. So I'm hoping that this awareness that's going on will lead to that. I don't necessarily feel confident that that will happen, but I do hope. I am hopeful still that it will happen.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1185.0,1225.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/59","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYou've been around since the city, especially, has gone through a harangue about whether to create a permanent commission to study race relations and disparities. Do you remember what your reactions were when that just seemed [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1225.0,1250.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/60","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] contentious an idea?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1250.0,1253.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/61","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah. I definitely remember the talk around that, and I'm not a fan of committees and all of that. Just change the damn system, you know? We could talk about changing the system and pay somebody to come into the city to help us look at what's wrong, but we already know what's wrong. Just change the damn thing. That's how I feel about that. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1253.0,1281.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/62","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nDo you have any thoughts about what are some... Because you work with children, and I'm saying you have a upfront view. What are the kinds of changes that are not just talking points or performative? What do you think could make a difference?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1281.0,1300.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/63","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah, that's heavy. I think... [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1300.0,1310.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/64","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] the other day about change and that they were just saying, \"Oh, well it's nice that this is happening here. This is happening here.\" And in my mind, I just think you burn the whole thing down and build it back up again. So whatever that means. However that transforms into the school system, which I think is really messed up. Because I visit so many schools and I go the schools and there's Black schools, and you go to the white schools, and so these things are happening. Not like these schools are that far from each other, but yet we still want... We're still confused when people feel like they don't belong someplace. I'm like, \"Well, actually we're setting up a system for them to fail.\"","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1310.0,1354.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/65","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nSo I think the school system. And however that happens, so whenever I speak about stuff like this I sound like a hippie, but I do think that it is important to really have a good mix of students in every school. But to also [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1354.0,1371.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/66","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] remind them, it's not like we have a key to let them have power, but remind them of their power. Remind them that they have creative freedom. Remind them that whatever they say is fine and it's safe. And get them out of this wheel of school where it's you have to know facts and history and all this stuff. And that narrative-","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1371.0,1398.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/67","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nDon't knock history, now.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1398.0,1400.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/68","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nOkay. Yes, that's true. But it is a history that is candy-coated. So if what the teachers are able to teach is more rooted in truth instead of a narrative, that's when I think things started to change. I'm all about just the minds of young people, because I think it starts there. That's when the learning is really fresh. So imagine if we upload some real truth into their minds, not from a place of fear, but “this is what happened”, I think their world of view will completely change.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1400.0,1440.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/69","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nI think that's why it's so hard for a lot of people to accept change. When it comes to transgender awareness and stuff, people are afraid of it because they aren't used to it. So imagine if you just knew that as a kid, that was an option for somebody, then I think the awareness of it will help change this world really.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1440.0,1465.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/70","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nSo to me, it starts with the school system. That's how you really change things. And for adults, it's just more awareness and just making sure that all of the education is out there and the information is out there for people to know what's really going on in this world, and not a candy-coated version of what's happening in the city.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1465.0,1494.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/71","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nI don't want to put you on the spot, I'm trying to make you be judgmental, but I'm really curious, how much of what you've shared with us is a result of having seen England? Having seen Maryland? Having seen Japan? MARCUS AMAKER\n\nOh yeah. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1494.0,1514.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/72","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nOh yeah. Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1514.0,1514.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/73","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nOh yeah. Yeah. MILLICENT BROWN\n\nHow does that tie in with what you live, and what you're raising your daughter with, here in Charleston today?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1514.0,1523.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/74","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah, yeah. That, that's a good question. So like many people when they're younger, I don't think that consciously aware of how something is influencing them. When I was younger, seeing all of these different cultures and things, it just, it really influenced me to a big degree. So seeing Japanese culture when I was in the sixth grade was a really informative experience for me. I don't remember England; I was in kindergarten there. And then Texas was big for me as well because of the Latin culture there, so I learned a lot through that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1523.0,1571.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/75","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nThen going back to Orangeburg for Christmas every year. Orangeburg is dealing with, forever, it seems like, it's been dealing with major wealth gaps. So you go to parts of Orangeburg [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1571.0,1586.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/76","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] not a lot of resources there for Black folk. And it saddens me really. So I think when I was a kid, I was like, \"Oh wow, Orangeburg is boring. There's nothing here,\" things like that. But now, the older I've gotten, I've realized, I'm like, yeah, that was, in my mind, a deliberate thing to keep poor people confined as things flourish just an hour down the road. There's so many things that are not good about the decisions that were made for the city of Orangeburg. There's not real access to healthy food. Resources that just aren't there for people in Orangeburg.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1586.0,1636.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/77","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nAnd my awareness of it really [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1636.0,1641.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/78","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] learning about environmental racism, and how that works. And finally, really listening to my parents about what they went through as kids. They are joyful people, but they definitely have had experiences that they shared with me. So knowing that I came from a privileged life of being able to move around a lot helped me to see what is happening in this world. Yeah. And it's really helped me to make friends easily, too, because I was in so many different spots. Every two to three years I was moving. So I have this, I think, this superpower to make friends easily.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1641.0,1687.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/79","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWell, you're that kind of guy anyway, but you're telling us that exposure just seemed to make all the difference?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1687.0,1698.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/80","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah. Yeah. That's definitely true. Yeah. And it is a trip to be consciously [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1698.0,1703.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/81","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] now. When I was younger, it was almost like, oh, this is just the way that things are. Instead of realizing that we have some power to change it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1703.0,1716.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/82","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nGoing back just a little bit again to when Charleston was activated in response to some of the tragedies and everything, what are some of your thoughts about... You talked about the tendency to get into performative...online and what have you, did you participate in any of the more public protests?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1716.0,1750.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/83","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nI went to some protest early on after the Trayvon Martin murder. And that was at Marion Square. There were maybe 15 people there. We met every week. And it was...it was cool just to be in a community with people who were feeling that pain, but we didn't know what to do. And doing that was actually enough for us at that time.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1750.0,1782.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/84","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nWhen the bigger protests happened, I chose not to, because again, I don't feel like that's my strength. And I don't know... There are people out there who do that very well. And I don't [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1782.0,1798.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/85","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] just like being in being with folks, especially after the George Floyd murder. There was a safety issue for me, being a dad. And COVID is a thing, so I said, \"The last thing that I want to do is be around a bunch of people.\" So I chose not to. My work, and I feel like my strength, again, is just being, not “just”, but being a mentor and having conversations with students and others to lead them in their poetic responses to it, or in an artistic response to it. So yeah, I chose not to. I just, I was like, this seems a little dangerous to me, and last thing my daughter needs is for me to come home with COVID.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1798.0,1845.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/86","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nNo, it's a very realistic reaction, and I thank you for being honest about that. And it's a sentiment shared by quite a few of our interviewees, that there are so many different ways that we show here about these issues. And you obviously have your methods.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1845.0,1869.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/87","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nGiven that your words may well be heard by people 40, 50 years from now, you got anything you want to just put on the record for us that describes how it feels to be a Black man in Charleston at this incredibly trying time in our [inaudible ]?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1869.0,1900.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/88","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"]?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1900.0,1900.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/89","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"]? MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah. So when I first moved here, I worked for the Post and Courier. And from the beginning I felt like I was an outsider, even though I was employed by them. But I always felt like I needed to prove myself in a way that my white colleagues didn't have to. So [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1900.0,1934.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/90","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] when I was going into that building and doing my work with a shield up, and with a sword, just ready to go in if anybody wanted to question my choices. But that is a thing that I have felt in a lot of different spaces in Charleston. A lot of different white-owned spaces in Charleston. It's almost as if you have to prove yourself, as a Black man, to let them know that this is safe. You don't have to be scared of this. So that was one example, and I will not name these people.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1934.0,1973.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/91","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nBut thinking of putting on a hip-hop show, and then it's, there was concern about, “Oh, it's going to be vulgar,\" and all this stuff. I said, \"Well, some hip hop is vulgar. Some rock is vulgar. Some movie shows are vulgar. Why do we have to always go back to hip-hop as the thing?\" So it was [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1973.0,1992.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/92","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] where I felt like I had to prove myself.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1992.0,1999.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/93","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nSo that is a thing as a Black man in Charleston that happens often. Sometimes it isn't warranted. Sometimes it's my paranoia, but it's years and years of built-up trauma that has made us react this way. So, there is a bit of sadness in me when I think [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=1999.0,2020.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/94","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"], because I don't know that I'm really fully been my true self, unless there's other Black people in the room, because there's a sense of community. There's a sense of family. So that is a thing being in Charleston, being a Black man in Charleston.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2020.0,2042.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/95","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nSo many incidences have happened to me where, your classic sort of thing, where I'm in a elevator and there's a white woman and she clutches her purse. The cops have chased me down on my bike because my bike “fit the description” of a bike that was stolen. Things like that have happened a lot in Charleston. Well, enough times that it just makes you pause and not be your true self. So, I'm sad [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2042.0,2077.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/96","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] that, because there's a lot of people who just don't understand what that's like. They can just do whatever they want and it's fine. So there's a bit of being a little bit held back in Charleston.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2077.0,2090.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/97","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nEven after getting the Poet Laureate position, for about a week I felt like I was special. And then, and then I realized, \"Oh yeah, I live in Charleston still.\" But it, that [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2090.0,2105.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/98","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] me really upgrading my voice and realizing the power of my words. So I don't hold back when it comes to my poems or the way that I express myself. And that, I hope, is leading by example for others as well. Because that is an area that I can control as being an artist. And even if it's subtle and [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2105.0,2132.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/99","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] might not get the metaphor, I'm still putting some truth in there. So yeah, that's a big recollection. I never really have thought about it that way. So thank you for the opportunity to talk about it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2132.0,2149.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/100","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nFolks are going to want to know how to get through whatever trials and tribulations they're going through, even if it's 50 years from now.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2149.0,2159.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/101","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah, yeah,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2159.0,2160.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/102","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nSo [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2160.0,2162.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/103","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] about seeking and searching for your most truthfulness is always going to matter.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2162.0,2171.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/104","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2171.0,2173.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/105","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nAnything else you want to share with us?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2173.0,2180.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/106","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nYeah. I just... Yeah. I really hope that... I hope - next week, you know? That there's people in power that look like us more. Because that's another thing is there's an understanding that brown people have. It's just an understanding that we have. And when you are trying, or when I'm trying, to make things happen on a large scale, the people who I'm talking to, there's that level that I [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2180.0,2218.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/107","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] first. So it's almost like... This just goes back to my answer. But it's just overexplaining myself and just making sure that they feel safe before you get into what you're there for.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2218.0,2231.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/108","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nSo I just hope that years from now we have people in power, whether that's the president, whether that's people in Congress or whatever, just more people that have a shared experience with the real community. It's not just the people who vote, it's the people who don't vote, too, need representation. So I just hope that that is where that happens, and that in my mind will lead to real change. There's only so much that a poem can do and that an artist can do.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2231.0,2269.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/109","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nBut we need your work. We really do. MARCUS AMAKER\n\nThank you. Thank you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2269.0,2273.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/110","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nThank you. Thank you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2273.0,2273.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978/transcript/87855/annotation/111","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MARCUS AMAKER\n\nThank you. Thank you. MILLICENT BROWN\n\nThank you so much.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164261/file/298978#t=2273.0,2279.0"}]}]}]}