El Jones
Biography
El Jones - Photo Courtesy of CBC
El Jones was born in Cardiff, Wales, but raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She now calls Halifax, Nova Scotia her home. Jones studied English at Dalhousie University and served as Halifax’s Poet Laureate since 2013. She first began performing spoken word poetry at a Word Iz Bond open mic, and later became artistic director of Word Iz Bond Spoken Word Artistc Collective.
Jones has performed all over Canada, including the 10th Anniversary All-Star edition of When Sisters Speak in Toronto. In 2012, she was sponsored by Citizenship and Heritage Canada on a reading tour of Nova Scotia with George Elliott Clarke. Jones teaches in the African Canadian Transition program at NSCC and the Women’s Studies program at Acadia University. She has written many articles for Huffington Post Canada, and in 2014, published her first book of poetry, Live from the Afrikan Resistance! (Roseway Publishing).
Jones advocates for the use of spoken word as a tool for liberation and activism. She is dedicated to using poetry to engage youth and as a resource for prison outreach, finding her inspiration in the Black community of Nova Scotia.
Jones has performed all over Canada, including the 10th Anniversary All-Star edition of When Sisters Speak in Toronto. In 2012, she was sponsored by Citizenship and Heritage Canada on a reading tour of Nova Scotia with George Elliott Clarke. Jones teaches in the African Canadian Transition program at NSCC and the Women’s Studies program at Acadia University. She has written many articles for Huffington Post Canada, and in 2014, published her first book of poetry, Live from the Afrikan Resistance! (Roseway Publishing).
Jones advocates for the use of spoken word as a tool for liberation and activism. She is dedicated to using poetry to engage youth and as a resource for prison outreach, finding her inspiration in the Black community of Nova Scotia.
Additional Information:
Author's Wikipedia
"AIDS"
"Be Loyal, Be Strong, Be Free"
“Boxes”
"Do You Know How Many People Died for This"
“If I had a Penis”
"Kings and Queens" (Live at Africville 2008)
“Kings and Queens” (Live at When Sisters Speak 2009)
“Malcolm X”
“Mandela”
"Martin Luther King"
"A poem for Earth Day"
"Stop Street Checks"
"University in the 21st Century"
“The Zoo”
TedxCapeBreton Talk
On racism in Canada
Author's Wikipedia
"AIDS"
"Be Loyal, Be Strong, Be Free"
“Boxes”
"Do You Know How Many People Died for This"
“If I had a Penis”
"Kings and Queens" (Live at Africville 2008)
“Kings and Queens” (Live at When Sisters Speak 2009)
“Malcolm X”
“Mandela”
"Martin Luther King"
"A poem for Earth Day"
"Stop Street Checks"
"University in the 21st Century"
“The Zoo”
TedxCapeBreton Talk
On racism in Canada
This is for all my queens in Queens and all my kings in Kingston raising a baby in Babylon.
If all of the sisters could fight for the brothers instead of fighting
over the brothers,
And all of the brothers could try to love their own instead of trying
to own love,
Then maybe we could fight like X did instead of fighting our exes.
And maybe if for a minute we stopped hating each other
We could do like Haiti and free each other.
And ladies—ask Harriet Tubman what it should mean to railroad each other
Instead of selling each other out we saw the soul in each other.
And brothers, we need to stop pimping Black women like we learned from the massa
And be more like Selassie instead of selling asses.
We used to go broke to go to school
Now we’d rather go broke than go to school
We were out in the hot fields dying to be cool
Now we’re out in the streets dying to be cool
So we spend our last cent on those sweatshop shoes.
We take our government cheque but we don’t check our government
We’ll vote for American Idol but not the president
So while our brothers sit idle in Sing Sing
We don’t care if our idols can sing sing.
And because we were sold to make sugar in Barbados and Bahamas
Now we talk about getting those sugar daddies and sugar mamas
And when we talk about dead presidents we mean cash and not Obama.
We’re all up in each other’s business but we can’t get up in each
other’s businesses
And then we wonder why we still don’t own shit?
Instead of building like Egypt we try to gyp each other
And we’ll rip each other off before we tip each other
And then we say, don’t trip brother!
So we give each other props for still being property
And we fill our heads with hip hop but never with philosophy
While we buy anything unnecessary instead of by any means necessary.
Black men call their home their crib
Like they’re so busy being children they can’t raise their kids
And they’ll call their women their babymamas but never give her that ring.
We used to have to run away from the dogs so we could get married
Now we run away to be dogs instead of being called daddy.
And because we used to feel the crack of the whip
Now we sell crack to buy new whips
And instead of getting that diploma we’d rather dip.
So instead of working in that office and wearing a white collar
We get collared by white officers to make that dollar
We want to play above the rim so we can buy new rims
Instead of taking engineering and building that pyramid.
We know everything about Judge Mathis
And nothing about what math is
We’re so used to being money we’ve forgotten what cash is
And we can make that bank shot but we don’t know where the bank is.
Because we’re told we can play in the NBA but we can’t be an MBA
And we can be an MC but not an MD or MA
And we don’t talk about racism we just talk about playa hatin’.
We dream about going to Liberia but we can’t go to the library
So we’re read our rights when we’re sentenced instead of writing that sentence
We come from people who wrote the Book of the Dead!
Now we either end up booked or dead.
And maybe if we hung by our necks like our grandparents did
We wouldn’t talk so hard about choking a bitch
And if we ever had to cut a lynching victim down we’d think twice
Before we cut each other down to size
And maybe that’s why we call each other shorty.
We talk about shooting each other with 9s and 45s
But we don’t talk about working that 9 to 5
I guess we spent so long on the auction block
Now we’d rather die than get off the block.
So we end up on a chain gang in that jail
Cuz when we join that gang we can buy that chain
So we kill each other over shorting that weight
Just like massa did when he put cotton on the scale.
Ask a slave to show you a ho’.
Do you think he’d point at his sister in the next cotton row,
Or the tool in his hand used to make the cotton grow?
And when he sees the overseer coming ask him what it means to get low.
Ask him to point out free Black people I bet he’d never say BET
And brother, I don’t think he’d say you
And sister, I don’t think he’d say me.
Published in Live from the Afrikan Resistance! (Roseway Publishing, 2014).
Used with permission from the author.
If all of the sisters could fight for the brothers instead of fighting
over the brothers,
And all of the brothers could try to love their own instead of trying
to own love,
Then maybe we could fight like X did instead of fighting our exes.
And maybe if for a minute we stopped hating each other
We could do like Haiti and free each other.
And ladies—ask Harriet Tubman what it should mean to railroad each other
Instead of selling each other out we saw the soul in each other.
And brothers, we need to stop pimping Black women like we learned from the massa
And be more like Selassie instead of selling asses.
We used to go broke to go to school
Now we’d rather go broke than go to school
We were out in the hot fields dying to be cool
Now we’re out in the streets dying to be cool
So we spend our last cent on those sweatshop shoes.
We take our government cheque but we don’t check our government
We’ll vote for American Idol but not the president
So while our brothers sit idle in Sing Sing
We don’t care if our idols can sing sing.
And because we were sold to make sugar in Barbados and Bahamas
Now we talk about getting those sugar daddies and sugar mamas
And when we talk about dead presidents we mean cash and not Obama.
We’re all up in each other’s business but we can’t get up in each
other’s businesses
And then we wonder why we still don’t own shit?
Instead of building like Egypt we try to gyp each other
And we’ll rip each other off before we tip each other
And then we say, don’t trip brother!
So we give each other props for still being property
And we fill our heads with hip hop but never with philosophy
While we buy anything unnecessary instead of by any means necessary.
Black men call their home their crib
Like they’re so busy being children they can’t raise their kids
And they’ll call their women their babymamas but never give her that ring.
We used to have to run away from the dogs so we could get married
Now we run away to be dogs instead of being called daddy.
And because we used to feel the crack of the whip
Now we sell crack to buy new whips
And instead of getting that diploma we’d rather dip.
So instead of working in that office and wearing a white collar
We get collared by white officers to make that dollar
We want to play above the rim so we can buy new rims
Instead of taking engineering and building that pyramid.
We know everything about Judge Mathis
And nothing about what math is
We’re so used to being money we’ve forgotten what cash is
And we can make that bank shot but we don’t know where the bank is.
Because we’re told we can play in the NBA but we can’t be an MBA
And we can be an MC but not an MD or MA
And we don’t talk about racism we just talk about playa hatin’.
We dream about going to Liberia but we can’t go to the library
So we’re read our rights when we’re sentenced instead of writing that sentence
We come from people who wrote the Book of the Dead!
Now we either end up booked or dead.
And maybe if we hung by our necks like our grandparents did
We wouldn’t talk so hard about choking a bitch
And if we ever had to cut a lynching victim down we’d think twice
Before we cut each other down to size
And maybe that’s why we call each other shorty.
We talk about shooting each other with 9s and 45s
But we don’t talk about working that 9 to 5
I guess we spent so long on the auction block
Now we’d rather die than get off the block.
So we end up on a chain gang in that jail
Cuz when we join that gang we can buy that chain
So we kill each other over shorting that weight
Just like massa did when he put cotton on the scale.
Ask a slave to show you a ho’.
Do you think he’d point at his sister in the next cotton row,
Or the tool in his hand used to make the cotton grow?
And when he sees the overseer coming ask him what it means to get low.
Ask him to point out free Black people I bet he’d never say BET
And brother, I don’t think he’d say you
And sister, I don’t think he’d say me.
Published in Live from the Afrikan Resistance! (Roseway Publishing, 2014).
Used with permission from the author.
Critical Analysis: Resistance poetry through familiarity and harsh truth
Molly Strickland (for ENGL: 4426 Contemporary Atlantic Canadian Poetry)
For El Jones, writing and social protesting are synonymous. As Jones states in the introduction to her book, Live From the Afrikan Resistance!, she believes that spoken word poetry, her chosen medium, is a tool of liberation (vii). One of the poems which best demonstrates this is the poem “Kings and Queens,” from the section “Rise Up Fallen Soldiers!”. Jones uses colloquial language and double meanings in “Kings and Queens” to comment on the problems in the Afrikan-Canadian community in order to encourage resistance against institutionalized racism. In commenting on these issues, Jones brings attention to problematic aspects of Atlantic Canadians’ understanding of the past and present, concurrently revealing how ignorance leads to ingrained societal biases and power inequalities.
In “Unsettling the Empire: Resistance Theory for the Second World,” Stephen Slemon explains how “resistance itself is […] never purely resistance, never simply there in the text or the interpretive community, but is always necessarily complicit in the apparatus it seeks to transgress”(37). Slemon’s idea elucidates the basic concept of“Kings and Queens” which defines Jones as a resistance artist. “Kings and Queens” comments on how people unconsciously make themselves complicit in their own destruction. Because Jones acknowledges that all Black people work within the system that oppresses them, she is able to see this destruction clearly and understand the kind of resistance necessary for changing the system. Her resistance begins with the very first word of the poem, the subordinating conjunction “if” (1). Jones’ use of “if” allows the reader to understand how this poem is commentary, which encourages resistance rather than being simply a critical summation of the issues of Black people (1).
Colloquial language in “Kings and Queens” both accentuates the commentary Jones makes on the issues of the Afrikan-Canadian community, and reinforces her message of resistance by making it accessible. In the introduction to Live from the Afrikan Resistance!, Jones describes how her spoken word work preserves and showcases the rhythms and grammar of Afrikan speech (vii), such as her use of the word “massa” to indicate white slave masters, because that is how the word was pronounced by the Black slaves. Another example of this is the following line: “Instead of building like Egypt we try to gyp each other/And we’ll rip each other off before we tip each other/And then we say, don’t trip brother!” (54). From “gyp” to “rip off” to “don’t trip, brother,” Jones exemplifies language that would appeal to her community as common turns of phrase, which make a clearer message for her audience. It enhances her commentary as the familiar language harshly contrasts the uncomfortable truths of her lines, again reinforcing her message. Further, the language subtly reminds the reader how colloquialisms can support both community and oppression by bringing people of common experience together, yet remain spoken in the language of their oppressors.
One common feature of spoken word poetry is skillful wordplay, in which one phrase can have multiple meanings. Jones excels at this in “Kings and Queens,” bringing truths together and commenting on issues in the Afrikan-Canadian community. Jones derides the lack of community strength in a line on absent fathers: “We used to have to run away from the dogs so we could get married/Now we run away to be dogs instead of being called daddy” (55). The multiple meanings behind the word “dog,” both formal and colloquial, lead to a comparison of the history of slaves wanting the freedom to marry, to the present problem of absent Black fathers. Another example occurs in the statement, “I guess we spent so long on the auction block/Now we’d rather die than get off the block” (56). With the double meanings of the word “block,” Jones compares the past sales of slaves to the current issue of people being more concerned with their neighborhood reputations than in improving their futures. Such comparisons expose the shift from an outright racism that reduced Black people to property, to a more subtle prejudice that continues the institutions of racism in contemporary culture.
“Kings and Queens” exemplifies El Jones’ belief in poetry as means of social change by using colloquial language and double meanings to comment on the problems in the Afrikan-Canadian community in order to encourage resistance against racism. Accessible language and meanings ensure her poetry is available to her audience but is also a call for resistance.
Works Cited (for analysis):
Jones, El. “Introduction.” Live from the Afrikan Resistance!. Black Point: Roseway Publishing, 2014.
-- “Kings and Queens.” Live from the Afrikan Resistance!. Black Point: Roseway Publishing, 2014.
Slemon, Stephen. “Unsettling the Empire: Resistance Theory for the Second World.” World Literature Written in English, 30.2 (1990): 30-41.
For El Jones, writing and social protesting are synonymous. As Jones states in the introduction to her book, Live From the Afrikan Resistance!, she believes that spoken word poetry, her chosen medium, is a tool of liberation (vii). One of the poems which best demonstrates this is the poem “Kings and Queens,” from the section “Rise Up Fallen Soldiers!”. Jones uses colloquial language and double meanings in “Kings and Queens” to comment on the problems in the Afrikan-Canadian community in order to encourage resistance against institutionalized racism. In commenting on these issues, Jones brings attention to problematic aspects of Atlantic Canadians’ understanding of the past and present, concurrently revealing how ignorance leads to ingrained societal biases and power inequalities.
In “Unsettling the Empire: Resistance Theory for the Second World,” Stephen Slemon explains how “resistance itself is […] never purely resistance, never simply there in the text or the interpretive community, but is always necessarily complicit in the apparatus it seeks to transgress”(37). Slemon’s idea elucidates the basic concept of“Kings and Queens” which defines Jones as a resistance artist. “Kings and Queens” comments on how people unconsciously make themselves complicit in their own destruction. Because Jones acknowledges that all Black people work within the system that oppresses them, she is able to see this destruction clearly and understand the kind of resistance necessary for changing the system. Her resistance begins with the very first word of the poem, the subordinating conjunction “if” (1). Jones’ use of “if” allows the reader to understand how this poem is commentary, which encourages resistance rather than being simply a critical summation of the issues of Black people (1).
Colloquial language in “Kings and Queens” both accentuates the commentary Jones makes on the issues of the Afrikan-Canadian community, and reinforces her message of resistance by making it accessible. In the introduction to Live from the Afrikan Resistance!, Jones describes how her spoken word work preserves and showcases the rhythms and grammar of Afrikan speech (vii), such as her use of the word “massa” to indicate white slave masters, because that is how the word was pronounced by the Black slaves. Another example of this is the following line: “Instead of building like Egypt we try to gyp each other/And we’ll rip each other off before we tip each other/And then we say, don’t trip brother!” (54). From “gyp” to “rip off” to “don’t trip, brother,” Jones exemplifies language that would appeal to her community as common turns of phrase, which make a clearer message for her audience. It enhances her commentary as the familiar language harshly contrasts the uncomfortable truths of her lines, again reinforcing her message. Further, the language subtly reminds the reader how colloquialisms can support both community and oppression by bringing people of common experience together, yet remain spoken in the language of their oppressors.
One common feature of spoken word poetry is skillful wordplay, in which one phrase can have multiple meanings. Jones excels at this in “Kings and Queens,” bringing truths together and commenting on issues in the Afrikan-Canadian community. Jones derides the lack of community strength in a line on absent fathers: “We used to have to run away from the dogs so we could get married/Now we run away to be dogs instead of being called daddy” (55). The multiple meanings behind the word “dog,” both formal and colloquial, lead to a comparison of the history of slaves wanting the freedom to marry, to the present problem of absent Black fathers. Another example occurs in the statement, “I guess we spent so long on the auction block/Now we’d rather die than get off the block” (56). With the double meanings of the word “block,” Jones compares the past sales of slaves to the current issue of people being more concerned with their neighborhood reputations than in improving their futures. Such comparisons expose the shift from an outright racism that reduced Black people to property, to a more subtle prejudice that continues the institutions of racism in contemporary culture.
“Kings and Queens” exemplifies El Jones’ belief in poetry as means of social change by using colloquial language and double meanings to comment on the problems in the Afrikan-Canadian community in order to encourage resistance against racism. Accessible language and meanings ensure her poetry is available to her audience but is also a call for resistance.
Works Cited (for analysis):
Jones, El. “Introduction.” Live from the Afrikan Resistance!. Black Point: Roseway Publishing, 2014.
-- “Kings and Queens.” Live from the Afrikan Resistance!. Black Point: Roseway Publishing, 2014.
Slemon, Stephen. “Unsettling the Empire: Resistance Theory for the Second World.” World Literature Written in English, 30.2 (1990): 30-41.
Bibliography
Primary Sources:
Jones, El. "'Apology Not Accepted' for Trudeau's Blackface Insult." Zoomer, everythingzoomer.com, 20 Sep 2019.
---. "Black Canadians are suffocating under a racist policing system, too." The Washington Post, washingtonpost.com, 4 June 2020.
---. “Chris Brown: The Problem With Giving Abuse a Black Face.” Huffington Post Living: Canada 24 July 2014.
---. "El Jones interviews a prisoner at Burnside about what it's like to be in jail during a pandemic." Halifax Examiner, halifaxexaminer.ca, 25 Mar 2020.
---. "Fragments for a Pandemic." Sick of the System, Toronto: Between the Lines, 2020.
---. “Hey Men, Women's Conflicts Aren't ‘Cat Fights’." Huffington Post Living: Canada 22 July 2013.
---. "I Tried to Learn About Girls From Google." The Philanthropist, thephilanthropist.ca, 1 April 2019.
---. Live from the Afrikan Resistance!. Black Point: Roseway Publishing, 2014.
---. "Nova Scotians rise!" The Nova Scotia Advocate, nsadvocate.org, 27 Feb. 2018.
---. “Protecting Canada's Trayvon Martins.” Huffington Post Living: Canada. 15 July 2013.
---. "They say that Blackness is depravity." The Nova Scota Advocate, nsadvocate.org, 30 May 2020.
---. "Toxic Legacies." Our Times. 33.2 (2014): 33.
---. “Until Dalhousie Understands Privilege, There Can Be No Restorative Justice.” Huffington Post Living: Canada. 22 December 2014.
---, and Akwasi Owusu-Bempah. "Cannabis and criminalization of Black Canadians." Policy Options, policyoptions.irpp.org, 8 Jan 2020.
---, and Randolph Riley. "Many a Thousand Gone." Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada. Ed. by Rodney Diverlus, Sandy Hudson, Syrus Marcus Ware, Regina: University of Regina Press, 2020.
Secondary Sources:
Barnard, Elissa. “El Jones chosen as Halifax's new poet laureate.” The Chronicle Herald 27. June 2013.
Beaumont, Hilary. “El Jones, poetry and power.” The Coast 18 September 2014.
Bousquet, Tim. "El Jones gets at the human core of the issues and people she writes about." Halifax Examiner, halifaxexaminer.ca, 6 Nov. 2018.
Clarke, George E. "El Jones' Poems Make Powerful Impact." Chronicle - Herald. (2014).
“HRM Poet Laureate: El Jones.” Official Website of Halifax’s Municipal Government. N.d.
“Halifax’s Poet Laureate launches book.” Morning News Halifax. Global News. CIHF-DT, Halifax. 18 September 2014.
Hunter-Young, Nataleah, and Sarah Mason-Case. "Thoughts of Liberation." Canadian Art, canadianart.ca, 17 June 2020.
Jerome, Gillian. “An Interview with El Jones.” Canadian Women in the Literary Arts (2013).
Lake, Michael. “Poetry off the page.” The Coast 11. July 2013.
Neigh, Scott. “Radical poetry: An interview with Halifax's El Jones.” Talking Radical Radio. Rabble.ca. 9 October 2013.
“RAW: Poet laureate El Jones.” Online video. CBC Player. CBC. 27 June 2013.
Many of Jones’ performances can also be viewed on YouTube. Please see her Biography Page.
Jones, El. "'Apology Not Accepted' for Trudeau's Blackface Insult." Zoomer, everythingzoomer.com, 20 Sep 2019.
---. "Black Canadians are suffocating under a racist policing system, too." The Washington Post, washingtonpost.com, 4 June 2020.
---. “Chris Brown: The Problem With Giving Abuse a Black Face.” Huffington Post Living: Canada 24 July 2014.
---. "El Jones interviews a prisoner at Burnside about what it's like to be in jail during a pandemic." Halifax Examiner, halifaxexaminer.ca, 25 Mar 2020.
---. "Fragments for a Pandemic." Sick of the System, Toronto: Between the Lines, 2020.
---. “Hey Men, Women's Conflicts Aren't ‘Cat Fights’." Huffington Post Living: Canada 22 July 2013.
---. "I Tried to Learn About Girls From Google." The Philanthropist, thephilanthropist.ca, 1 April 2019.
---. Live from the Afrikan Resistance!. Black Point: Roseway Publishing, 2014.
---. "Nova Scotians rise!" The Nova Scotia Advocate, nsadvocate.org, 27 Feb. 2018.
---. “Protecting Canada's Trayvon Martins.” Huffington Post Living: Canada. 15 July 2013.
---. "They say that Blackness is depravity." The Nova Scota Advocate, nsadvocate.org, 30 May 2020.
---. "Toxic Legacies." Our Times. 33.2 (2014): 33.
---. “Until Dalhousie Understands Privilege, There Can Be No Restorative Justice.” Huffington Post Living: Canada. 22 December 2014.
---, and Akwasi Owusu-Bempah. "Cannabis and criminalization of Black Canadians." Policy Options, policyoptions.irpp.org, 8 Jan 2020.
---, and Randolph Riley. "Many a Thousand Gone." Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada. Ed. by Rodney Diverlus, Sandy Hudson, Syrus Marcus Ware, Regina: University of Regina Press, 2020.
Secondary Sources:
Barnard, Elissa. “El Jones chosen as Halifax's new poet laureate.” The Chronicle Herald 27. June 2013.
Beaumont, Hilary. “El Jones, poetry and power.” The Coast 18 September 2014.
Bousquet, Tim. "El Jones gets at the human core of the issues and people she writes about." Halifax Examiner, halifaxexaminer.ca, 6 Nov. 2018.
Clarke, George E. "El Jones' Poems Make Powerful Impact." Chronicle - Herald. (2014).
“HRM Poet Laureate: El Jones.” Official Website of Halifax’s Municipal Government. N.d.
“Halifax’s Poet Laureate launches book.” Morning News Halifax. Global News. CIHF-DT, Halifax. 18 September 2014.
Hunter-Young, Nataleah, and Sarah Mason-Case. "Thoughts of Liberation." Canadian Art, canadianart.ca, 17 June 2020.
Jerome, Gillian. “An Interview with El Jones.” Canadian Women in the Literary Arts (2013).
Lake, Michael. “Poetry off the page.” The Coast 11. July 2013.
Neigh, Scott. “Radical poetry: An interview with Halifax's El Jones.” Talking Radical Radio. Rabble.ca. 9 October 2013.
“RAW: Poet laureate El Jones.” Online video. CBC Player. CBC. 27 June 2013.
Many of Jones’ performances can also be viewed on YouTube. Please see her Biography Page.
