Poetry Center San José denounces the murder of George Floyd, the murder of Breonna Taylor, and the murder of countless other Black and BIPOC peoples by police officers, in the years prior to 2020 and continuing since then. At PCSJ, we not only stand with the Black community, in declaring that BLACK LIVES MATTER, but we also strive to embody the belief that because Black Lives Matter, we need to make space for Black voices. PCSJ has plans to uplift Black voices the same way we have made an effort to uplift BIPOC voices with the following existing programs:

• PCSJ elevates and amplifies the voices of our BIPOC artists throughout each programming year and provides an additional affirming space for programming for our BIPOC community at our home, Markham House at History Park San Jose.

• PCSJ expanded and diversified its board of directors for improved representation of our community and to improve guidance of our organization’s mission.

• The editorial board for Cæsura was expanded and diversified and will now include multiple genres for publication in an endeavor to better represent our BIPOC community and their artistic endeavors.

• PCSJ collaborates with BIPOC-led organizations and events to help support and amplify their programming in an endeavor to elevate and strengthen the diversity of our community.

This is not near enough. We are committed to more in order to show solidarity specifically with our Black community members. To that end, the following are a list of activities and programs that we have put in place and/or have plans to finalize and launch in 2021.

• PCSJ will continue to expand and diversify our board of directors with additional attention to our executive board. This will be an ongoing effort.

• PCSJ is a sponsor of the Youth Poet Laureate program created by Santa Clara County Poet Laureate Janice Lobo Sapigao. The mission of the Youth Poet Laureate is to serve as an ambassador for civic engagement, literary excellence, and social justice through literacy, arts, and youth expression with ongoing opportunities for performances and community collaborations.

• We will continue to offer a series of free creative writing workshops for young writers with instruction centering Black artists and writers.

• PCSJ will continue its co-sponsorship of the Elmwood Poet Society, a creative writing program started in 2020 in Elmwood Jail that also provides opportunities for incarcerated individuals to publish their work in Cæsura and Cæsura Online.

• PCSJ presents a recurring program featuring Black writers in conversation followed by a Q&A for an audience of young writers of Santa Clara County and surrounding communities. Subjects of discussion will include sources of inspiration that were formative, particularly the work of writers and poets. Beautiful Black Books was launched on June 19, 2021 to celebrate Emancipation Day, to celebrate Black authors, and to help diversify the high-school curriculum.

This is a living, breathing list and we will continue to expand upon it as we strive to curate experiences that engender our commitment to equality and diversity. We stress that this is not enough to combat centuries of violence and oppression, but is part of our continued effort within our sphere to influence as part of the greater effort to help eradicate all forms of violence against the Black community, against Indigenous communities, and against all BIPOC people. For Poetry Center San José, this effort starts at home, here in the City of San José, where we hereby commit to removing our own complicit behaviors.