Many prominent spoken word performers from the African American, Asian American, Native American and Latino poetry communities attended the conference. According Ron Espiritu '06, co-chair of Chicano Caucus, these minorities, the "Voiceless" to which the event's title referred, traditionally have been compromised, ignored and silenced. The convention's goal was largely to provide a forum for these underrepresented groups.
The two-day festival began with a discussion panel on Dec. 9. The panel addressed spoken word's merits as not only an art form, but as a means of political expression as well. The panelists, including Poet Laureate of Sacremento Jose Montoya; Jesus Tato Laviera, a pioneer of New York's Puerto Rican literature; Nicaraguan poet and diplomat Roberto Vargas; and Louis Reyes Rivera, perhaps spoken word's most influential artist, were well-qualified to discuss poetry's role in activism.
Espiritu found the fallout from the discussion gratifying. "The evening sparked a student-led movement to create a Five College Latino Studies program certificate," he said.
In addition to taking part in the panel, Montoya, Laviera and Vargas were honored with the Louis Reyes Rivera Lifetime Achievement Award for their dedication to at-risk neighborhoods and communities and their hand in legitimizing spoken word.
The blossoming of the genre has spawned several world-renowned venues such as the Nuyorican poetry café and the Bowery Poetry Club, both located in New York City. Spoken word has also gained a place of prominence on television in HBO's Def Poetry Jam. Rivera bestowed the three artists with his eponymous award for their roles in securing for spoken word this foothold in popular culture.
The panel was followed on Dec. 10 by a spoken word performance in Friedmann Room of the Keefe Campus Center featuring 12 of the craft's leading practitioners. The four elder statesmen were joined on the stage by Flores, Giles Lung-Hwa Li, Crystal Senter-Brown, Jahipster, Maurice "Soulfighter" Taylor, Robert Karimi, Mahogany Brown and Truth Thomas.
"Jesus Tato Laviera's performance was very spiritual and powerful and got a standing ovation from the crowd," Espiritu recalled. "For me, I have read Jose Montoya's poetry for years ... to meet him and to hear his poetry was a great honor."
The artists came from a diverse array of ethnicities and professions: AIDS activists, publishers, labor organizers, teachers and the leaders of not-for-profit organizations all took the microphone. Veracruzana catered a full buffet after the performance.
"Voices for the Voiceless" is the brainchild of Shaggy Flores, a graduate of UMass and one of the poets who lent his voice to the event. Since the original gathering seven years ago, "Voices" has become one of the College's premier cultural events.