"It had been 18 long years of textbooks filled with everything but me."

"kids these days tie poetry to a chair and they torture it with bad hip hop" my favorite line so true

Honestly they're so powerful together

The first time I read Latina literature was in 8th grade. And she was talking about not wanting to be Latina. Thanks, public education.

i'm literally in love with Denice Frohman

Two of the best slam poets I've ever heard in one powerful poem excuse me while I cry

I freaking love Denice Frohman

I normally don't leave comments, but this speech is fucking amazing and needs to be shared.

I love both of these poets and when they come together they make magic

Mmm. "The quickest way to silence a mouth is to treat it as though none had come before." Can't describe how I feel while watching this.

I took my younger son out of the public school system and went with home schooling when the system failed my older son who had severe ADHD, ODD, and bipolar disorder. This is a powerful testament to how bad the system has gotten in the last few decades.

"The quickest way to silence a mouth is to treat it as if none have come before it."

as a future teacher, this is my manifesto

denice frohman has the greatest facial expressions

this. gave. me. goosebumps. *replays

I love this poem so much. Those two are amazing performers, and I love how they incorporate humour without detracting from the point of the poem

That. Was. Fucking. Epic.

Denise is talking about my high school. literally she spoke there and said that

You can't help but love anything Dominique is involved with. Amazing gifted and beautiful, she is.

So many incredible lines in this. Gave me the chills

My two favorites come together. Once again my mind is blown by the message these women can tell in just a few short minutes.

I like that they added, "the different ones" because everyone sticks to this stereo type, and so many young minds r screamed at for thinking too loud.

love that Denice used bits of her poem "weapons". one of my favorites from her.

They looooove to preach 'no child left behind!' in my district. I wonder how the principal will feel when I make him watch this.

That was AMAZING! We NEED more of that! Thank you, Christina & Denice! You inspire us!

i am so so proud of this. NOTHING but the truth spews from these two.

Dominique Christina's poems are so powerful.

Their facial expressions really push forward their disgust with the education system.

Perfect. I have no other words for this.

two great poets, one great poem, goosebumps.

Two of my favorite women speaking from their souls, once again. I like this version if this poem so much it almost hurts

These women are my favorite poets and seeing them together reciting amazing poetry simply grabs me my heart like a smile never has.

both of the poets are powerful separately but together... i got chills.

I get so much inspiration from this poem. I want to be a high school English teacher. I want to teach lit and writing in a way that will help students find themselves, much like described in this poem. Thank you ladies for giving it voice.

I love both of them and to see them together? Just perfect.

denice frohman slams it every time. this time is no exception

I clicked on this, so excited, because these two are my favorite spoken word poets. They did not disappoint. Wonderful. I can only hope that I can do spoken poetry like that one day too.

These two are my favorite poets, so I'm so happy about them doing this together

two of my favorite poets together ! love it !

These women doing work with a shrug that offs the dominator culture and a calling forth of the Revolutionary within those of us who are out here recognizing the herald call ✊

I have goosebumps all over my body

This. This needs to go viral.

I love this these women are telling the truth

And i watch this again, and again , and again.

When I saw who would perform this poem I already knew it would be great!!

My two all time favourites at once.....I'm in love

This gave me chills

MAN these guys are great

This speaks volumes. Amazing and powerful

This is some different level of poetry....hats off!

I just want to repeat this poem in a loop

Woa, gave me the shivers - I srsly love those two

I'm studying Education and we have to do an assignment on diversity in the classroom, and how we teach for diversity, and I remembered this poem I listened to more than a year ago. Will for sure be linking this video in my assignment.

god these two perform so well together

i watch this every day

Two of my favorite poetry powerhouses together in one poem, I think I might die of joy. :D

Damn speechless

omg you two are my two favorite poets ! this is amazing && i love both of you guys work

CHILLS!!! Holy Crap that right there was some FOOD FOR THOUGHT forreal

This is beautiful. Love her work.

THIS IS IMPORTANT

Lots of truth here, if we can hear.

This will always be my favorite poem 💕👌🏼

The thing I find most interesting is that my school (a predominately white community of Catholic girls) has read Native American authors, Black women authors, Latino poets. We are asked to celebrate the diversity our world offers and learn from the past. My school does not back away from the horrors of the past nor the triumphs of the minority, yet we are a community of white Catholics. But our public school system, especially schools with higher populations of blacks and Latinos, does. Why should our government be scared of telling these kids about their racial and cultural history? Why does a school have to be privately run for kids to feel like they have a place to learn and to create? I have never understood why people blame the children for feeling alienated at school, when truthfully it's not the children, it's the school.

This is so perfect on so many levels

when denice says "aw yeah?" i swoon for some reason omg

BEAUTIFUL.

in love with this poem. I nearly have it memorized, haha. Showed it to my English professor and he wants to show it in class (we are discussing the shortcomings of the school system). still, there's one part I don't completely understand. can someone explain the part about hip hop to me? i feel like there's a message there, but i can't quite grasp it

I feel like I just got punched. This is the greatest thing. Oh my god.

Lost for words... incredible .

YOU GUYS DID GREAT !!!!! BLESS BLESS MY PEOPLE

Amazing scene

That was incredible. Incredible incredible.

Brilliant as always

Absolutely beautiful ladies and POWERFUL!

Two of my favorites together it was perfect.

Is there a love button?. Cause...

LOVE !

TRUTH!!!!!!! I taught high school in Houston, in the same hood that I stomped. This is TRUTH.

Hot damn.

I feel like the education system is not perfect but it is diverse, or at least in my school, where we have great diversity of students. The texts we read depends on the class we have, for american literature, we read several poems by white men for the early periods but that's all that was published in that time. Though as we moved through the time line, soon we saw stories that had diversity from authors of diverse backgrounds, race and gender, my favorite book from class was A Raisin in the Sun written by a black woman. There are several class such as Women in Literature.that explore the discrimination several people face. Not only that, being in high school right now, I can say that school has taught me a ton about diversity and acceptance. We have honest conversations in class about our own experiences, from my gay friend talking about bullying to International Night, to ethnic and religious clubs that are open to all and anyone. It might not be the case for all schools, but I could only speak from my experience.

In 1982, UNM, in Albuquerque, still did not teach women writers in lit classes. Period. I asked the professor, myself a returning and already "older"--he said, "We have 1900 pages in this book, not enough room for all the important male writers. We hardly have time for women." And I became more aware, more radical. By the time I was teaching high school, we had multi-cultural lt books and we read some of everyone from everywhere. Not all old white ladies are boring, some, maybe even a lot, but not all of us. And the pendulum is swinging still . . . my students had a poetry slam instead of a final for years and not one administrator even knew about it. Lotsa colors in NM. And right now, still, in our textbooks. And if there is ever misrepresentation, well, a teacher can supplement.

definitely one of my favorites now.

Omg I love Denice Frohman

my favs together

Wow. Goosebumps!

Truly great!

Wow what a powerful poem!

that. was. AMAZING.

Maaaaaannnn I luv me some denise

Wow! Wow! Wow!

Oh my. LOVE.

THANK YOU.

Amazing

Damn that's powerful

The first time I read a Latino author was in 10th grade when I (voluntarily) read Esperanza Rising. Every other book was about black and white culture, acting as if us hispanics and even Asians, native Alaskans, native hawaiins, native Americans, etc. didn't fucking exist.

True perfection.

Thank you.

Genius...

Speechless. That's was damn beautiful!!!