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(The woman won a Graywolf when she was an undergrad for Christs sake, groans Theresa.)
Though Theresa is receiving a lifetime-achievement award, its Msemaji who comes to the conference trailing electricity and accolades.
Shes a young black woman with hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers.
When we first meet her, shes wearing a T-shirt that says WOKE AF.
She is the future no, more.
And she terrifies Theresa.
She feels slighted by Msemaji, brushed aside and belittled after decades of commitment to the struggle.
Worse still, she launches her blind, bullheaded campaign to undermine Msemaji in the name of Truth.
[This opportunity] does not happen without indulging the white predisposition for black pain.
Its the toll you demand for our success … We speak endlessly, sonorously, ofconversation, dialogue, discourse theyre some of our favorite words.
But in the new town square, we become competitors rather than communicators, snipers looking for hits.
Relevanceis at the MCC Theater at the Lucille Lortel through March 11.
