Fervent snaps, vocal affirmations and applause filled the Sacramento Poetry Center on Friday, Nov. 21 and Saturday, Nov. 22 as an array of artists and community members delivered open-mic readings both political and personal.
“Arise poet / The call has never been greater / The world has never needed your words more,” stated Roseville’s Taylor Cummings to Saturday’s near-capacity crowd that spilled to the edges of the Poetry Center in Sacramento’s R25 Arts Complex.
Shortly after, the Sacramento Raging Grannies broke out into choruses of “Super Callous
Fragile Racist Narcissistic Potus,” earning audience participation with their clever reinterpretation of the Mary Poppins tune.
The free, two-day gathering was one of more than 600 Fall of Freedom events hosted in venues large and small across the country this past weekend in response to a national open-source initiative headlined as “an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation.”
Spearheaded by the Sacramento Poor People’s Campaign, the Sacramento Poetry Center’s intimate, grassroots iteration each night featured an open mic for artists to share their concerns about the current state of liberty and justice, followed by a solutions-focused discussion forum. Local artists from the Sacramento Poderosas, Art of Resistance and the newly formed The Community Collective contributed a brightly colored art exhibit that included award-winning immigrant rights paintings by muralist and Poderosa Ruby Chacón.
Nearby, the I Street Art Studios also opened its gallery for a three-day Fall of Freedom exhibit, along with spoken word and musical performances.
Kicking off Friday’s Poetry Center gathering, president and founding member Patrick Grizzell introduced “justice, freedom, and the loss thereof” as the evening’s open-mic theme. It’s probably not the night for breakup poems, but “freedom is freedom, so do what you want,” he added playfully.
Readings across both nights offered blunt critiques of President Trump, calls to stop mass deportations and reflections on themes of erasure, racism and grief.
According to organizers, it was important that Fall of Freedom welcome all voices to the resistance. This vision aligned with Grizzell’s recent push for greater artistic inclusivity at the Poetry Center, especially at a time where some of its regulars are experiencing hunger and homelessness and seeking safe ground.
“Art and activism have always been a common fit,” said Grizzell, with others adding that the arts are a great way to get people engaged.
Indeed, some of Friday evening’s most gripping poems came from Poetry Center newbies, including younger contributors just beginning to explore the art form.
“I carried emotions bigger than what my body could hold,” read emerging poet Hazel (who asked to only go by her first name), as she opened “One Way Ticket,” a narrative about immigrant experiences that moved the crowd to impassioned applause.
A few major players in Sacramento’s creative community also contributed timely verses.
“It’s personal!” writer and longtime Sacramento resident Michael R. Gorman repeated forcefully throughout his poem. He opened his set referring to recent incidents alleged to be anti-LGBTQIA+ hate crimes in Sacramento’s Lavender Heights district, including a Halloween attack that left his friend, Alvin Prasad, hospitalized and still in a coma.
Bringing a spoonful of levity Saturday, the Sacramento Raging Grannies gifted catharsis through song with charmingly off-key performances of “Trump is in the Files,” sang to the tune of “Farmer in the Dell,” and Queen parody “We Will We Will Block You.”
“We’re not meant to sound good,” warned Faye Wilson Kennedy, a powerhouse anti-poverty organizer whose projects include the Sacramento Poor People’s Campaign, the Black Hair and Hygiene Project and being a proud Raging Granny. “Raging Grannies show up and irritate people.”
Beyond jabs at federal figureheads, attendees expressed serious concern about the country’s political direction and an intention to stay involved beyond the weekend’s events, which follow a series of nationwide No Kings rallies — most recently drawing an estimated 7,000 attendees to the State Capitol grounds in October.
“Sacramento is the only city that has a chance to defend against [President Trump],” shared Navy veteran Farrah Chacon Kirby, referencing the capital city’s growing role as a hub for progressive opposition.
A lifelong activist — she has been to 13 protests, beginning in 1989 with a successful action at her Rancho Cordova middle school — Chacon Kirby shared that she came to Fall of Freedom to keep fighting for her five Mexican children, and for military members to remember their oath.
Fall of Freedom will not be a one-time occurrence, local organizers agreed. Community organizer and artist Mack Wilson hopes the weekend’s events will connect the city’s existing artist and activist groups and spark additional coordinated resistance efforts.
“This is going to be something that Sacramento can keep doing on an ongoing basis,” said Wilson Kennedy, who floated the concept of a Winter and Summer of Freedom. “If after the two days here people feel so inspired that they want to go back to their neighborhoods, whether it’s their neighborhood association, their family, their church, synagogue or mosque to do something similar, we would say mission accomplished.”
This story was funded by the City of Sacramento’s Arts and Creative Economy Journalism Grant to Solving Sacramento. Following our journalism code of ethics and protocols, the city had no editorial influence over this story and no city official reviewed this story before it was published. Our partners include California Groundbreakers, CapRadio, Hmong Daily News, Russian America Media, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento News & Review and Sacramento Observer. Sign up for our “Sac Art Pulse” newsletter here.
By Serena Roberts
