Using poetry to open hearts and minds

CBC Quebec is highlighting people from the province's Black communities who are giving back, inspiring others and helping to shape our future. These are the 2023 Black Changemakers.

Deanna Smith doesn't just enjoy poetry: it is crucial to her life.

"It feeds me," she said.

Encounters like the one she had more than a decade ago are a big part of the reason why.

Smith had just finished performing a poem about her grandmother called Generations. It touched on themes such as Black history and identity.

She was approached by someone from the audience — a self-described "old Irish guy."

"We haven't had the same kind of experiences, but what you said really touched me, and I'm so glad that I came," Smith recalls the man telling her.

That, she says, is the power of poetry.

"I was like, wow: that's what it is. It's about storytelling and about reminding each other that we have all these different lives and all these different experiences, but we're not so different," said Smith.

"It's such a powerful exchange between people who don't know each other."

In recent years, Smith — a veteran poet who has performed at events around the country, including at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word — has made similar connections in classrooms.

By blending poetry with research and her own personal experiences, Smith puts on workshops that address the issue of racism with the goal of opening people's minds and hearts.

She says she has found that using art to explore racism is an effective way to catch people with their guard down and get them thinking.

She describes her performance and teaching style as "more scalpel than sledgehammer."

"Poetry is not that confrontational, you know what I mean?" she said. " I can sort of just plant that seed there and make someone go, 'hmm,' long after I'm not even there anymore."

'She's teaching because it matters'

Smith has put on workshops in schools in the Montreal area, presenting to children as young as four.

Here's one way she engages with younger groups: she tells them to raise their hand if they don't have the letter E in their names. She then asks them if it would be fair if others didn't like them because of that difference.

The same notion, she said, applies to hair texture, eye colour or skin colour.

"They get it. They really, really get it," Smith said with a smile. The concept of fairness comes naturally to children, she says.

Smith works with adults, too. She has organized workshops for the Quebec Writers' Federation and the English-Language Arts Network.

Katia Grubisic, a freelance editor, writer and translator, praises Smith for her candid and open-minded approach.

"It's very rare that, as a workshop participant, you feel listened to," says Grubisic.

"You feel like she's having a conversation for the right reasons. There's no hidden agenda. She's doing it because it matters. She's teaching because it matters."

Making people 'think twice'

In 2019, Smith began collaborating with the Laval Senior Academy, her old high school, donating books to create an African studies collection.

It was a chance to give students access to content she couldn't easily get her hands on when she was their age: books by the late Maya Angelou, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, among others.

Smith's desire to be a positive influence motivates her in each of her projects.

She also believes for the most part, people want to be good and do good, but their judgment is often clouded by biases that can have disastrous consequences.

She points to Joyce Echaquan, the Atikamekw woman who endured racist insults from staff moments before her death at a hospital in Joliette, Que., as an example.

"I want to undo those biases that people have just sort of absorbed without ever questioning them," she said.

"If anyone who's been in one of my classes ends up being a police officer, if anyone in my classroom ends up working at Joliette Hospital, I want to have been a part of the thing that makes a person think twice."

The Black Changemakers is a special series recognizing individuals who, regardless of background or industry, are driven to create a positive impact in their community. From tackling problems to showing small gestures of kindness on a daily basis, these changemakers are making a difference and inspiring others. Meet all the changemakers here.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.