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12 Ways June Jordan’s “Poem About My Rights” Is More Relevant Than Ever In The #MeToo Era

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Few pieces of literature retain their searing, urgent relevance decades after publication, but June Jordan’s "Poem About My Rights" is a monumental exception. Written in 1978 and first appearing in Essence magazine, this 123-line free verse masterpiece is not merely a historical artifact; it is a foundational text for understanding the intersectional struggles of race, gender, and sexual violence that dominate public discourse today, including the ongoing conversations of late 2024.

The poem’s raw, unapologetic voice—a voice that refuses the language of the powerful—directly confronts the insidious culture of victim-blaming, a theme that resonates profoundly with the #MeToo movement and contemporary social justice activism. Jordan’s work serves as a timeless declaration of self-determination, offering a blueprint for resistance against systemic oppression and the double struggles faced by women of color.

June Jordan: Poet, Activist, and Architect of Black Feminist Thought

June Millicent Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) was an American poet, essayist, teacher, and relentless political activist. Her prolific career spanned four decades, during which she became an influential voice exploring critical issues of gender, race, class, and sexual identity.

  • Full Name: June Millicent Jordan
  • Born: July 9, 1936, in Harlem, New York, U.S.
  • Died: June 14, 2002, in Berkeley, California, U.S. (at age 65)
  • Parents: Granville Ivanhoe Jordan and Mildred Maude Fischer Jordan
  • Education: Barnard College
  • Key Roles: Professor of English, Director of the Poetry Center at SUNY Stony Brook, Founder of the poetry program "Poetry for the People" at UC Berkeley.
  • Major Works: Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan, Poem About My Rights, Things That I Do in the Dark, Civil Wars (essays).
  • Activism Focus: Civil Rights, Black Liberation, Palestinian Rights, Women's Rights, LGBTQ+ Rights.
  • Identity: Self-identified Black bisexual woman and survivor.

The Anatomy of Resistance: Deconstructing “Poem About My Rights”

“Poem About My Rights” is structured as a single, sprawling stanza of free verse, its form mirroring the overwhelming, relentless nature of the oppression it describes. The absence of traditional meter or rhyme scheme gives the poem an immediate, conversational, and often anguished quality, using enjambment and repetition to drive home its points.

1. The Tyranny of the Personal and Political

The poem opens with an immediate, visceral sense of restricted freedom, as Jordan describes a simple desire: "Even tonight and I need to take a walk and clear my head about this poem about why I can't go out without changing my clothes my shoes my body." This opening immediately establishes the poem's central thesis: that for a Black woman, the personal act of taking a walk is inherently political, fraught with the danger of sexual harassment and violence.

2. Refusing the Language of the Powerful

One of the poem's most quoted and powerful lines is the defiant cry: "I am not wrong: Wrong is..." Jordan refuses to accept the societal narrative that assigns blame to the victim. She flips the script, naming the true source of "Wrong" as the oppressive system itself, which seeks to "subdue" and "scuffle" the marginalized.

3. Combating Rape Culture and Victim-Blaming

The poem is a direct and powerful confrontation with rape culture. Jordan addresses the impossible questions often posed to survivors—what they were wearing, where they were, why they resisted. She details the experience of sexual violence and the subsequent societal pressure to internalize the blame. This theme is tragically current, making the poem a vital text for anti-rape culture education.

12 Ways Jordan’s Poem Echoes Contemporary Struggles (2024 Context)

Decades later, “Poem About My Rights” continues to be studied in academic and activist circles, its insights proving chillingly accurate for the modern age.

  1. The #MeToo Movement's Blueprint: The poem's core message—that the survivor is "not wrong"—is the foundational rallying cry of the #MeToo movement, giving voice to the fury, pain, and resentment of the silenced.
  2. Intersectionality (Black Feminist Thought): Jordan explicitly links her experience to her identity as a Black woman, highlighting how race exacerbates gendered oppression, a key concept in contemporary intersectional feminism.
  3. The "Body as Battleground" Trope: The poem’s focus on the body being under constant scrutiny and threat is a recurring motif in 2024 discussions about bodily autonomy and reproductive rights.
  4. The Right to Self-Defense: Jordan's fierce assertion of the right to defend oneself against aggressors is a powerful statement on self-determination and resistance against physical and social violence.
  5. Critique of Legal Systems: The poem implicitly critiques a legal and social system that is built to protect the aggressor and question the victim.
  6. The Power of Free Verse: Its raw, unpolished style reflects the immediacy of trauma and anger, a trend seen in modern protest poetry and digital storytelling.
  7. Lived Experience as Authority: Jordan’s use of her personal experience validates the concept that lived experience is a form of political authority, a cornerstone of modern social activism.
  8. Challenging Heteronormativity: As a bisexual woman, Jordan’s work subtly challenges the traditional, narrow definitions of womanhood and vulnerability.
  9. The Global South Connection: Jordan was a global activist, and the poem's themes of oppression resonate with anti-colonial and human rights struggles worldwide.
  10. The Erasure of Black Women's History: The poem fights against the historical erasure of Black women's stories of survival and resistance.
  11. "Directed by Desire": The poem is collected in Directed by Desire, a title that itself speaks to the fundamental human right to agency and desire, often denied to marginalized communities.
  12. Timelessness of Oppression: The fact that a poem written in 1978 still requires analysis in 2024 underscores the tragic reality that the core issues of gendered and racial violence have not been resolved.

The Legacy of June Jordan: A Call to Action

June Jordan’s work, particularly "Poem About My Rights," remains a critical piece of the Black feminist literary canon, standing alongside the works of peers like Audre Lorde and Alice Walker. Her poetry is a form of struggle and protest, a radical act of linguistic and political self-assertion.

The poem's enduring significance lies in its refusal to whisper. It shouts. It demands that society stop asking the victim why they were there, and start asking the aggressor why they acted. By transforming her personal anguish into a universal political statement, Jordan gave countless individuals the language to articulate their own rights and their own fury. To read this poem today is to participate in an ongoing act of resistance, confirming that the fight for self-determination is far from over.

The themes of racial and gender injustice, self-determination, and the fight against systemic oppression ensure that "Poem About My Rights" will continue to be a necessary, powerful, and deeply moving text for generations of activists and readers to come. It is a testament to the power of poetry as a weapon for social change.

12 Ways June Jordan’s “Poem About My Rights” Is More Relevant Than Ever in the #MeToo Era
june jordan poem about my rights
june jordan poem about my rights

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