Shanice Nicole is a Black feminist spoken word poet, writer and educator. She discovered poetry in the summer of 2015 and now uses it as a form of healing and dreaming of social justice and change. Her writing explores themes of feminism, race, sexuality, and mental health, and together acts as a stage for the exploration of her Black womanhood. You can learn more about her work by connecting with her on Facebook at Shanice Nicole, or on Instagram at @ThatsWhatShaSaid.

 

On change making:

"My voice is what I value most about myself and the Black womanhood I know and love. Navigating this world as Black women and femmes means always having to fight to use our voices. Systems of violence like misogynoir - the intersection of misogyny and Blackness - continue to strip us of our power, and so, it is revolutionary every time we speak up and speak back. I will always use my voice, and I will always fight to ensure that all Black women and femmes can use theirs regardless of what their revolution looks like. We will not be silenced because Black womanhood is divine. And within its divinity lives beauty and pain and resilience and joy and wisdom and love and fire. All of these elements are essential for our survival, and we are survivors; we have always been survivors. But surviving is not enough. It has never been enough. My life and my work centres Black womanhood because this world never will. I do not want us to have to survive in this sea of violence. I want us to thrive in a sea of peace. I want us to taste freedom. I want the world to unwrap its hands from around our necks so that we can breathe. So that we can rise".  -Shanice Nicole