On this first day of war we go back to the Pacifica Archives to hear June Jordan, poet, activist, essayist, teacher. June Jordan is the most published African-American writer in history. She burst onto the literary and political scene in the late 1960s, on the wings of the civil rights and anti-war movements. Poetry for her was a political act, and she used it to shine a fierce light on racism, sexism, homophobia, apartheid, poverty, and US foreign policy. Author Toni Morrison once summed up her career as: “Forty years of tireless activism coupled with and fueled by flawless art.”

• June Jordan, recording from the Pacifica Radio Archives.