THIS VOICE IS NOT FROM THE WILDERNESS

John Akpata, Marijuana Party

Poet argues he's being shut out in campaign

"A journalist is supposed to be objective and not emotional concerning
the topics they cover. On the other side of the coin is the poet. A
poet has to use emotions and emotionally engage the audience, not
necessarily to make them learn something, but affect them in an
emotional way. In other words, the role of the poet is to unify as
many people as possible through their words and feelings. When you do
that, positive things happen."

So said John Akpata, a local writer and poet, and not exactly an
unknown.

He was a member of Ottawa's first slam poetry team, won Chicago's 2003
National Slam Poetry competition, performed on CBC's Ottawa Morning
show and won their 2004 Slam Poetry Face-Off, and also hosts Monday
Night Scribes, a weekly CHUO radio show at 10 p.m.

More currently relevant, Akpata is a young black man who is running in
Ottawa South as a member of the Marijuana Party, and he's pissed. He
argues that he, along with the party, is being ignored by mainstream
media, "because of the M-word."

He said that despite being known to various mainstream media outlets
in Ottawa, he is being excluded from election discussions and debates.

"The CBC, New RO, CJOH, all had the opportunity to watch me perform at
the Fill the Hill last Saturday, and speak with me. Instead, they
turned it down," he said angrily. "Recently the CBC did a special on
the political arena of Ottawa South -that's my riding - I was on CBC
for the poetry face-off. The producers of the show know who I am. I
called them and left a message ... but was I contacted? Was my phone
call returned?"

Akpata and the Marijuana Party are not alone. The Green Party have
complained about being excluded from debates because they are not
officially recognized since they don't have seats in Parliament - a
catch-22 they argue because in order to get a seat in Parliament, you
need media exposure.

However, Akpata feels this is just an excuse to cover up a more
disturbing, underlying reason. "In Canada, especially in the western
world, you don't want to put a black guy like me on TV criticizing the
system and trying to change an outdated (marijuana) law. It's really
scary to a lot of people that I am a black man with long hair and a
beard who wears Malcolm X type glasses, and a poet informing them
about what the truth is.

"Are they discriminating against me because I am a black man, or a
poet, or because of my political association? I don't know. Regardless
of what it is, I am being excluded from the mainstream media and
people are not going to be properly informed if all parties aren't
given an equal opportunity to discuss the issues," Akpata said.

According to the poet, he's being denied an opportunity to discuss
immigration, health care, education, and minorities -areas that he
said relate directly to the marijuana issue.

Gang activity has been a hot topic in his riding. "It seems that most
gang related activity is related to marijuana. If it was not illegal,
most of the people involved in producing it, moving it, selling it,
would not be criminals, and therefore gang activity would not be such
an issue."

Akpata told XPress the marijuana campaign is bigger than marijuana.
It's aimed at changing antiquated laws and the system surrounding those laws.

According to Akpata, the struggle to legalize marijuana is a symbolic
struggle for change.

"The marijuana vote is the protest vote," he said. Instead of lying
down and taking another scandal or unjust law, "Canadians just might
vote for the poet, for that pothead, because they'd rather give their
vote to him, than to the liars and money thieves," he said.

As for Akpata's future, "after winning the Ottawa South riding," he
said laughing, he plans on continuing with his poetry and educating
young people about issues surrounding marijuana.

"One of the coolest things in the world you can possibly do is to go
into a high school and say I am a writer, a poet and I am a member of
the Marijuana Party. Their (the children) eyes light up, they hear
every thing you say, listening on the edge of their seats with bated
breath because they are know this guy isn't a total square, that he's
a poet not a politician for god's sake."