29

TUESDAY

When Rodney King stared dumbly into the glass eye of a TV camera and uttered his plea for unity, he condensed the problem of race in America into an accessible, albeit naive, notion: “Can’t we all just get along?” King uttered in a childlike voice. While this question has boggled Americans for years, three poets from three different worlds think they’ve found some answers. E. Ethelbert Miller, poet and multiculturalist extraordinaire, will bring together Chinese-American Lori Tsang, Palestinian-American Suheir Hammad, and Ghanaian-American Meri Nana-Ama Danquah to grapple with King’s query. Can these paragons of tolerance save us from our own ignorance? Can they bridge the ravine of racism that Americans topple into daily? Probably not. But it’ll be interesting to watch them try. “Poets Getting Along” starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s Hammer Auditorium, 17th & New York Ave. NW. $16. For reservations call (202) 639-1770. (Ta-Nehisi Coates)