Despite abominable weather, droves of people packed the UW-Milwaukee Union Wisconsin Room to hear Sapphire, author of New York Times bestseller Push, speak Wednesday night.

Published in 1996, the novel Push was adapted to the big screen in 2009 as the highly praised and controversial film Precious, which is based on the fictitious tale of a young girl’s survival of incest and abuse.

The lecture titled, “When Push Comes to Precious: the Novel, the Film, the Reality,” Sapphire addressed the backlash surrounding the film Precious, the impact it had on her community and the reason the topic needed desperately to be addressed.

In response to criticism of the film, Sapphire stated, “In the past thirteen years since my novel has been published, I have talked to thousands of women who have been sexually abused… I’m not a social worker but an artist. I have took, and will continue to take, the stories of women I have listened to and turn them into fiction.”

Many people who criticized Sapphire’s work have noted that incest is not confined to African-Americans or one race in particular. To this Sapphire noted, “I argue that it has a different place in African-American culture than in white culture.”

Sapphire pointed to the history of forced incest upon women during slavery from their masters, many of whom were forced to be with their fathers, and the detrimental effect that has had on the community today.

“I would like to see more, not less, written about rape by African-Americans … while incest happens in all cultures, it impacts African-American culture in ways it does not impact other cultures,” Sapphire said. “Silence will not save African-Americans. We’ve got to work hard and long, and our work begins by telling our stories out loud to whoever has the courage to read.”

Hearing real life stories from her friends, students and colleagues who had birthed children by their fathers, or experienced other forms of horrific incest and rape served as the seed for Push, Sapphire said.

“I honestly believe that if we tell the truth about our lives and the lives of those around us, we can bring about change … I wanted to show the generational effects of sexual abuse, and that men were not the only abusers sexually of children,” Sapphire said.

Sapphire noted that she had never seen African-American literature that had done this before, and felt there was a dire need for this topic to be exposed.

Aside from her novel Push, Sapphire has written several books of poetry and has just completed her second novel which will soon be on the market.