|
by Mike Vizcarra/ PoorNewsNetwork Community Journalist
I was assigned to attend a reading and discussion by Amiri Baraka, Poet Laureate of New Jersey and and long time civil rights and reparations activist. Due to a recent poem penned by Baraka entitled "somebody blew up America" he has been at the center of a controversy, which involved the officials in New Jersey urging him to "step down" from his laureate title, and his stance that the "laureate title was only a compliment so how can they take away a compliment". PNN assigned me to go to this reading in light of the fact that POOR Magazine recently launched the "Po Poet Laureate, which attempts to break through the staunchy, mostly white and formally educated "literary" cirles that bestow the "laureate" title, and attempt to truly give recognition to unheard and unseen poor literary artists
Baraka held court at the African American Museum and Library on a Sunday in late October in
Oakland to address the current demand to recompense black people for a long
history of disenfranchisement and political and social oppression in the
United States as well as share some his literary works.
"Reparations is a very broad and deep issue", said Greg Morozumi
of the EastSide Arts Alliance, who introduced Amiri Baraka, "I'1s just not
dealing with the past, but deals with current issues."
At 68 years young, Amiri Baraka stepped up to the podium to
address the audience, his grey suit complementing his salt and pepper beard.
His diminutive stature was in contrast to the amount of respect he garnered
from the people gathered to hear him speak. Baraka has taken a lot of flak
lately for his poem, 'Somebody Blew Up America.' But this was not the topic
he would discuss today, at least not until later in the afternoon. Today he
is talking about reparations. Reparations for African Americans.
"The struggle for equal rights is a struggle for
self-determination, is a struggle to choose, the right to decide,"he says.
Baraka wants change. He wants reform. He wants unity from
African Americans. And he wants them now. It takes more than just words to
get these things done. And Baraka understands that. All these groups with
acronyms, he says, are just doing nothing.
"It's the purity of doing nothing," says Baraka. "The only way
you can get agreement is through struggle. We have to get our instruments
of struggle. We have to have a critical transformation of the African
American people."
During his hour-long speech, Amiri Baraka outlines the
objectives that are necessary for reparations. It's not about a monetary
number, he says, because that would be insulting to put a number on it.
It's about a relationship to America, of social, economic, and political
reconstruction. He wants reparations as a reform, not as affirmative
action, but as a Constitutional Amendment.
First and foremost, Baraka is calling for a united Afro-American
front. "We need to be raising our productive forces of African Americans.
The whole community needs to produce the instruments, needs to produce the
institutions, to raise one1s self," he says. The support must come from a
united Afro-American front, and must be an accurate reflection of African
Americans in the U.S.
Baraka also calls for a national black newspaper. "We cannot
leave any aspect of politics alone, you must be involved," he says. "We
need a direct focus, people do not know what to do," he continued. This is
essential to African Americans, he says. A national black newspaper would
bring solidarity and a focus for African Americans.
He also calls for a central African American bank with elected
officials. That way, the people who are running the bank would be people
that African Americans would want to be running the bank. Baraka is calling
for changes in the political system in America. Amendments. This is the
relationship he was referring to. Reparations is about reform and
reconstructing the social, economic, and political structure of America. To
go from the messed up stage we're in right now to socialism is the wrong
thinking, he says. He would rather argue that point than go in that
direction. Because even if you have reforms, you still haven't defeated
monopoly capitalism or imperialism. To have these changes in place would be
a critical transformation of African American people. It is the "unfinished
democratic revolution," as Baraka put it.
But Baraka wasn't just talking about African Americans. This is
true for any minority group. Reparations is also a major issue with Asian
Americans. To have reparations is to get at the roots of racism in America.
As mentioned earlier, reparations is not about money. It is about equality.
It is about justice. It is about having the right to do what we want to
with our lives. As Amiri Baraka stated, "We have to get our own instruments
of struggle."
He ended his discussion on reparations by reading the infamous poem,
"Somebody Blew Up America." It is powerful writing. And to hear him read
the poem was an experience I would not forget, i took this back to A. Faye, Po POet laureate at POOR which then inspired her to write her response, entitled: The persecuted Word
The Persecuted WORd
by A. Faye Hicks
The written word, passed on from ancestors to their descendants
From the beginning of conversation
Spoken words between lovers, family, and friends
Until hatreds begin, now your enemy, now your friend
The word, spoken as music and song, is magical
The swaying forms dancing in heat is a mystical song
Poetry is the Blues, is singing from your Soul.
Jazz blown, is a form of this
The written word, the meeting of minds,
Should never be denied
Slaves denied Liberty is tying up the Soul
When the freedom of speech is denied, It is tying up the Mind.
The Americas live under a Banner Of Lies
The United States, Constitution guarantees
The right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness
I guess I didn’t get a warranty
Slaves coming from Glory Island, were denied the freedom of Life
Mournful Souls, thrown over board
I am drawn to the Oceans
You hear them in the waves, they were denied all freedoms
The freedom of Speech
Listen to the Whales Wail, they are the witness to this flight to Hell
Too deny the Freedom of the written word
Is to deny my right to The Pursuit of Happiness
To take the Wreath upon my Head
To chop off my Tongue
They marry me to my enemy
They alienate me from my kinfolk
To murder the Truth!
Some folks like to write white lies, myths, and tall tales
I like to dance in the Rain, and burn with passionate Fire
I like to read, and write the truth
So may I read?
Some One, Blew up America
Hilter’s Nazi murdered the Jews
European Nations enslaved the Colored People of the World
The San Francisco Giants Lost the World Series
Can I read, Big Brother!!!!!
For more work by Amiri Baraka go on-line to tumis.com
for More by Po Poet Laureate A. Faye Hicks and all the Po' Poets see below...
| 
