"Polarizing"? I expect nothing less from the "liberal" Times.
He was a great man, a man of uncompromising principle, and yes, for the weak kneed who, as a African American friend of mine reminded me, do not want to recognize what African Americans went through-- slavery, Jim crow, the lot-- that's "polarizing". He sure scared em. I loved him because, among many things, as the Last Poets said, he spoke for his people, but he was not scared of revolution.
Here's a reminder of how great he is.
On 1/9/2014, 10:58 PM, Akurang-Parry, Kwabena wrote:
He was a great man, a man of uncompromising principle, and yes, for the weak kneed who, as a African American friend of mine reminded me, do not want to recognize what African Americans went through-- slavery, Jim crow, the lot-- that's "polarizing". He sure scared em. I loved him because, among many things, as the Last Poets said, he spoke for his people, but he was not scared of revolution.
I'm also gonna celebrate the spirit of Amiri Baraka, for he had a lot of Baraka. He won't Rest In Peace until we all have. No justice, no peace.
Here's a reminder of how great he is.
Legacy
by Amiri Baraka
In the south, sleeping against
the drugstore, growling under
the trucks and stoves, stumbling
through and over the cluttered eyes
of early mysterious night. Frowning
drunk waving moving a hand or lash.
Dancing kneeling reaching out, letting
a hand rest in shadows. Squatting
to drink or pee. Stretching to climb
pulling themselves onto horses near
where there was sea (the old songs
lead you to believe). Riding out
from this town, to another, where
it is also black. Down a road
where people are asleep. Towards
the moon or the shadows of houses.
Towards the songs' pretended sea.
Amiri Baraka, "Legacy" from Black Magic (Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1969). Copyright © 1969 by Amiri Baraka. Reprinted with the permission of Sll/Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.
Source: Black Magic (1969)
Source: Black Magic (1969)
On 1/9/2014, 10:58 PM, Akurang-Parry, Kwabena wrote:
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Amiri Baraka, Polarizing Poet and Playwright, Dies at 79
Amiri Baraka, a poet and playwright of pulsating rage, whose long illumination of the black experience in America was called incandescent in some quarters and incendiary in others, died on Thursday in Newark. He was 79.
Kwabena
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