POV: amiri baraka
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Whose Free Speech?
Kazembe

"We must kill the poets first" Plato wrote in the Republic and that seems to
be the cultural policy of the White House, Fox news and New Jersey Governor
Jim McGreevey. When the New Jersey General Assembly voted 69-to-2 to strip Amiri
Baraka of the position of state poet laureate, a dangerous trend was
continued. Similar to the canceling of a poetry symposium by First Lady Laura Bush and
attacks on the rap group the Coup, Baraka's ouster represents an attempt by
ultra conservatives to silence dissent in this country, particularly as it
pertains to U.S. foreign policy of "permanent war."

No doubt, Baraka's case has a twist. The anti-war poem "Somebody Blew Up
America" has been called anti-Semitic because its suggests that the Israeli
government knew of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center-"Who told the 4000
Israeli workers at the Twin Towers/to stay home that day/ Why did Sharon stay
away/Who know why Five Israelis was filming the explosion/And cracking the sides
at the notion." Taken at face value, one could interpret these lines as
anti-Semitic, in the tradition of Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG) conspiracy
talk and the like. However, the entire poem is a reaction to the "invisible
hand" this racist-patriarchal capitalist system. The history of oppressed people,
particularly the brutality we have faced whether it was the extermination of
indigenous people or the enslavement of Africans has been hidden and glossed
over. Throughout the poem Baraka chants "WHO WHO WHO?" The questions range from
the killing of the Kennedy brothers to the murder of Patrice Lumumba. The leif
motif of the poem is conspiracy theory-an attempt, sometimes vulgar, to piece
together the truth of this government's policies both foreign and domestic.
"Somebody Blew up America" follows this train of thought.

Did Israeli intelligence know about the attacks? Is it true, as George
Decarlo of the Union County Greens wrote that certain Israeli firms broke their
lease a week before September 11th? That's not for Baraka or myself to answer.
However, raising that question in the context of "Somebody Blew Up America",
Baraka has done what all good poets do, provoke outrage and debate.

And it was for that reason it is important to protest New Jersey's removal of
Baraka as state poet laureate. The First Amendment, it seems, only
guarantees freedom of speech to those who can afford a station or a press. It has
taken a century of struggle, in the face of state sanction violence for oppressed
people to gain the right of free speech. The state's revoking of the poet
laureate position is a clear message to other cultural workers: Get out of line
and you will pay the price.
The price to be paid is not Baraka's alone. New Jersey eliminated the entire
poet laureate position meaning future poets may not receive the financial
support they deserve. This is similar to moves of Jesse Helms and Congress when
they slashed the budgets of the National Endowment for the Arts over the works
of Robbert Mapplethrope and Marlon Riggs.

Maybe this is a good thing. As Gov.McGreevey and company show their values
bend to opinion polls and put their foot in their collective mouths more people
will look toward poets and artists for questions and answers. And that would
be a truly dangerous time.

kazembe
 djuna24@aol.com >>