Poetic Justice
Embattled New Jersey Poet Laureate Amiri Baraka works in the language of oppression the way artist Dale Chihuly works in glass. He builds ornate, monumental sculptures of great craft and crystalline purity, though, it must be said, the finished products are not to everyone’s taste. I was worked into a fine froth of outrage over the vile stupidity of a few lines in the work that’s gotten him in so much trouble (“Somebody Blew Up America”) until I took a moment and actually read the poem. Last month in this space, I slammed radical poet Linton Kwesi Johnson for missing an opportunity to put the power of his critical voice and vision to the current situation. Whatever you can say about Baraka, he has not shrunk from the task at hand. “Somebody Blew Up America” is a tough work – a catalog of injustices and grievances nailed to the door of white folks and a challenge to the ugly righteousness that’s been spewing out of the White House. In it, Baraka expresses solidarity with victims of all stripes, from native Americans to Jews to African-Americans and Palestinians, and if it’s not entirely successful as poetry, at least it’s an interesting read.
That said, it’s amazing that someone with so keen an eye for oppression could see nothing wrong with repeating the vile slander that Jews were told to stay away from the WTC on the day of the attack (“Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed/ Who told 4000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers/ To stay home that day/ Why did Sharon stay away? Who? Who? Who?”)
Defenders of his right to speak out about this say he’s entitled to his opinion about this “theory.” Excuse me, but gravity is a theory. Supply side economics is a theory (though not a very good one). This stuff about a Jewish or Israeli conspiracy around 9/11 is a sick lie propounded by paranoid, hateful people. It’s as much as theory as the idea that black people have lower IQs or that Jews use the blood of Christian children to make matzoh. Yeah, there’s always some crank around ready to provide “evidence” to back claims like this up, but reasonable, responsible people don’t traffic in this kind of language. It’s simply the semantic subtext for violence and hatred.
I’m willing to buy Baraka’s claim that he’s not an anti-Semite. But he’s certainly a dupe and an idiot for believing this shit enough to repeat it in his work. And now he’s given the people of New Jersey cause to wonder why they should have a dupe and an idiot as their poet laureate. If he gets sacked or vilified for his poor judgment, he’ll have no one to blame for his oppression but himself.
4:09:08 PM 
|
|
