On this date, August 28th, in 2002, Amiri Baraka was named the poet laureate for New Jersey.
Amiri Baraka was born Everette LeRoi Jones, but changed his name in 1967 when he converted to Islam. He has been associated with such luminaries of the Beat Poets as Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg. He has appeared with Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison, and also works with hip-hop musicians.
This is a welcome respite from the usual "...and another 12 victims were found beheaded on the island of so-and-so..." tabulation of Islamic atrocities. The convergence of a love of the written word and an interest in Islamic jihad comes about only rarely, and so it is with some excitement that selected works from the oeuvre of Baraka will be presented forthwith. But, after reading some of Baraka's poems, that ardor may dim, and you may decide to "just be friends" with the written word. You may decide that you need "some space" between you and the written word, until you're a little more confident you know where this relationship is headed. And now, without further ado:
Selection from a 1965 essay:
Most American white men are trained to be fags. For this reason it is no wonder their faces are weak and blank. … The average ofay [white person] thinks of the black man as potentially raping every white lady in sight. Which is true, in the sense that the black man should want to rob the white man of everything he has. But for most whites the guilt of the robbery is the guilt of rape. That is, they know in their deepest hearts that they should be robbed, and the white woman understands that only in the rape sequence is she likely to get cleanly, viciously popped.
Selections from "Somebody Blew Up America", a poem written about 9/11:
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 do Tom Ass Clarence work for
Who doo doo come out the Colon's mouth
Who know what kind of Skeeza is a Condoleeza
Who pay Connelly [sic] to be a wooden negro
[...]
Who know why five Israelis was filming the explosion
And cracking they sides at the notion
Note the clever reworking of "Thomas" Clarence as "Tom Ass." Say it quickly. Get it? And "Colin" Powell becomes "Colon," like a part of the body. A posterior part. Get it? After the publishing of this poem, New Jersey's Governor abolished the position of poet laureate. And successfully defended that decision up to the Supreme Court.
In accordance with the Sixth Pillar of Islam (extreme anti-Semitism) Baraka had written many unabashedly anti-Semitic pieces in his career, but later decided that he was "anti-Zionist", not anti-Semitic. That subtlety comes through when he writes "4000 Israeli workers", not "4000 Jew workers"; and it is "five Israelis was filming", not "five bloodsucking Jews was filming." It really works.
"Babylon Revisited"
The gaunt thing
with no organs
creeps along the streets
of Europe, she will
commute, in her feathered bat stomach-gown
with no organs
with sores on her insides
even her head
a vast puschamber
of pus(sy) memories
with no organs
nothing to make babies
she will be the great witch of euro-american legend
who sucked the life
from some unknown nigger
whose name will be known
but whose substance will not ever
not even by him
who is dead in a pile of dopeskin
This bitch killed a friend of mine named Bob Thompson
a black painter, a giant, once, she reduced
to a pitiful imitation faggot
full of American holes and a monkey on his back
slapped airplanes
from the empire state building
May this bitch and her sisters, all of them,
receive my words
in all their orifices like lye mixed
cocola and alaga syrup
feel this shit, bitches, feel it, now laugh your
hysterectic laughs
while your flesh burns
and your eyes peel to red mud
Are you feeling this shit, bitches? Yes, that's right, New Jersey poet laureate Baraka is not only anti-Semit--, uh, I mean anti-Zionist, he is also misogynistic. And homophobic. But not to worry: prejudice without power is not prejudice.
"Fresh Zombies"
OK Shuffles. Stink in neon
Lie in lights. Betray before millions
Assassinate w/ slogans. Not old toms
but New Toms, Double Toms
A Tom Tom Macoute. Fresh Zombies.
House Nigger maniacs. Oreo serial killers
That thumping, that horrible sound,
is not music, not drums, but shuffling
Not old toms, New Toms, Double Toms
A Tom Tom Macoute. Fresh Zombies.
The reference to "Oreo" (cookies) is meant to illustrate an analogy to a person who is black on the surface, but who is actually white on the inside. Wait, did I mention he was appointed poet laureate of New Jersey?
"For Crow Jane"
Mama Death.
For dawn, wind
off the river. Wind
and light, from
to be continued when I have time...
Suck on the insouciance, ofay [white person], cuz he don't finish it if he don't wants. Your tyrannical insistence on "making sense" or "finishing a thought" ain't no chains on this brotha.
Previous Days in the "Religion of Peace™":
Aug 27: Bombardment of Algiers
Aug 26: Sistani vs. Sadr
Aug 25: Cape Town Jihad
Aug 24: Hebron Massacre
Aug 23: Libya Awards Farrakhan
