Amiri Baraka answers the latest criticism of himself and his idiotic poem "Somebody Blew Up America"
A reader e-mailed me this link, calling it "an article written by the man himself in response to his poem and the backlash and misinterpretation it has received" It's 4,700 words long, and trust me, it would be a waste of your time to read the whole thing, unless you are either a masochist or Baraka's own psychiatrist. These are a few extracts
"I Will Not Apologize, I Will Not Resign"That's as much as I can stand to read. Seriously, though, it answers my own questions. I think the guy is ill. I hope his family and loved ones get him some proper medical treatment. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 08, 2002 07:10 AMThe recent dishonest, consciously distorted and insulting non-interpretation of my poem, “Somebody Blew Up America” by the “Anti-Defamation” League, is fundamentally an attempt to defame me. And with that, an attempt to repress and stigmatize independent thinkers everywhere...
The Reichstag fire, parallels the 911 Attack, in that after that “mysterious act of terrorism”, which Hitler blamed on Jews and Communists, the Nazis passed a law The Reichstag Enablement Act, that gave the Nazis much the same carte blanche as the Bush administration used the 911 tragedy to pass the wholly undemocratic Patriot Bill and begin rounding up suspects, even without identifying them...
I WAS NOT SAYING ISRAEL WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ATTACK, BUT THAT THEY KNEW AND OUR OWN COUNTERFEIT PRESIDENT DID TOO!...
As they are attempting with me the ADL slanders anyone who is not happy with Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians As Anti Semitic, when lst of all Israel and its guiding philosophy have nothing to do, as categories, with Jews...
It is unfortunate that Governor McGreevey has been stampeded by paid liars, and apologists for ethnic cleansing and white supremacy, bourgeois nationalists and the dangerously ignorant, to be panicked into joining in the ADL’s slander, belittling my intelligence, and insulting not only my person, my family, my fellow artists and activists who know all this is just the feces of a very small cow...
Gee Sharky, why would a pure idealist like Imamu Amiri Baraka have accepted a job from a guy who is in the pay of "paid liars, and apologists for ethnic cleansing and white supremacy, bourgeois nationalists and the dangerously ignorant" in the first place? Could it be because he is a whore, too?
Posted by: Diana on October 8, 2002 08:33 AM"We are supposed to be intimidated by demagogues like the Anti Defamation League (who should be called the Anti Defamation League)..."
What the hell is he talking about?
Posted by: j on October 8, 2002 08:44 AMWhat the hell is he talking about?
J, you have to understand that his brain is in the same shape as Michael Jackson's nose.
Posted by: Ernie G on October 8, 2002 06:16 PMI guess he didn't read that the USSR records proved that the Rosenbergs were spies.
Posted by: Walter E. Wallis on October 10, 2002 11:10 AMSadly, I read his whole rant.
The part that really scared me was his revelation that Italy has nuclear weapons. I was not aware of that before.
Posted by: David Nieporent on October 10, 2002 11:22 PMYou may despise Amiri, but that is no excuse to ignore the many truisms of which he speaks. For instance, the hypocritical attitude of a country who remains the only nation in the world to be condemned by the World Court for international terrorism (Nicaragua). I might remind you that many present in the current administration were in office during this illegal war.
Posted by: abril star on October 13, 2002 12:57 PMBaraka's "rant" was truthfully spoken from many Black's point of view, but just because the views stated in "Somebody Blew Up America" may be radical to some. Answer his questions: "Who stole Manhattan, Who caused the Trail of Tears, Who had the slaves, Who does Jesus resemble, Who "is" the fake president." Then answer undiscriminately afterwards.
Posted by: Brian McCoy on October 15, 2002 10:11 AMBrian, people will be more likely to take you seriously if you write grammatically.
And since Jesus was a 1st century Jew, I'll assume he looked Jewish. maybe he looked like Jerry Seinfeld. Maybe he looked like Ehud Barak. What's your point?
Posted by: Yehudit on October 16, 2002 04:10 PMJesus resembled a black man, that was his point.
Posted by: Elvis on November 7, 2002 02:33 PMre: "We are supposed to be intimidated by demagogues like the Anti Defamation League (who should be called the Anti Defamation League)..."
Baraka actually wrote ...should be called the anti-anti defamation league.
"Actually, in my focus on various forces of terror Afro Americans and other oppressed people of the world have suffered, slavery, colonialism, Imperialism, Neo neo-colonialism, National Oppression, the ADL disingenuously makes no mention of my probing into the creators of the holocaust, e.g., “who put the Jews in ovens, / and who helped them do it, / Who said “America First”/ and Ok’d the yellow stars”, which of course is a reference to America’s domestic fascists just before World War @ and the Nazi Holocaust."
How can one claim to be intelligent when over half the postings in here are unintelligible? There are obviously a lot of closed minded as well as ignorant people out there. As Abril Star says in their posting, just because you dislike someone you cannot ignore the many truths stated. I have read Amiri Baraka's poem & I have to admit that there are many truths in it. I have to be honest enough & have the courage not to remain in denial. I have to be free enough & wise & mature enough to question outside of what I am being fed by the media.
It seems that a lot of whites have a big problem with accepting truth & facts about ourselves. No solution can be found to any social problems without first solving the problem of white supremacy which is a reality & is also the single biggest obstacle to working class emancipation.
Posted by: Rosa Stein on January 21, 2003 04:11 AMapparently all that Stefan could stand to read was a few selections that he picked out of a generally well-written article. baraka makes a very good case for his poem, and Stefan does his best to pick out a few disjointed quotations in order to again miss the point.
this, i suppose, how america gets away with so much.
Posted by: ron on February 12, 2003 10:18 PM