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Books by Kalamu ya
Salaam
The Magic of JuJu: An Appreciation of the Black Arts
Movement /
360:
A Revolution of Black Poets
Everywhere Is Someplace Else: A Literary Anthology
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From A Bend in the River: 100 New Orleans Poets
Our Music Is No Accident /
What Is Life: Reclaiming the Black Blues Self
My Story My Song (CD)
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* * * * kalamu
in dallas
Waking Up to What Needs to
be Done
5 November, Dallas—One-nighters can kill
you. This was my third, one-nighter in a row. Usually they
require that you wake up no later than 6am to make an early
flight and you end up staying up to around midnight. It’s
grueling, and though we try not to schedule one-nighters back to
back, sometimes, like this time, there is no choice, so you just
have to tough it out. Part of the scheduling problems is how to
avoid the dreaded only-one-flight-will-get-you-there-on-time
syndrome. My experience is that scheduling that close is a
recipe for disaster, so we strive to make sure that there is at
least one other intervening available flight to make our
schedules.
The 7am flight out of Baltimore was cancelled. I ended up
transferring to a different airline. We got there on time, but
we wouldn’t have, if we had scheduled a later flight. Plus, it
was important to have someone on the ground managing the
changes. Calling the hosts to let them know what was going on,
checking schedules to help me decide what other airlines to try.
My daughter, Asante, is our project manager and she is an
excellent manager, taking care of details and following up to
make sure accommodations are what they should be, contracts are
taken care of, transportation arrangements are made and double
checked, on and on, all the details that make touring a dream
when they are handled properly and a nightmare when they are mis-handled.
Third Eye has been at it for over 20 years, a nationalist
organization that grew out of the black power movement and
continues to hold forums and conferences speaking to issues
confronting the black community. John Howard and Alvin Blakes
are the two members with whom I am the most familiar. They are a
few years younger than me and in them I see a lot of my roots in
the movement, especially the emphasis on pan-africanism and
black cultural identity.
Alvin is a drummer, he continues to carry on a tradition I gave
up many years ago. Although I continue to drum as I perform,
tapping on podiums, stomping on the floor, pounding on my chest,
slapping my thighs, I don’t formally play the drums anymore.
This was the
21st annual African Awakening Conference. The theme
was: WE CHARGE GENOCIDE—U.S. Crimes Against the People of New
Orleans. The session that was originally scheduled for 4pm and
then changed to 4:30pm started around quarter of 6pm. The
conference room had about a hundred participants including the
obligatory vendors offering books, tapes, cds and other items.
There was a solid representation of nationalists of all stripes
including a delegation from the Nation of Islam, and a
surprising to me, large number of continental Africans, who were
a testament to strong outreach efforts on the part of Third Eye
organizers.
When I arrived Rhonda Miller was holding forth and doing
a great job of outlining some of the problems and complications
the New Orleans black community faces in these post-Katrina
days. Earlier there had been a presentation of “All On A Mardi
Gras Day,” an excellent film by New Orleanian Royce Osborn.
During a short intermission I went with Vicki Meek, director of
the South Dallas Cultural Center, to sign contracts for a
residency next year in Dallas. Right after we returned I was up.
I opened with an extended “Who Let The Dogs Out” and closed
with a shortened “System of Thot.”
The audience was clapping and responding verbally from the very
beginning. At one point we improvised a chant: “no trains, no
planes, no busses.” We had a rousing good time.
My message was challenging for this audience as I emphasized
environmental concerns, questioning the nature of governance,
and taking responsibility for the spaces we occupy rather than
focusing on soliciting charity and help as a victim of Katrina.
Plus, I am clear, while white supremacy is indeed a major
problem, it is not the only problem, and fighting it is not by
itself the solution to our problems. For many of my comrades,
broadening their vision is a difficult paradigm to accept, but I
believe we must do expand our vision even as we deepen our work
in our particular communities. Our material realities require us
to address for more than issues of race.
We had a healthy question and answer session, and I hope
that I gave those assembled something significant to chew on and
consider as we struggle to figure out where to go from here.
Katrina exposes so many weaknesses, brings out so many
strengths. The non-response of the government, the overwhelming
support of the people—ordinary citizens have spontaneously
done whatever they could to help and, in many, many significant
cases, were it not for their on the ground help, literally
thousands of us would not have survived, especially in the face
of the utter breakdown of governmental response.
For many of us, this was the first time we experience whites
unstintingly helping blacks, men reaching out to help women
without any hint of expecting a return of favors, the rich
supporting rather than taking advantage of the poor. Yes, there
were those who took advantage, but more people helped rather
than hindered. Yet, when it came to government, all the way up
and down the line it was ineffective. Which raises the question:
why? Why would ordinary citizens be helpful and government,
which is composed of ordinary people, be so uniformly
ineffective. The answer lies in the nature of governance in the
american society.
The answer lies in the systemic nature of how
this country is run. The answer is complex, is not comforting,
and suggests that we have a huge fight on our hands, a fight
which can not be successfully fought if we attempt to reduce it
to simple labels, simple binaries. Even though it clearly
contains obvious elements of historic and deep-seated wrongs,
our struggle is far deeper than rich against poor, white against
black, men taking advantage of women. For me, the two central
issues are our relationship to our environment and the nature of
governance. This is not a message people at a Katrina rally
expect to hear, yet this is the message I believe I must
deliver.
My task is to become better and more effective at helping my
audiences to understand the nature of our current struggle. In
big "D," little "a," double "l,"
"a," "s," yours truly was tired, less
patient than I ought to have been, and generally wanted to
simply shout the Spike Lee slogan: wake up! But, as Malcolm
taught us, that’s not the best way to wake up a sleeping man
when his house is on fire, even though, in some cases,
delivering a rude awakening is the only way to rouse a sleeper.
Figuring out how to address the issue is almost as complex as
analyzing the issue and organizing to effectively respond to the
issue. Wake up, huh? Wake up and do what?
I have to get better not only at explaining the issues but also
become sharper at suggesting doable solutions, suggesting
actions that people can take. If there is a central failure I
have seen everywhere, it is a failure of leadership. Katrina was
a big exam. We all failed.
And then it was back to the Southside lofts where I was staying.
The wireless internet service was weak and it took a long, long
time to post the week’s selections for our music blog, the
Breath of Life. I didn’t finish until 3:30am. Fortunately, I
was headed back to Nashville for a 36-hour stop over and my
flight wasn’t until 10am.
Another leg of the touring was complete. Next stop Houston and
then on to New Orleans.
posted 26 November 2005
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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A Wreath for Emmett Till
By Marilyn Nelson; Illustrated by
Philippe Lardy
This memorial to
the lynched teen is in the Homeric
tradition of poet-as-historian. It is a
heroic crown of sonnets in Petrarchan
rhyme scheme and, as such, is quite
formal not only in form but in language.
There are 15 poems in the cycle, the
last line of one being the first line of
the next, and each of the first lines
makes up the entirety of the 15th. This
chosen formality brings distance and
reflection to readers, but also calls
attention to the horrifically ugly
events. The language is highly
figurative in one sonnet, cruelly
graphic in the next. The illustrations
echo the representative nature of the
poetry, using images from nature and
taking advantage of the emotional
quality of color. There is an
introduction by the author, a page about
Emmett Till, and literary and poetical
footnotes to the sonnets. The artist
also gives detailed reasoning behind his
choices. This underpinning information
makes this a full experience, eminently
teachable from several aspects,
including historical and literary—School
Library Journal |
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The White Masters
of the World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Negro Digest / Black World
Browse all issues
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Enjoy!
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The
Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding
of Haiti
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