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Books by Amiri Baraka
Tales of the Out &
the Gone
/
The Essence of Reparations /
Somebody Blew Up
America & Other Poems
/
Blues People
Autobiography
of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka /
Selected Poetry of
Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones
/
Black Music
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Let Loose on
the World
Celebrating Amiri Baraka at 75
Edited by Karen D.
Taylor and Louis Reyes Rivera
intro by Mumia Abu Jamal
Review by
Marvin X
This is a massive anthology
of 475 pages containing a love offering by writers,
poets, artists, and photographers honoring and praising
our greatest living poet, essayist, activist, scholar,
mystic. We wanted to give him flowers while he lived.
And so it is, this fantastic dream of
Ted Wilson, Sam
Anderson and a host of others who labored in secrecy
(from
Baraka) for months leading up to his birthday on
October 7, 2009. It reminds one of that classic 60s
anthology
Black Fire, edited by Larry Neal and
Amiri Baraka, circa 1968. In this sense it may be
considered a continuation of the cultural revolution,
letting loose on the world that same energy and
consciousness as we conclude the first decade of the new
millennium.
It is an expression of our
love for the man who advanced the notion of The
Black Arts Movement that
Larry Neal (RIP) called the sister of
the Black Liberation Movement, although I say BAM was
the mother who gave birth to the cultural consciousness
that allowed the politicos to go forward. For example,
out on the West coast, many who joined the Black Panther
Party were initiated in the Black Arts first, including
Bobby Seale, Eldridge
Cleaver, Emory Douglas, Samuel
Napier and George Murray. Bobby was in my theatre;
Eldridge, Emory, Samuel were at Black House. George
Murray was in Baraka's Communications Project at San
Francisco State College/University, along with other
brothers and sisters who performed plays, then joined
the real revolution with guns and violence, jail, exile
and state terror in their eyes and on their asses.
But Baraka was the key mover
and shaker, along with
Askia Touré
, Sonia Sanchez,
Ed Bullins, Woody King, Ron Milner, Sun Ra,
Larry Neal,
Nikki Giovanni, the Last Poets,
Barbara Ann Teer,
June
Jordan, myself and a national gathering of artists/
activists. So think of these people and the numerous
ones included and excluded from this anthology. Am I the
only one from the West coast included? You "Negroes"
need to stop that East coast provincialism. We love Baraka out here as well! The world does not begin and
end in New York and the East coast, I want you to know.
LOL
But thank you Ted, Sam,
Karen and Louis for having the common sense to publish
this anthology that is our expression of love for
Amiri Baraka who continues to spearhead the cultural
revolution. It was great being in Newark during that
weeklong celebration his homies gave, and of course the
event in Harlem at the Schomburg was the climax. And we
had to equal the East coast with celebrations in Oakland
and San Francisco. Long live
Amiri Baraka! And thank you
Mumia Abu Jamal for that introduction—live from death
row!
Source:
BlackBirdPressNews
let loose on the world: amiris 75th birthday party, a
gathering of the elders
* *
* * *
Marvin X,
I do appreciate
the promotional blurb you sent out regarding Let Loose
on the World, but, quiet as it's kept, it wasn't much of
a review; a good promo, yes . . .
Inside of the blurb
was a short slap on the back of Ted's head (and maybe
mine, for that matter) which I would appreciate being
turned into a full fledged dialogue. To wit, the
following statement from your promo:
[and I quote]
"So think of these
people and the numerous ones included and excluded from
this anthology. Am I the only one from the West coast
included? You "Negroes" need to stop that East coast
provincialism. We love Baraka out here as well!" [end of
quote].
I thought that was
an unfair remark and one that fosters the very
provincialism you take issue with . . . You forget or
obviate the following concrete conditions:
(a) we were doing
all of this in a virtual ad hoc manner; what the others
on the committee did to reach out I cannot say. I can
testify to this much: when I was asked to oversee the
poetry section, I immediately went into my address book
and invited everyone I knew (including yourself and
other West Coast People I know about; several of the
ones I contacted were also in two other anthologies I
had previously edited,
Bum Rush The Page (with
Tony Medina) and
The Bandana Republic (with Bruce
George).
(b) like it or not,
I don't know everyone on the planet, nor do I have
everyone's email addresses, but folks like yourself and
Quincy Troupe (who was also invited) do know others AND
TO WHOM you could have easily relayed the invitation. To
come back later and accuse folks of provincialism is
itself quite provincial and reminiscent of (1) the
East/West conflict within the Panther Party that, though
clearly fostered by surreptitious agents, helped to
speed up its eventual demise, courtesy of the Panther
hierarchy itself; and, (2) the Crip/Blood foolishness of
bleeding one another while the authorities that engender
such conflicts remain unscathed.
In short, your
comment testifies to the fact that we haven't learned
much from either the 1960s (NOI/Chicago vs. New York and
Panthers vs. US) or the 1980s (Crips vs. Bloods vs.
Latin Kings, et al) in spite of the fact that we all
know about COINTELPRO, standard anti-Garveyism and, of
all things, Washington vs. Du Bois.
I ask you this: how
about a full fledged blog discussing the exact and
particular histor(ies) of all these instances in which
our own short sighted views and levels of ignorance feed
into disunity. What is it that we ignore or don't know
about that helps to foster a wall of indifference
between all of us? What lessons can we learn from the
particulars that would help our youth understand what
they're truly up against? Isn't it true that we bear an
old saying among us regarding our common enemy (i.e.,
while we sleepin', he's schemin')?
Like, we got damn
near 520 years of clearly recorded game playing against
us, with every trick in the book pulled on us, yet,
instead of sharing that, we take potshots at one another
(literally and figuratively). I say it's time for new
law (against pot shooting) and a clearer basis for
understanding how to secure against the new games still
awaiting us. A public dialogue that takes up key
historical questions would go a long way towards pulling
our youngsters coattails to which books they should be
reading and programs they should be implementing and
policies they should be formulating. And we can begin
with that question: is there really an East/West Coast
contention or is that hyped by media and our own
ignorance of each other? What's the history behind it?
How much of it is manipulated by "others"? What should
be our objective in light of our different locations?
How should we approach one another before drawing
conclusions about each other? What really happened
between Oakland and New York, back in that day? And who
was behind the splits?
In terms of the
anthology you plugged, had you asked any of the editors
about a West Coast reach-out, would you have gotten a
cold shoulder or a warm reception towards the fullest
inclusion? Had you gotten the cold shoulder, you'd be on
solid ground with the slap behind the back of the head.
But had you bothered to ask me, I'd have shared my
contacts with you and I would have definitely encouraged
you to spread that word.
I can't speak for
anyone else. All I know are two things: (1) I don't play
exclusion or region or province; and, (2) I sent out an
e-blast to over 300 writers across the country. It was
on them to help spread the word and to contribute to the
booksong. How many of your contacts did you reach out
to? Were they rejected? By whom?
Let's blog a
consensus of our past instead of reaching back to grab
hold of its pitfalls, even if that means reassessing how
we've been taught or conditioned to view our heroes and
sheroes. We need our own wikipedia of struggle and fault
lines. And we can begin with the list of folks you sent
this to (by the way, this one wouldn't go thru:
Elbow2@aol.com).
Later, Louis Reyes Rivera
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* * *
Louis,
first of all,
the Left has no sense of humor—I must listen to
right wing bigots like Russ Limbaugh to laugh at their
sick, insane white supremacy bullshit. Stop being so
damn uptight. Relax, we been on this road a long time,
what did you say, 500 years. And as per East coast/West
coast, 3,000 miles is a long distance, almost as long as
the distance between lower Egypt and the source of the
Nile, 4000 miles away up the Nile Valley in Congo. So
the West coast is clearly not in the mind of East coast
people, nor is East coast in the mind of West coast
people. We know the arrogance of East coast, the ego
tripping. And we know West coast people live in La la
land, yet both areas have made contributions to our
national advancement, whether it is the Black Arts or
the Black Liberation Movement, which are the same. I am
sure you will agree on this. There has been much cross
fertilization. Black Arts East came West and Black Arts
West came East. And the Black Panther Party developed in
both places, with differences in attitude,
consciousness, and political perspective.
Much of what you've said in
your email was discussed at the recent memorial service
of
Mamadou Lumumba
last Saturday. The two Black Panther
parties were represented. The first Panther party was
the Black Panther Party of Northern California,
represented by Mamadou, Isaac Moore, Ernie Allen and
others, an outgrowth of RAM. The second was the Black
Panther Party of Self Defense, represented by Bobby
Seale and Huey Newton. The memorial for Mamadou morphed
into a discussion of this history, especially after
Bobby Seale made his remarks—and they were done in a
dignified and diplomatic manner—since people still have
strong feelings about the conflict between the two
parties. But this was good dialogue and it was
encouraged by Baba Lumumba, Mamadou's brother.
As the discussion ended, I
asked the young brothers present to stand and give us
their thoughts on the discussion. What they loved most
was learning of the sacrifice our generation made on
behalf our freedom. So yes, Louis, this dialogue must
continue in the coming days. The youth need it and
demand it. They called upon us to establish the
Revolutionary Elders Council, and so we must, coast to
coast, so we can pass the baton to them properly—so they
can hear and understand both sides of the story as they
heard at Mamadou's memorial. They heard both sides of
events in the Bay area's black liberation history—and so
we need a East Coast/West Coast dialogue to get beyond
"the East Coast was Eldridge Cleaver's/the West Coast
Huey's—and some of this anguish and tension still
remains to this day, yet unresolved—yet we want hip hop
youth to resolve their differences—why don't we show by
example.
I can go on and on, but as
per your anthology, we could have made a conscious
attempt to make it a national anthology. Sometimes in
our rush to do a project we are blind to the grand
vision.
It was probably only in
hindsight that we realized the Black Arts Movement was a
national movement, not just East Coast/West Coast. Or
that the Liberation movement had all types, Marxists,
Muslims, NOI, Sunnis, Sufis, Yorubas, Buddhists,
Socialists, Christians. And what if we have all tried to
do what Malcolm X taught, unify. Why didn't/couldn't the
two Panther parties come together at some point, or
Malcolm and Martin, for that matter. We know the Devil
enters at this people and is still at work as we write.
But we can overcome the Devil if we put in check the
little white man running around inside of us.
My "review" was just
something off the top of my head to help promote the
book. With all the writers involved, surely every one of
them can write a review or promotional piece. I take
your remarks in the spirit of dialogue and unity because
we are in unity whether we want to be or not. Ask the
white man when he comes for our asses if there is a
distinction between you and me, East Coast/West Coast.
Let's keep talking. Peace,
Marvin X
* *
* * *
Brother
Marvin,
As
publisher and chair of the committee I echo every thing
stated by Louis. To this I add Baraka is not pass 75.
There are writers and artists in other disciplines on
the east coast as well as west coast who, for one reason
or another, did not make this book.
Consider this. It is entirely possible to collect and
publish a Volume II and it
would not be based on east/west; U.S./ International:
english/multi-lingual. It can be an organizing force for
us all over the world. It is a matter of putting in the
work and raising the money.
We can
do whatever we want. The struggle continues. Let this
project unite us and not be a dividing force. Call me
973.420.9923 any
reasonable hour. Peace. Brother
Ted
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Let
Loose on the World
Celebrating Amiri Baraka at 75
This 500-page tribute anthology is now available at
http://www.barakabook.org/
Amiri Baraka- now 75 years
young -has been for more than a half century a powerful
cultural and political influence not just upon Black
America, but also North America and the World!
To pay tribute to this
literary-activist, a team of his comrades initiated an
anthology that reflects his wide range of influence in
the worlds of the arts, literature and revolutionary
political. As a result, in a matter of a few months in
2009 some 150 contributors gladly gave of their talent
to give props to our Brother,
Amiri Baraka
in a 500 page book filled with some of the world's most
powerful art and literature.
We are also privileged to
have our Brother-On-Death-Row, Mumia Abu Jamal, write a
moving introduction for the anthology.
This
First edition of the anthology can be yours for a mere
$29 ($25 plus $4 for shipping and handling).
Let Loose on the World: Celebrating Amiri Baraka at 75
This 500-page tribute anthology is now available at
It includes a moving introduction by political prisoner
Mumia Abu Jamal and is packed with some 150 contributors
ranging from Toni Morrison to Haki Madhabuti, Maya
Angelou to young Autum Ashante and the late
poets/playwrights Sekou Sundiata and Larry Neal . . .
Art work from Elizabeth Catlett, Ben Jones and the late
revolutionary painters Vincent Smith and William White +
others . . .
To purchase the book for $25 + $4 Shipping, go to
E-mail
TedLWilson@att.net
Photographers include Adger Cowans, Danny Dawson, Shawn
Walker and more
. . .
Let Loose on the World
stands as a visual tribute to a key tenet in
Amiri Baraka's
activism and creativity: the centrality of UJIMA:
Collective work and Responsibility.
To purchase the book for $25 + $4 Shipping, go to
NOT AVAILABLE IN BOOKSTORES OR AMAZON
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House of Nehesi Publishers
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posted 19 December 2009 |
