Levon's Hard Truths

Books by Don L. Lee/Haki Madhubuti

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An Introduction to Haki's "Idea of America"

By Rudy Lewis

Sometime this year in the midst of America's vociferous argument to make war on Iraq, the once militant poet and African-American writer and publisher issued and distributed an essay titled "Hard Truths: September 11, 2001 and Respecting the Idea of America." I had to read it four or five times to really get into my head the drift of Haki's argument in support of the American Way of Life or what he blithely calls the "Idea of America." I mentioned the essay to a couple of friends and told them how troubling I found the essay in light of what I viewed as Haki's black militant past.

To my bosom brothers, I railed about Haki and those of his generation and militant past having given up the struggle in order to possess the prestige and the comforts of middle-class success and to ape the posture of the Whitney Youngs and the Roy Wilkins and others of the elite black establishment that we as young men had railed against for their patience with the pace of American progress with respect to the lack of well-being and desperation of the masses of black folk. And I was almost content to leave it at that until I read a short response on Kalamu's e-drum by a young writer named LeVon Rice.

I contacted her immediately for I felt that she mirrored my own uneasiness toward Haki's capitulation and kow-towing to the corporate-military complex of America's ruling elite, about which Haki says proudly, "I will never speak ill of it." The attack on America's corporate center, according to Haki, was "personal." For he had fears for his daughter who worked nearby America's corporate center. You see, Haki has gotten his Ph.D. and he has taught at many universities and he has been applauded on many stages by the well-to-do and he has his own company and he has started a few philanthropic programs for the poor. So he has a different point of view now than he had then in his militant past when he was just struggling against white power in America. In his own words, his success has "enlarged" him "in unexpected ways."

Haki, it seems, is no longer interested in our struggle and liberation as a people. For according to our wayward brother, "the plain truth is that we are all individuals." He has also given up his romantic ideas about Africa. So for him Pan-Africanism has been tossed out with the bath water. He said, "I often thought of migrating to Africa." But now he believes, he can help Africa by "working hard to be a success." It seems that Haki secretly desires to be a Bill Gates and then he can toss a few billion here and there and feel good about the "Idea of America." Reassuringly, from his comfortable couch, Haki tells us, the black poor and the oppressed shouldn't despair, because "we do have realistic options in America." For others can do like he did and "make their own statements about success and attainment."

And finally the coup de grace, Haki caters to our ethnic pride in the manner of a Stanley Crouch, "African Americans have more freedoms, prosperity, liberties, and possibilities in the United States than Black people any place in the world today." This bit of racial pride and American patriotism overwhelms me and I feel quite embarrassed for Haki and his ilk.

It was not my intent to go this far. I am an old fogey, a former 60s militant, still living in the past when service and sacrifice and principle gave us hope and vision. When I hear the deceptive comments of those of my own generation purporting to provide wisdom and leadership for the youth of today, I get carried away. So without further to do, I present LeVon's challenge to Haki Madhubuti's Hard Truths:

A Response to Haki Madhubuti's

"Hard Truths: September 11, 2001 and Respecting the Idea of America"

By LaVon Rice

(article removed by request of author)

Gabrielle Daniels' attack on Levon Rice can be found at www.topica.com (search "e-drum," April 9, 2003)

"This system, that has already made mad cows, is making mad people too.'' --Ahmed Ben Bella, Porto Alegre, 2002