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Books by Mona Lisa Saloy
Red Beans and Ricely Yours: Poems
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Mona Lisa, Lakeside
and the N-Word
Poem, Parent Letter, and Poet’s Response
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The N
Word
For Carolyn M. Rodgers
We all say it,
But we're not supposed to anymore.
There's the daily,
"Who'd you call a nigger?" Or,
"Only niggers talk like that!"
They tell me,
I shouldn't use the N word in the new
millennium,
In my poems, in hushed raps to a lover in
the dark,
Or in any talk I might give.
They say the N word is a hold back
To Jim Crow times they'd rather
Forget, so not mentioning it
Eases the N word from memory.
Besides, it's disrespectful, vile, like the
do do of our history.
And, we've come up to hyphenated status with
Origin of great pharaohs and queens,
That the N word is no
Longer relevant to our tomorrows.
So I say that I only call a nigger
A nigger when appropriate,
Such as in the case of dumb niggers, mean
niggers,
Lucky niggers, big-leg niggers, and big-butt
niggers,
Fat niggers, big-lipped, and no-lipped
niggers,
Kinky-hair niggers, and good-hair niggers,
Kiss-ass niggers, and kick-your-ass niggers,
Controversial niggers, famous niggers,
Has-been niggers, movie-star
niggers,
Ball-playing, beer-drinking, coke-sniffing
niggers,
Skinny, dread-locked niggers, and vegetarian
niggers,
Grease-monkey niggers, and
Cowboy niggers on horses in Texas and
Oakland, California,
Northern niggers who think they ain't
niggers,
Beatnik niggers, hippy niggers,
Blues-singing, Jazz-bopping niggers, and
Rhythm-and-blues swinging niggers, and
Hip-hop, baggy-butt-pants niggers,
And we all know at least two sorry-assed
niggers—
Niggers with a handful of gimme
And a mouthful of much obliged--
Important niggers and niggers who think
they're important,
Ugly niggers that'll make a jailbird run
free,
Pretty niggas that'll make the sun sit on a
tree,
Old, corny, jive niggers with their:
"What's the word?"
"Thunderbird!"
"What's the price?"
"Thirty twice!"
There's neo-jive, mono-syllabic niggers with
their "Word!"
Wise niggers like Oneida– a die-hard
nationalist nigger--
Who says:
"Niggers and flies
I do despise.
The more I see niggers,
The more I like flies."
Canceling the N word is like throwing
out the baby
When her clothes don't fit.
We're not speaking of nice Colored men, but
Trifling niggers without a pot to piss in,
No-count, nosey niggers--
Who mind your business and mine--
Brick-head red niggers, and Jungle-fever
niggers.
This ain't no
ennie-meanie-mini-mo flack.
This is niggerness and
Nigger raps for Doctor niggers
And teacher niggers and
Good niggers.
You know,
If they've got you've got niggers.
Real, down-to-the-ground,
Slap-it-on-your-thighs-and-laugh niggers,
Bones-playing niggers,
Street-smart niggers,
And mysterious-come-alive-after-five
niggers,
Those midnight-rambler, all-night gambler
niggers,
Sweet niggers, and naturally blue-black,
brown, yellow niggers,
And uppity niggers.
I've got a neighbor,
A bonafide, high-yellow tenth generation
Creole nigger.
Says she's
Not Black, or a Negro.
She is Colored.
That's what it says on
Her birth certificate.
My colored neighbor hates sorry-assed,
Incompetent niggers.
Says she "don't want nothin' to
do
With anything Black."
She won't call a
Nigger plumber,
No nigger electrician,
No nigger carpenter, 'cept family.
Only thing a nigger can do for her
Is get out of her way or die.
But worse she says is oreo niggers,
Luke-warm niggers, and
Bourgeoise niggers with their
Gucci, pucci, nike, air, pump, BMW,
Or Merced niggers.
You can bleach your skin.
You can texturize your hair.
You can eat crawfish with a fork,
but you're still a nigger, my nigger.
You're my nigger, if you don't get
no bigger.
And, if you do get bigger, you'll be
My bigger nigger!
"Where y'at my nigger?
You're my main nigger,
My favorite turd,
And that ain't no shit!"
Hey my nigger.
You know, you're my nigger-
My nerve, my jelly preserve.
And for folks who talk about
people like me,
people my color (yellow),
They say
I don't know my identity
By the biological thinness of melanin.
First of all,
All niggers only been a nigger
A few times in their lives,
And I'm happy to say that
I'll only be a nigger
Six times in my life:
a nigger baby
a nigger girl
a nigger woman.
Though I was a crippled nigger,
And I am a good nigger,
But one day I'll be a dead nigger.
So, I hope that no card-carrying
African American, or no stamped, certified,
Colored, or Negro is ever insulted
Cause I call a nigger my nigger.
Nigger please!
Source:
Red Beans and Ricely Yours
by Mona Lisa Saloy
Winner of the 2005 T. S. Eliot Prize |
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The letter below addresses an
incident on Dec. 10, 2008, and offers a window on how
the school is attempting to deal with racially charges
subjects like language. In this case, it was the use of
the "n" word in a poem read by African-American guest
speaker, poet, and folklorist
Mona Lisa Saloy that stirred things up. Source:
Crosscut
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Dear Upper School Parents and
Guardians,
I want to keep you
up to date on an emerging event that no doubt had an
impact on many upper school students yesterday. We had
invited a speaker, Professor Mona Lisa Saloy, to join us
in some classes and to do an assembly presentation. An
associate professor at the historically black Dillard
University in Louisiana, Professor Saloy is a poet and
folklorist whose work has been dramatically affected by
Hurricane Katrina. She was recommended by an interested
student, and her visit was sponsored by the Affinity
groups, Dr. Lindsay Aegerter’s Postcolonial and Diaspora
Literature and African American Literature classes, and
the Assembly committee.
Several members of
the English department were already familiar with her
award-winning poetry, and, as is our practice, we
researched much of Professor Saloy’s work, discussed the
topic of her visit (how her poetry and scholarship as a
folklorist capture Pre- and Post-Katrina New Orleans)
and informed her of who we are and what we were hoping
she might add. Further, Dr. Aegerter had regular
correspondence with Professor Saloy to discuss how she
would use the class time in both of her senior
electives, and indeed those classes went according to
plan.
After a significant
discussion of aspects of New Orleans life in her
assembly presentation, Professor Saloy chose to finish
her talk by reading some of her poetry. The very last
poem she chose to read employed the “n-word” many times
in a litany of expressions. We were not in any way aware
that Professor Saloy would choose to read this
particular poem in this particular context, and we
remain perplexed as to why she might have chosen the
poem for a high school setting. We suspect that she did
so because she intended to be provocative, but her
decision to do so, especially without first providing
any educational context for the poem or leaving
sufficient time after the reading for a discussion with
the entire student body, was disappointing.
She did spend
considerable time after assembly discussing the poem in
a salon held in the library, but only a small group of
students was able to attend this discussion. It is
indeed unfortunate that we must now react as a school
rather than being able to work proactively with students
on a topic and a word that is divisive and hurtful for
many, a word that is antithetical to Lakeside’s spirit
of safety and inclusion to all members of the school
community. Although there may be a rich artistic and
academic history around the deconstruction and
recuperation of this racist term, Professor Saloy did
not provide that context, leaving the school and
students with many unanswered questions.
As you might
expect, students had a wide variety of reactions to the
poem. Some were amused, others appalled, many were hurt,
some were stimulated and appreciative and others report
being unaffected. We will be working in advisory groups
to discuss this assembly and this poem, and we will also
be offering a voluntary discussion opportunity for
students and adults wishing to explore this topic
further. We can also offer helpful articles for any
interested students and parents.
We wanted to keep you apprised and
informed of yesterday’s events in case your student
comes home with questions or wants to discuss it further
as a family. If you have further questions or if there
are things that we can help with, please feel free to
contact me at your convenience.
Than Healy,
Upper School Director
and Assistant Head
Lakeside Prep,
Seattle
Source:
Crosscut
Red Beans and Ricely Yours
By Mona Lisa Saloy
Winner of the 2005 T. S. Eliot Prize
Reviews,
including A Life Won with Blood
& Tears
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Dear Lakeside School
Administrators, Upper School Parents, and Guardians, the
Affinity groups, Dr. Lindsay Aegerter, Abe Wehmiller,
and the Assembly Committee:
Since the Lakeside
Administration’s correspondence on the
Crosscut Blog and some confusion around my intent
was made public, let me clarify. Both the extent of
introductory materials on New Orleans culture and my
reading was planned in advance. I was invited to
Lakeside School to present what no one else could on the
culture and history as new knowledge and a basis for
further appreciating my creative works.
I introduced my
final poem with a brief history of the controversial
nature of the poem and stated that a high-school teacher
in Virginia thought it brilliant for her students, that
the poem was subsequently banned in the state, and that
the University of Virginia Press published the poem in
the anthology Furious Flower: African American Poets
from the Black Arts Movement to the Present. The
poem itself opens on the historic controversy
surrounding the social movement to end the use of “The
‘N’ Word.” It is in effect an argument, yes with litany
effect, but largely with both humor and irony. While my
poem “The ‘N’ Word” is meant to entertain, it’s point is
cultural information and insight.
Early Blacks in
America survived centuries of degradation and injustice,
oppression and humiliation all the while being denied
language, native language, worship, the ability to
family and procreate at will. How? Blacks survived by
keeping their stories, their moans and hollers, their
rhythms and chants. When given food not meant for human
consumption, Blacks made “Soul Food.” When toiling in
fields, Blacks made works songs into “The
Blues.” Having come to American shores with a great
sense of The Divine, to worship, Blacks invented
“Spirituals,” what W.E.B. DuBois called “Sorrow
Songs.”
When Creoles were
turned out of their quarters in New Orleans, they took
their knowledge of European musical notation to their
new “Colored” quarters—the home of those chants, moans,
hollers, blues, spirituals, and Blacks developed
“Jazz.” As a result, one of the greatest African
retentions is a linguistic prowess that allows Blacks to
turn anything negative into something good. Take for
instance the word “bad.” Black popular usage turned
“bad” into “good,” really good, now appropriated by
everyone.
My Poem “The ‘N’
Word” catalogues just how Blacks did that; Blacks took a
heinous racial slur and made it into a term of
endearment, a marvel often overlooked by the larger
culture. As an artist, writer, I must write my time, my
culture, and interpret it creatively. There is no
monolithic Black culture here or in the
Mother/Fatherland, but there are many things on which we
can agree, and the affectionate use of The ‘N’ Word
among Blacks is a testimony of cultural longevity and
uniqueness. The book talk after my reading was the
platform for explanation; the students and teachers
attending received further context and explanation.
Red Beans and Ricely
Yours,
Dr.
Mona Lisa Saloy
December 16, 2008
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* Mona
Lisa Saloy is associate professor of English and Director of
creative writing at Dillard University (before Katrina). She won
the 2005 T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry for this collection. She
has also won fellowship from the National Endowment for the
Humanities and from the United Negro College Fund/Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation. Her poems have appeared in anthologies,
magazines, journals, and film. She received her PhD in English
and MFA in creative writing from Louisiana State University and
her MA in creative writing and English from San Francisco State
University. Displaced by hurricane Katrina, Saloy is a
visiting associate professor of English and creative writing at
the University of Washington for the 2005/2006 academic
year. Mona Lisa Saloy Bio
* * * *
* Responses
Rudy, Just a word about Mona.
The respondent is typical of those
who would rather deny and omit in light of assimilation
into their culture on their terms. I'm not speaking of
the politically black/white thing but European culture
which created all of the mess over the last 500 or so
years.
Mona is a friend who is always
welcomed in my house. She, Kalamu ya Salaam, John
Sinclair were among the first to perform at the Poetry
Jams back in the 90'ls at the Louisiana State Museum, a
program series that helped push forward spoken word
activities and, since the advent of new folk and my
departure, is no longer a part of the programming...too
bad.
I, for one, am not afraid of the
word "nigger" and Mona's piece (according to her
apologist) DID the right thing by making the young folk
ask questions (isn't that what education is supposed to
be about?)...
More power to Mona, it is the duty
of the artist to keep the audience from slipping into
that dreaded state called ennui. Kindness, joy, love,
and happiness.
.
. . Rhonda and I were discussing the N word and some
interesting things came up. One was about Mona's poem
which was done before the latest wave of political
correctness swept ashore. As you know, I'm a timeline
freak when it comes to history and I brought that up in
the conversation. I find that, for your bibliophiles,
it works both ways. I recommend in whatever order seems
appropriate to the reader that they read Dick Gregory's
Nigger, The N Word (in the middle) and Randall
Kennedy's book
Nigger. Kennedy's is basically a history
(needed) and Gregory speaks with the zeitgeist of the
'60's as his motivation. As I said, if Mona's piece is
in the middle, somehow all of this makes sense —Chuck Siler
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Yes there is also Rap
Brown's
H. Rap Brown's Die
Nigger Die!: a
book that was used to tell some awful truths about
America and the political role of race. When I think of
the recent movements for "political correctness," I
usually think of social respectability. That is a
reductionism of movement, that provides the shell that
one is involved in movement. That is probably not too
unlike the overestimation of Obama and what he can do to
change the race dynamic for those at the bottom who most
need for the dynamic to change. Maybe there is a need to
change teenager use of the N-Word in classrooms,
especially among those knuckleheads who do not
understand the power of words and the discrete use of
them. But Ban the N-Word movements are more reactionary
than revolutionary and more static than dynamic. There
are always pitfalls—Rudy
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|
The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
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Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
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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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If you like this page consider making a donation
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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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posted 30 December 2008
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