*   *   *   *   *

Shimmy Shimmy Shimmy Like My Sister Kate  / Lincoln and Douglass /  On My Journey Now / Nikki Giovanni Bibliography

*   *   *   *   *

Since Professor Nikki Giovanni's lecture and poetry presentation, I have had a few discussions about it, ranging from those who thought she was wonderful to those who were a bit disappointed.  The manner in which I engage art and my favorite artists keeps me from getting too high or too low.  For the most part, the art and presentation of all artists are merely reflections of their journey and where they are at the current moment.  And to be more specific, very few people are the same in their fifties as they are in their twenties.  For example, I have been blessed to see certain artists—literary and musical—over a thirty year span, and while most of them maintained the high standard of their craft, age has a way of limiting or slowing us all. 

Whether it has been James Brown, Parliament Funkadelic, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, B. B. King, Buddy Guy, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Ishmael Reed, Nikki Giovanni, Toni Morrison, or Prince, age affects us all, including our socio-political concerns and energy.  Just how long can I expect Prince to be a pissed off funkateer who plays twenty minute solos while doing splits in high heels?  Though I will admit that his guitar solos are still as powerful; however, the splits have long been a thing of the past.

With the above stated, I enjoyed Professor Giovanni presentation for what it was and for whom she has decided to be at this juncture in her life—an artist who uses her voice/work to address issues that are important to her but who may not be interested in the work of grassroots organizing.  Professor Giovanni has never been a Sonia Sanchez or Haki Madhubuti, and, so, I do not measure her against their objectives but how well she fulfills her own.  Accordingly, her poetry reflects that she is thinking more metaphysically about issues, as apparent in her poem “We Are Going to Mars” from her book Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea:  Poems and Not Quite Poems. 

This direction does not bother me because I began as an admirer of the transcendental movement and still view myself as a poet addressing metaphysical concerns.  (As an aside, that was one of my issues with hip hop when I was first exposed to it in the late 80s.  It was not metaphysical enough for me.)  And to be clear, Professor Giovanni did assert herself as a critical and independent thinker when she criticized President Obama for not doing enough to create jobs while starting another war that the country does not need. 

Yet, about half the people with whom I have talked think that Professor Giovanni did not go far enough in engaging current socio-political issues, especially in deciding not to engage a question and answer period.  We were, after all, on a university campus where our prime directive is to engage ideas in a manner that enlightens and empowers the students and the surrounding community.  So, I do agree that by not engaging in the question and answer period both Professor Giovanni and Professor Cornel West, who lectured on the campus a few weeks earlier, limited their impact on the campus and surrounding community in their endeavors to create an atmosphere and community of critical thinkers.

So, I do understand those on either side of this issue, and simply respond that it is my responsibility to use both events as a teaching tool to my students by engaging them about the issues raised and discussed by West and Giovanni as well as discussing the structure of the presentations.  With that in mind, below I have pasted a 1968 poem by Giovanni , “The Great Pax Whitie,” which has the same fire and theme as another of her poems, “The True Import Of Present Dialogue, Black vs. Negro (For Peppe, Who Will Ultimately Judge Our Efforts)” [see below] also known as “Nigger Can You Kill?”   I love the word play and imagery of “The Great Pax Whitie” though I would like for it to have a bit more imagery, but that is my own personal taste. 

This poem is a classic when we understand the prevailing aesthetic of the time as well as how courageous and revolutionary the ideas are for the time.  Of course, the question remains.  Was the Giovanni  who presented at JSU this week the same Giovanni  who wrote “The Great Pax Whitie” over thirty years ago?  The answer is, clearly, no.  But, who is the same person at sixty that they are at thirty?  Very few of us are.  Even though the poetry of Kalamu ya Salaam and Jerry Ward is just as socio-political and just as cutting/fiery, it is also flavored with wisdom, a wisdom that has always been there addressing the complexity of the African’s struggle for freedom and equality—just check Salaam’s “If We Don't Make this Constant Music” or “Cosmic Deputy” and Ward’s “Don’t Be Fourteen (in Mississippi)” or “I Did not Ask to Be Palestinian.”  

What we can do is learn from the journey of the people we admire or the people who have made essential contributions to society, perpetuating what has or continues to work and eliminating what did not or no longer works.  Whatever the case for others, as a poet and as a concerned citizen, I am just as moved by the current Giovanni  as I am by the work and legacy of the Giovanni  who wrote “The Great Pax Whitie” [see below], even if I am moved for different reasons.  But, I should add that I can be moved by the structure or craftsmanship of a poem or story even if I am not moved by the subject of the work, and, accordingly, even if I agree with one’s message that message will be meaningless to me if the poem or story is structured or crafted poorly.  So, I can be moved by her message, and I can be moved by her literary mastery.

To those points, Professor Giovanni  was never a Black Nationalist, and she never advocated for separatist or independent black institutions.  She was a radial integrationist who used her poetry and essays to assert that disenfranchisement through racism, self-hatred, and sexism are the major hurdles for African Americans, and political engagement is the best course of action for African Americans, even going so far as to call herself a “yellow dog democrat,” which essentially means that she has sworn upmost allegiance to the democrats, proving that she could not be a Black Nationalist.  

The problem is that most radical integrationists, such as Giovanni , The Black Panther Party for Self Defense, SNCC, and others, are often confused as Black Nationalist, and those who expect more are often disappointed.  But that is not the fault of Giovanni  or others, but the fault of those who do not take the time to analyze thoroughly their message.  And as it is with the message, one must also know that with any artist the structure or aesthetic of an artist’s work may change, depending on how they are using structure and aesthetic to reflect their current journey or ideology.  Artists, of course, are just people who change like everyone else.  As patrons of the arts and as artists, we must be more mindful of the history so that we are not taken by surprise when someone we support or admire takes a turn we did not expect or see coming.  So, now, Professor Giovanni  is concerned with engaging the metaphysical plight of African people.  She is not the first nor will she be the last artist to move or transcend from physical concerns to metaphysical concerns. 

Those who are surprised that the Prince who once wanted to “sex” the taste out of your mouth now wants to share the word of God with you are only surprised because they did not pay close enough attention to his other works, and they completely missed the history of Little Richard, Sam Cooke, and Marvin Gaye all having the same types of changes or conflicts in their work.  I was not expecting Black Nationalist fire and brimstone from Professor Giovanni, and, so, I was not disappointed.  I was expecting an accomplished poet with interesting ideas, and that is, for the most part, what I got.  

The final point is that Giovanni, Baraka, Morrison, and others are invited to campuses as much for their celebrity as for their work.  That is the nature of the masses.  I am clear that whenever one of these types of artists comes to town, the vast majority of people in attendance are not there because they want to learn and promote the ideas of Black Nationalism or even radical integration.  They are there to see somebody famous, to take a picture with somebody famous, and to say they saw somebody famous. 

So the other aspect or question is:  where are the students, teachers, and community folk demanding that the university invite a new generation of thinkers, writers, and activist to the campus who are using their works to engage the current socio-political issues?  And this is not to say that Giovanni, Baraka, Morrison, and others are not doing so.  But, the truth is that during the sixties and seventies, the work of the writers of the Black Arts Movement was discussed and taught because of the student and community outcry and demand to have these writers brought to the schools. 

It seems, then, that either the current students and community folks are not reading current writers or there are no current writers engaging the current socio-political landscape.  In either case, there are a lot more factors to be considered if one was disappointed with Giovanni ’s presentation than just Professor Giovanni. 

posted 29 March 2011

*   *   *   *   *

*   *   *   *   *

C. Liegh McInnis is an instructor of English at Jackson State University, the publisher and editor of Black Magnolias Literary Journal, and the author of seven books, including four collections of poetry, one collection of short fiction (Scripts:  Sketches and Tales of Urban Mississippi), and one work of literary criticism (The Lyrics of Prince:  A Literary Look at a Creative, Musical Poet, Philosopher, and Storyteller).  He has presented papers at national conferences, such as College Language Association and the Neo-Griot Conference, and his work has appeared in Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Sable, New Delta Review, The Black World Today, In Motion Magazine, MultiCultural Review, A Deeper Shade, New Laurel Review, ChickenBones, and the Oxford American.

In January of 2009, C. Liegh, along with eight other poets, was invited to read poetry in Washington, DC by the NAACP for their Inaugural Poetry Reading celebrating the election of President Barack Obama.  He has also been invited by colleges and libraries all over the country to read his poetry and fiction and to lecture on various topics, such creative writing and various aspects of African American literature, music, and history.  McInnis is editor of Black Magnolias Literary Journal.—PsychedelicLiterature

*   *   *   *   *

Black Magnolias Literary Journal is a quarterly that uses poetry, fiction, and prose to examine and celebrate the social, political, and aesthetic accomplishments of African Americans with an emphasis on Afro-Mississippians and Afro-Southerners. We welcome pieces on a variety of African American and Afro-Southern culture, including history, politics, education, incidents/events, social life, and literature. All submissions are to be made by e-mail as a word attachment to psychedeliclit@bellsouth.net . Each issue costs $12.00, and a year’s subscription is $40.00.

*   *   *   *   *

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)

*   *   *   *   *

Ancient African Nations

*   *   *   *   *

If you like this page consider making a donation

online through PayPal

*   *   *   *   *

Negro Digest / Black World

Browse all issues

1950        1960        1965        1970        1975        1980        1985        1990        1995        2000 ____ 2005        

Enjoy!

*   *   *   *   *

The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan  /  The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll  /  Only a Pawn in Their Game

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for Slavery

*   *   *   *   *

The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg

The Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804  / January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of Haiti 

*   *   *   *   *

BLACK CLASSIC BOOKS   BCP Digital Printing

update 11 March 2012