Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate -- Unlikely Stories

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Date Posted: 11:02:19 12/11/02 Wed
Author: The Concubine of Satan
Subject: Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate
In reply to: jp 's message, "Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate" on 23:22:17 12/10/02 Tue

I have read this poem several times and been reading the ongoing "debate" about it. You know, close-mindedness is darkest in the form of reactionism. In the inability to see any other issue or side of a concept or an argument because you have already decided that the way you see it is the only way to see it.

This poem has struck me from the first and continues to strike me as being about the American government, capitalism, and the shadow governments capitalism gives birth to. It's not a very good poem, LeRoi has always ridden the coattails of the Beats and made a name for himself by scribbling lines and being in the right place at the right time. With all of this discussion on his poem, he has gained more notariety than is rightfully his due.

In my opinion, the references to Jews are about the State of Israel and the issue that the American government continues to protect the rights and lands of people it has invested money in while ignoring the rights of anyone else, period.

Who got fat from plantations
Who genocided Indians
Tried to waste the Black nation

Who stole Puerto Rico
Who stole the Indies, the Philipines, Manhattan
Australia & The Hebrides
Who forced opium on the Chinese

British settlers, the first Americans, the American government, capatilism born...

Who killed the most niggers
Who killed the most Jews
Who killed the most Italians
Who killed the most Irish
Who killed the most Africans
Who killed the most Japanese
Who killed the most Latinos

This section struck me as speaking of all in power...Mussolini, Hitler, the Brits and the Potato Famine, our CIA dealings in South America and all over the world...

Who got rich from Armenian genocide

This would be the Turks and the American government who turned a blind eye, and the companies involved who made money and protected their interests...

Who the biggest terrorist
Who change the bible
Who killed the most people
Who do the most evil
Who don't worry about survival

Who invaded Grenada
Who made money from apartheid
Who keep the Irish a colony
Who overthrow Chile and Nicaragua later

Great Britain, America...protecting monetary interests and political power...

Who put the Jews in ovens,
and who helped them do it
Who said "America First"
and ok'd the yellow stars

Were the Jews responsible for this?

Who blew up the Maine
& started the Spanish American War
Who got Sharon! back in Power
Who backed Batista, Hitler, Bilbo,
Chiang kai Chek

Again, this is all dealing with capitalism and shadow government...

Who would tell Sharon and Israeli workers to stay away from the WTC? Our government would. We have money invested there. We have an American friendly government in place in the Middle East. The only one. Without Israel the government loses a lot. Special interest groups that lobby for the companies that continue to make money in a mostly untapped market would lose a lot.

And if you decide to take the poem out of a literal meaning and look at it metaphorically, I feel he is saying that while the Bin Laden and the terrorists we have pointed fingers at are responsible, it is capitalism, our goverment, any government, every evil perpetrated in the name of money and power is ultimately responsible. In short, we brought this on ourselves by being the bullies on the block from the start.

And in my opinion, he'd be right.

~Shari

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Replies:

Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate -- jp, 16:55:40 12/11/02 Wed
- Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate -- The Concubine of Satan, 17:12:59 12/11/02 Wed
  - Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate -- jp, 18:28:36 12/11/02 Wed
    - Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate -- jp, 11:42:57 12/17/02 Tue
      - Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate -- jayro, 18:45:08 01/03/03 Fri
        Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate -- jp, 19:41:39 01/04/03 Sat
        Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate -- madd, 13:23:13 07/27/03 Sun
Re: Amiri Baraka and the great Jewish debate -- JLW, 12:28:26 12/12/02 Thu