The Black Arts Movement by Beatriz Fiore

The Black Arts Movement

BY BEATRIZ FIORE ILLUSTRATED BY GODI PANZOUT

How is poetry a vehicle of protest? Show how Baraka and/or any other poet associated with the Black Arts Movement developed a poetics of black identity and protest.

An extensive reading of black poems from the early twentieth century until the post-civil rights era can offer a perception of how African Americans dealt and reacted against the crippling discriminations they faced daily. This, indeed, was an era which produced some of the most powerful and memorable protest poems in American literary history; a literary movement which stemmed from the bountiful creativity of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 30s and culminated in the poignant and dynamic Black Arts Movement in the 1960s and 70s. Taking into consideration some of the most prominent poems of the movement, (we will see that the analysis of these poems is inseparable from the biographies and political activism of their authors) this essay will attempt to construct, along with written manifestos on black art, what the exponents of the movement really proposed to do with their art and how they went beyond writing mere protest poems towards a creation of a new cultural history, language, identity and aesthetics for the black people of America.

Early poetry such as Claude Mckay’s “If We Must Die” and Sterling A. Brown’s “Strong Men” portray the horrors of the slavery and abuse black men and women have been subjected to through generations. These examples are protest poems as, by depicting the horrors of the history they have been made to live through, white imperialism is

laid out and condemned.

They broke you in like oxen, They scourged you, They branded you, They made your women breeders, They swelled your numbers with bastards… They taught you the religion they disgraced. (Strong Men, 1931. ll 5-10)

The scars of slavery are ever present and burn even more ferociously after the disillusionment of the achievements of the civil rights movement compromised by violence, the assassination of Malcolm X and later that of Martin Luther King. Physical violence is a recurring theme in black protest poetry, horrific images which nonetheless act as a powerful tool to both record and remember this dark history and to hold up a mirror and denounce the racism of white America. Sonia Sanchez closes her 1970 poem ‘right on: white america’ with the words, “check out the falling gun/shells on our blk/tomorrows.”

Art, particularly in the form of poem and song (i.e. performance, spoken word, readily accessible and easily spread without the necessity to publish or put together a production) has long been an effective tool to give voice to the oppressed. Furthermore, to give someone a voice, to give the chance for the oppressed to be heard also bestows dignity, brings back their denied humanity. An example of this valiant, dignified voice is heard in Mckay’s 1919 poem, “If We Must Die:”

If we must die, O let us nobly die So that our precious blood may not be shed In vain; then even the monsters we defy Shall be constrained to honor us though dead! (…) Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back! (If We Must Die, 1919. Ll 5-8; 13/14)

The reality of black America is stained with blood and frustration and from this emerges the political clenched fist of the Black Power Movement as a response to injustice. The tone of Mckay’s poem resonates in these militants’ speeches and attitudes: this response is impatient, unapologetic, visceral and proud and the Black Arts Movement is defined as its “spiritual sister,” dealing with black traditions and aesthetics but not less political. The poetry of the Black Arts Movement speaks directly to the aspirations of black America, it is poetry about the people and for the people, it rises intuitively, visceral and incensed it motives and inspires; it is revolutionary and impulsive while being sensitive and beautiful, it is inclusive and aims to form a strong, cohesive collective while originating in personal experiences and anxieties.

The word “protest”, however, becomes problematic. Whether the exponents of the Black Arts Movement wanted their poetry to be defined in such manner, is questionable. Larry Neal, essential in defining the role of the arts in the Black Power movement, refuses in fact to define this poetry as protest poetry. To protest is to beg, supplicate for better conditions, to underline the wrongs and plead for the rights: by doing this, however, one is adhering to a white aesthetic, it validates the very society that is denying their right to live, it acknowledges that there are a certain set of people in power and these are the ones to challenge, or turn to in order to advocate change; it is a mere continuation of the master- slave dynamic. Neal writes, “Only when that belief has faded and protestings end, will Black art begin.” How can this be achieved? The only way to invalidate white supremacy, or repudiate a society whose set of ideals does not coincide with the consciousness of black America, is not to protest it but to bring forth a new aesthetic and define the world in their own terms. The movement proposed not only a reordering of the white aesthetic but a complete destruction of it; the white aesthetic had run its course and had proved to be damaging and inhumane. Art must now speak to the spiritual voice of black people whilst also re-evaluating its social function. The Western notion of “Art for art’s sake” is no longer relevant, when it can be such a powerful tool to awaken consciences, create traditions and forge identities.

“We advocate a cultural revolution in art and ideas. The cultural values inherent in western history must either be radicalized or destroyed, and we will probably find that even radicalization is impossible. In fact, what is needed is a whole system of ideas.” (Neal, Larry. ‘The Black Art Movement.’)

Euro-American cultural sensibilities have failed principally because they are based on abstractions. As the Movement puts it, their ethics and their aesthetics do not coincide; Black aesthetics must consequently be ethical and must come from the oppressed and speak directly to the oppressed; it must be active, social and political. Poems become living entities and take on human form; they observe, accuse and fight back. The most important poem of the Movement is undeniably Amiri Baraka’s “Black Art,” which demonstrates this way of thinking about art.

Poems are bullshit unless they are Teeth or trees or lemons piled On a step. Or black ladies dying Of men leaving nickel hearts Beating them down. (…) we want "poems that kill." Assassin poems, Poems that shoot Guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys And take their weapons leaving them dead With tongues pulled out and sent to Ireland. (‘Black Art’ ll 1-5; ll 19-23)

Art is used as a weapon, this is the fundamental political aspect of the Black Arts movement and the line of thinking which connects it to the Black Power movement. Baraka does not call for a peaceful protest, what was attempted with Martin Luther King had failed and had ended in his assassination; the poets want active resistance and mobilisation. Poems must have root in the physical world, they must be flesh and blood and reflect reality. Baraka goes on to say “Let there be no love poems written/ Until love can exist freely and/ Cleanly;” this only reinforces the fact that art should mirror reality and as we live in a world where true acceptance does not exist, neither should love poems.

A strong desire for self-determination and the idea of nationhood are the pivots from which all else stems. Activist and writer Mualana Karenga vehemently professed this notion that culture is the most important element of the affirmation of a people. “Culture is the basis of all ideas, images and actions (…) without culture Negroes are only a set of reactions to white people.” This is precisely what the black poetry of the

time refused to be; merely a protest, a reaction to the white agenda. Karenga talks of a profoundly Afrocentric transformative liberation which occurs in the consciences of people, but which needs a new language, a constant dialogue between the traditions and myths of Africa and the new ones emerging in the streets of black America. He identifies seven core areas which need to be seized by the current wave of black cultural nationalism: history/tradition, spirituality/religion, social organization, political organization, economic organization, the arts and ethos. Only through the transformation of these principles can people aspire to build and maintain a moral community. The notion of a black public sphere becomes an attainable ideal and we see the flourishing of social and political organisations, aiming to feed, educate, empower and sometimes arm (as was the case with the radical Black Panthers) black citizens. We witness also the rise of black operated publishing houses and journals, essential for the circulation of poems which would have otherwise fallen into oblivion. Scholar Gershwin Avilez writes, “This new consciousness that involves finding radical methods of expression and empowerment describes succinctly the BAM, as a social phenomenon, symbolises one of the best instances of the historical attempts at a black public sphere.”

The fact that this was not fully achieved is unfortunate, but the ripple effect that both the political and literary movement (again, inseparable) had on black consciousness and identity is undeniable; the way language shapes identities, awakens spirits and depicts situations which become aspirations for reality demonstrates how creativity and imagination can change the world. Author and social activist Bell Hooks speaks of this imaginary capacity and the importance of seizing and using one’s own language when working towards social change. Imagination sustains one’s revolutionary spirit and affirms one’s inner freedom, art and literature can also become a refuge which makes reality more bearable for it offers the possibility of an alternative world. She argues, “All too often the colonized mind thinks of the imagination as the realm of the psyche that, if fully explored, will lead one into madness, away from reality. Consequently, it is feared. For the colonized mind to think of the imagination as the instrument that dos not estrange us from reality, but returns us to the real more fully, in ways that help us to confront and cope, is a liberatory gesture.”

In fact, many poems of the Black Arts movement rely on the notion of “image making”, which is seen as a fundamental part of human affirmation. By using the magic

of words one can evoke a universe which appeals to one’s own sensibility and speak to one’s truth; the power of this lies in that this reality, once created in the poem, can be exemplified in people’s homes and then made possible on the streets. Art is seen as being able to reshape nature and change human relationships; however, it cannot do this if it appeals to reason, it must speak directly to the senses, to “call forth a spontaneous emotional identification with other men and with the universe.” The following extracts are from Carolyn Gerald’s poem on the destruction of Greco-Roman Western muse, blonde and white, to give way to a new black reality:

Dress the muse in black… No! Kill her! Make her jump Burning bright white bitch From the pitched peaks of our houses (…) Clap and stomp round the fire And shout the spirit out of her And draw your circle close For we’ll kill us a devil tonight. Come on away, now! Now! We’ll find our own saint (or another name for her) No need for hell’s fire now. The fire’s weak And burned out The universe is black again.

This image attempts to destroy the myth of all the other images which create an opposition between black and white. Traditional Western symbolism must be turned on its head, as it is impossible to advocate a return to old African traditions while ignoring historical continuity and the Europeanization of black Americans. Gerald desecrates the muse and ends the poem with a powerful and evocative “the universe is black again”.

Moving away from the concept of myth and imagination, black poets also focused on the mundane, which was given the same weight and importance, perhaps more, than abstract symbols. The focus was on the performance of poetry, rather than the written word. Gwendolyn Brooks recalls that writers seized every literary genre and created a language which spoke to the people on the street: poems were performed in bars, libraries, churches, prisons, schools, parks etc. and this made literature a living, breathing, organic entity which used the same language and subjects that appeared in people’s daily realities. In a later interview, Amiri Baraka will explain that once must realise that everything in one’s life is significant, that there is no symbolism or metaphor or object more important than any other; what makes something significant is the kind of light invested in it. An example of how powerful the mundane can be, especially when the banal is what is held in importance in a capitalist society, is Don Lee, or Haki Madhubuti’s poem ‘The Primitive’.

(…) their bible for our land. (introduction to economics) christianized us. raped our minds with: T.V. & straight hair, Reader’s Digest & bleaching creams, tarzan & jungle jim, used cars & used homes, reefers & napalm, european history & promises. Those alien concepts of whiteness, the being of what is not. against our nature, this weapon is called civilization –

The language is straightforward and prosaic; however the form is somewhat fragmented, reminiscent of be-bop and jazz’s irregular and itching rhythms and the impassioned tone makes the very words we use on a daily basis seem dark and

obscene. Don Lee invalidates the whole idea of western capitalism, of “whiteness,” making “civilization” a dirty word.

Thus far we have seen a subversion of Western ideals, from the white Muse to slavery, from guns to T.V., but another crucial element is the carefully crafted “black voice,” a voice which seems spontaneous and is made to echo various aspects of African American reality, consolidating the idea of the existence of a strong African American culture: from church sermons in experimental free verse, to vernacular songs, jazz, the blues and characteristic colloquial language. All of this reality from the American streets was fused with African myths and symbols to create an aesthetic amalgamation unique to this black generation and which has certainly resonated in the subsequent pan-African movements which flourish to the present day.

The poetry of the Black Arts movement is a concrete example of how art can move the masses and ignite revolutionary spirits. Black America was reminded of its ancestry, empowered against its oppressors and called to political activism in order to create a world in which equality and acceptance is a reality. Poems inspired the coming together of black consciousness and the oppressed found an inner pride and freedom in an antagonistic society which only art could have achieved. Amiri Baraka concludes his ‘Black Art’ piece in the following way:

Let Black people understand That they are the lovers and the sons Of warriors and sons Of warriors Are poems & poets & All the loveliness here in the world We want a black poem. And a Black World. Let the world be a Black Poem And Let All Black People Speak This Poem Silently Or LOUD