The Everchanging Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka, nee Leroi Jones, has a writing career that spans nearly half a century. The overall theme of his work and his life for that matter is Afrocentrism. He takes extreme pride in his race and in his blackness. Encompassed in this theme is his detestation for oppression, imperialism, capitalism, Eurocentrism, and bourgeois behavior. Ethnocentrism has also played a role in Baraka's life and writing style; although this belief system peaks during his Black Nationalist phase and declines over the last couple decades. He adds author, poet, playwright, essayist, and movie critic to his list of many credits. Baraka's career has taken him from Greenwich Village, New York where he lived and worked among the Bohemian/Beat writers, to Harlem where he founded the Black Arts movement as a member of the Black Nationalist Party, and finally back to his childhood home to Newark, New Jersey where he currently resides, still writing and speaking about his beliefs as a member of the Socialist/Marxist Party. Each alteration in his belief system is done with the notion that he is being the best black man he possible can.

It is hard to choose from Baraka's various works, as each piece he writes is a complete depiction of his thoughts at any moment. However, there are some pieces that are written at various stages in his career that show him reaching a turning point. "Hymn for Lanie Poo" is a piece written during his Bohemian phase, "Cuba Libre" is an essay penned during the time leading up to his Black Nationalist phase, "Afrikan Revolution" is written during his Black Nationalist phase but while he is transitioning toward Socialism and "Somebody Blew Up America" is a piece written right after the bombing of the world trade centers. Each piece has a few things in common, as they all offer his opinions about the world at large and each piece highlights his own Afrocentrism.

Baraka first begins writing in earnest in the nineteen fifties. After leaving the military, he heads for Greenwich Village and joins the ranks of Bohemian writers including Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. During this stage of his life, he does not consider himself a political person. He feels it his job to be a writer, not to change the world (Baraka 126). However, his ideas on Eurocentrism and the Black Bourgeoisie are firmly in place. In one poem Baraka writes during this phase of his life, he pays tribute to his own sister, Sandra. In section seven of "Hymn for Lanie Poo", the nickname his mother had for his sister, Baraka references his attitude toward people who are black but have completely assimilated into European culture (Hudson 6). According to Baraka, his sister lives her life in a manner that pleases white people, but at the same time he believes that she denies her African heritage. He states, "My sister drives a green Jaguar / my sister has her hair done twice a month" (7. 174-175). He also states that his sister's interests and the interests of her boyfriend are of the Anglo tastes including ballet and Tchaikovsky (7. 177, 184-185). According to Hudson, Baraka resents his sister for these behaviors, going so far as to disown her (Hudson 6). Throughout the majority of this phase of his life, Baraka feels comfortable with his position in the Bohemian community. He befriends the Bohemian artists who, though mostly white, are considered outsiders to mainstream America (Baraka 157). However, over time, he becomes more of an activist and no longer fits comfortably in their little group, beginning to resent them for not taking a stand for or against anything (167). This leads to his move from Greenwich Village to Harlem and the commencement of the next phase of life.

The next stage of Baraka's career depicted in Baraka's writing is the Black Nationalist phase. After taking an influential trip to Cuba where he realizes writing about the issues that plague his fellow man is not enough, and then the assassination of Malcolm X, Baraka is provided with the final push he needs to leave the Bohemian lifestyle behind. It is during this time that Baraka writes two important pieces. The first is an essay entitled "Cuba Libre". As stated previously, the trip to Cuba is a turning point for Baraka. "Cuba Libre" describes Baraka's trip in detail. He describes the places he sees as well as the thoughts and feelings evoked from being present during the aftermath of Cuba's revolution. In Cuba he learns how to be more of a revolutionary in his own right though before going to Cuba, "the idea of a revolution had been foreign to [him]"(Baraka 160). He also realizes that if a person is willing to stand up and fight for the things he believes in, he will be able to command much more. Baraka's explanation of his trip helps his readers understand the focus of his writing. Further, "Cuba Libre" is a message to people reading the essay that American intellectuals are not all knowing as "the so called American Intellectual is not even aware of what is happening any place in the world" (Baraka 144). In this instance, he may be referring to himself as he uses the pronoun "we" when discussing what type of information Americans have availed themselves of. This essay answers how and why Baraka's political views begin to change. Even though this is the beginning of his Black Nationalist phase, it is also a turning point for him as far as typical American ideology. He comes home from Cuba ready for his own brand of revolution. He already had the ideology that imperialism is against his own belief system but being in Cuba reinforced these ideals and brought them to the forefront. Baraka tells a long story of a harrowing trip thousands of Cuban people take on the first anniversary of their freedom from Batista's rule. Baraka's purpose for telling this story could possibly be to signify that Cubans fought for their freedom and cherished it greatly unlike many Americans who take things for granted. Baraka concludes his essay, "Cuba Libre" by stating that this trip provided him with information that "would be painful when [he] eventually got to New York" as if the knowledge that he acquired would place him at a crossroads (Baraka 160).

The second important piece Baraka writes during this period is a poem entitled "Afrikan Revolution". "Afrikan Revolution" captures the feelings Baraka has toward white oppression and capitalism. It also captures his feelings regarding Ethnocentrism. In this poem, Baraka speaks in a frenzy of excitement and agitation. He spews forth a continuous stream of 195 lines full of thoughts of resentment directed toward people of other races while at the same time, calls African people everywhere to action. He attacks every group of people he believes to be the enemy. He wonders why Europeans, indeed, why white people in general obstruct "us", with "us" apparently being anyone of African heritage. In all capital letters he yells, "STOP OBSTRUCTING US EUROPEANS" (67). Baraka does not leave anyone out in his list of people he deems the enemy including other black people who choose to sell themselves out in order to support and receive support from people of other races. He says that it is time for "Afrikan People everywhere regardless of where they live or their economic status, regardless of circumstance need to rise up to find a way to change the world. They need to stop being their own worst enemy and become their own best friend (15, 17). Further he states that all "capitalists, racists, liars,
The current ideology practiced by Amiri Baraka is Socialism/Marxism. This change is probably at least partially the result of his trip to Cuba, though it was several years in the making. During this phase of his life, he shed his ethnocentric ideology for a more humanistic approach (possibly like the approach Fidel Castro mentions to Baraka during his trip to Cuba), believing that there are good and bad people within all ethnic groups and being of a different race does not make someone the enemy (Baraka 154). He maintains the belief that it is the people who own everything who cause most of the problems. Baraka made the switch from Black Nationalist to Socialist in the nineteen seventies and has produced many great poems in the last quarter century. However, one of Baraka's most recent writings, and possibly his most notorious work to date is a piece written after the world trade center bombing in Two Thousand One entitled "Somebody Blew Up America." Although the bombing of the World Trade Center is the catalyst for the poem, it is not the main focus nor is it the overall theme. Baraka uses the opportunity and his poem as a forum to comment on other tragedies that have taken place in United States history as well as other places around the world. Some of these lines include, "who invaded Grenada / who made money from Apartheid / who cut off peoples hands in the Congo / who killed Malcolm, Kennedy and his brother / Who killed Dr. King (145-146, 173, 142-143). His purpose for doing this is to direct attention toward the problems he sees in the world that are ignored for the sake of established and imperialistic nations and their government officials who choose to focus on things that bring them social status or monetary gain. In fact, in his own words, "This poem is an attack on Imperialism, National Oppression, Monopoly Capitalism, Racism,
In conclusion, Amiri Baraka's career spans many decades and there is a long list of credits to his name. In any capacity Baraka has chosen to express himself whether through poetry or plays, essays, or novel, he has been a voice of the African American Community for the last half century. In a career that has spanned nearly fifty years and a life that has followed several different ideologies, Baraka has never been afraid to say or do what he thinks best. He has never hesitated to say what is on his mind regardless of his audience. Baraka has always written and spoken passionately about the issues he feels are important to African Americans as well as people everywhere who are oppressed or held under the control of other nations. Baraka has gone through several different phases in his life including his Bohemian phase, his Black Nationalist phase and his current phase of Socialist/Marxist. In each phase he has stood firmly behind the ideology never backing down from the issues he feels require the most attention. He has been a strong voice to people everywhere when he protests against imperialism and capitalism and all forms of oppression.

Works Cited

Baraka, Amiri. The Autobiography of Leroi Jones. New York. Freundlich Books, 1984.

Baraka, Amiri. The Leroi Jones/Amiri Baraka Reader. Ed. William J. Harris. New

York. Thunder's Mouth Press, 2000.

Hudson, Theodore. From Leroi Jones toAmiri Baraka: The Literary Works. North

Carolina: Duke University Press, 1991.

Chicken Bones: A Journal for Literary and Artistic African American Themes.

October 2, 2002. March 16, 2006. http://www.nathanielturner.com/barakaon whoblewupamerica.htm