IF WE MUST DIE, by Claude McKay

"Green Green (Track Nine), by Goodie Mob

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soea0j9QZY4

IF we must die, let it not be like hogs

Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,

While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,

Making their mock at our accursed lot.

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!

O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!

Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,

And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!

What though before us lies the open grave?

Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,

Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

Excerpt from "The Wretched of the Earth"

The youth of Africa should not be oriented toward the stadiums but toward the fields, the fields and the schools. The stadium is not an urban showpiece but a rural space that is cleared, worked, and offered to the nation. The capitalist notion of sports is fundamentally different from that which should exist in an underdeveloped country. The African politician should not be concerned with producing professional sportsmen, but conscious individuals who also practice sports. If sports are not incorporated into the life of the nation, i.e., in the building of the nation, if we produce national sportsmen instead of conscious individuals, then sports will quickly be ruined by professionalism and commercialism. A sport should not be a game or entertainment for the urban bourgeoisie. Our greatest task is to constantly understand what is happening in our own countries. We must not cultivate the spirit of the exceptional or look for the hero, another form of leader. We must elevate the people, expand their minds, equip them, differentiate them, and humanize them. (Frantz Fanon page 137)

Was Jesus Really the Son of God?

"I must confess, that a man is guilty of unpardonable arrogance, who concludes, because an argument has escaped his own investigation, that therefore it does not really exist. I must also confess that, though all the learned, for several ages, should have employed themselves in fruitless search upon any subject, it may still, perhaps, be rash to conclude positively that the subject must, therefore, pass all human comprehension. Even though we examine all the sources of our knowledge, and conclude them unfit for such a subject, there may still remain a suspicion, that the enumeration is not complete, or the examination is not accurate. But with regard to the present subject, there are some considerations which seem to remove all this accusation of arrogance or suspicion of mistake." (page 39 of "An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding" by David Hume)

"Black Jesus" by Tupac

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmNjHV6f8Fw

I first posted this essay as a Facebook note in the summer of 2009. I would be remiss if I did not express my appreciation to all those who contributed to the many spirited conversations. Thank you. :-)

In the Gospels, Jesus consistently refers to himself as the Son of Man. He even places the Holy Ghost above him. “And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come” (Matthew 12:32) This verse is essentially repeated in Mark 3:28 and in Luke 12:10.

Interestingly, in the Gospel of John, those verses are noticeably absent. Instead, one will find arguably the most famous verse in the New Testament, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

If Jesus is God’s only son, how can we also be children of God? If Jesus is God’s only son, we would essentially be God’s nieces and nephews. It seems more likely that we are all God’s children, including Jesus. However, unlike the rest of us, Jesus was not born into sin. “…His mother Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph, and before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” (Matthew 1:18)

Let us not forget the Holy Ghost did not make Jesus entirely unique. John the Baptist also had unusual circumstances surrounding his birth. “…He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.” (Luke 1:15)

Jesus asks, "Why call ye me Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46) How can we focus on the divinity of Jesus and his teachings at the same time? Is not a double minded man unstable in all his ways? (James 1:8)

The more time we spend preaching matters of faith as in the divinity of Jesus and his resurrection, there is less time to preach his message; simply, love all as he loved all and being as little children to enter the kingdom of God. Would Jesus want us to worship and praise him on Sunday, or would he want us to perform good deeds, blessing those who wronged us 7 days a week?

Jesus was simply an Apostle of God, a man, and tempted to sin like we all are. Why would we pray to Jesus for strength and guidance, when Jesus prayed to God to be strengthened by the Holy Ghost which gave him the power to perform miracles and to speak the Word of God?

In Revelation 21:7, God said "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; And I will be his God, And he shall be my son." I sincerely believe God was speaking about all of us and not only Jesus.

"Poem about My Rights" by June Jordan

"Retrospect for Life" by Common feat. Lauryn Hill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmDybzfNBG0

Even tonight and I need to take a walk and clear

my head about this poem about why I can’t

go out without changing my clothes my shoes

my body posture my gender identity my age

my status as a woman alone in the evening/

alone on the streets/alone not being the point/

the point being that I can’t do what I want

to do with my own body because I am the wrong

sex the wrong age the wrong skin and

suppose it was not here in the city but down on the beach/

or far into the woods and I wanted to go

there by myself thinking about God/or thinking

about children or thinking about the world/all of it

disclosed by the stars and the silence:

I could not go and I could not think and I could not

stay there

alone

as I need to be

alone because I can’t do what I want to do with my own

body and

who in the hell set things up

like this

and in France they say if the guy penetrates

but does not ejaculate then he did not rape me

and if after stabbing him if after screams if

after begging the bastard and if even after smashing

a hammer to his head if even after that if he

and his buddies fuck me after that

then I consented and there was

no rape because finally you understand finally

they fucked me over because I was wrong I was

wrong again to be me being me where I was/wrong

to be who I am

which is exactly like South Africa

penetrating into Namibia penetrating into

Angola and does that mean I mean how do you know if

Pretoria ejaculates what will the evidence look like the

proof of the monster jackboot ejaculation on Blackland

and if

after Namibia and if after Angola and if after Zimbabwe

and if after all of my kinsmen and women resist even to

self-immolation of the villages and if after that

we lose nevertheless what will the big boys say will they

claim my consent:

Do You Follow Me: We are the wrong people of

the wrong skin on the wrong continent and what

in the hell is everybody being reasonable about

and according to the Times this week

back in 1966 the C.I.A. decided that they had this problem

and the problem was a man named Nkrumah so they

killed him and before that it was Patrice Lumumba

and before that it was my father on the campus

of my Ivy League school and my father afraid

to walk into the cafeteria because he said he

was wrong the wrong age the wrong skin the wrong

gender identity and he was paying my tuition and

before that

it was my father saying I was wrong saying that

I should have been a boy because he wanted one/a

boy and that I should have been lighter skinned and

that I should have had straighter hair and that

I should not be so boy crazy but instead I should

just be one/a boy and before that

it was my mother pleading plastic surgery for

my nose and braces for my teeth and telling me

to let the books loose to let them loose in other

words

I am very familiar with the problems of the C.I.A.

and the problems of South Africa and the problems

of Exxon Corporation and the problems of white

America in general and the problems of the teachers

and the preachers and the F.B.I. and the social

workers and my particular Mom and Dad/I am very

familiar with the problems because the problems

turn out to be

me

I am the history of rape

I am the history of the rejection of who I am

I am the history of the terrorized incarceration of

myself

I am the history of battery assault and limitless

armies against whatever I want to do with my mind

and my body and my soul and

whether it’s about walking out at night

or whether it’s about the love that I feel or

whether it’s about the sanctity of my vagina or

the sanctity of my national boundaries

or the sanctity of my leaders or the sanctity

of each and every desire

that I know from my personal and idiosyncratic

and indisputably single and singular heart

I have been raped

be-

cause I have been wrong the wrong sex the wrong age

the wrong skin the wrong nose the wrong hair the

wrong need the wrong dream the wrong geographic

the wrong sartorial I

I have been the meaning of rape

I have been the problem everyone seeks to

eliminate by forced

penetration with or without the evidence of slime and/

but let this be unmistakable this poem

is not consent I do not consent

to my mother to my father to the teachers to

the F.B.I. to South Africa to Bedford-Stuy

to Park Avenue to American Airlines to the hardon

idlers on the corners to the sneaky creeps in

cars

I am not wrong: Wrong is not my name

My name is my own my own my own

and I can’t tell you who the hell set things up like this

but I can tell you that from now on my resistance

my simple and daily and nightly self-determination

may very well cost you your life

On King Solomon and T.S. Eliot

"Inshallah" by Goodie Mob

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFWrJMTSCpo

Time and Place

In a moment of utter bewilderment and confusion, T.S. Eliot writes:

The experience of a poem is the experience both of a moment and of a lifetime. It is very much like our intenser experiences of other human beings. There is a first, or an early moment which is unique, of shock and surprise, even of terror…a moment which can never be forgotten, but which is never repeated integrally and yet which would become destitute of significance if it did not survive in a larger whole of experience; which survives inside a deeper and calmer feeling… (Eliot xii)

For Eliot, poetry was cosmic. Eliot immersed himself in literature, art, and reading for the express purpose of creating the perfect poem. Facing a metaphorical Mount Everest, without the proper tools necessary to complete such an arduous journey, Eliot did what people often do; he looked to a spiritual text for guidance: for some inkling that he was not completely overwhelmed. He sought out supposedly the wisest person who ever lived – King Solomon; and in doing so, Eliot took what is today now a trite cliché, “time and place”, and created beauty - The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

One is immediately struck by the ingeniousness of this approach. Just as there is a time and place for everything, Solomon also recognizes the importance of duality: he writes, “A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight. (Proverbs 11:1) Although we cannot exactly be sure what specifically compelled Eliot to write The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, one would think we can infer Eliot was distraught and overcome with emotions at the very least. He writes, “There will be time, there will be time/ To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;/ There will be time to murder and create”. Let us compare this to Solomon who writes: “A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up. (Ecclesiastes 3:3)

Those two passages appear to be two sides of the same coin. As Eliot contemplates love, which in its purest form is an act of creation – when people make love and create life through the birth of a child, Eliot is simultaneously vexed by thoughts of despair, even murderous thoughts. One wonders if this is the false abomination Solomon was referring to. Can life be separated from death? Should love and hate equally coexist? What really is the difference between murder and creation when they seem to be so inextricably linked? For instance, in Eliot’s time, it was very common for women to die in childbirth. So the birth of a child literally meant the death of the mother. Nothing in life is free. Everything has a price – a life for a life. That cost is paid in blood: the blood of the mother for her blood, her seed, her child.

It seems fitting that Eliot chose to appropriate the writings of Solomon for his purposes. Solomon was the greatest mind of his time. Kings and queens traveled great distances to learn from him, to hear his wisdom, to simply spend time with his greatness. Conversely, Eliot is one of American’s greatest minds. Professors and students travel great distances and spend much time in order to read the work of Eliot. Just as there is a time to run, a time to work, a time to sleep, there is also a time simply for thinking and reflection. Fortunately, the work of Eliot, and specifically The Love Song of J. Alfred provides us with this opportunity.

On Ellison's"Invisible Man" and Joyce's "Araby"

"Blue in Green" by Miles Davis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoPL7BExSQU

Coming of Age: A Critical Look at Point of View

Perspective is everything; perspective is nothing. The four Gospels of the Bible illustrate the contradictory nature of that statement. Four men tell the same story of Jesus, but from their personal perspective. Although the authors of the Gospels probably shared relatively equal time with Jesus, their particular perspectives paint paramount pictures of confusion in the most pertinent issue fundamental to Christianity: was Jesus divine? In the final Gospel of John, the perspective, or to be more clear, the point of view of John causes a dramatic shift in the portrayal of Jesus in regards to his divinity, in direct comparison to the other 3 Gospels. Simply, it is amazing such an important idea, the divinity of Jesus, perishes or flourishes because of something seemingly so trivial, point of view. This raises peculiar questions, perhaps beyond the scope and mental faculties of our esteemed Founding Fathers, who were sadly morally stumped by peculiar institutions; do all point of views hold equal validity? If one is deluded by ignorance, or one is mired in naiveté, is such a person’s point of view relevant, or even trustworthy? Or is it maybe – the blind leading the blind – the stumbling block being foolishness? In Ralph Ellison’s Battle Royal, and in James Joyce’s Araby, both authors struggle to answer these questions about point of view, and in doing so, further the character development of their protagonists. In the midst of this character development, and because of the literary device point of view, Ellison and Joyce creates sexual coming of age stories for a young man and a young boy.

At the beginning of Battle Royal, Ellison lays the groundwork for point of view being the keystone of character development for later in the story. He does this by writing the story from the perspective of a young man naively esteeming his grandfather. The nameless narrator is also a young man straddling a thin line: betwixt the chasm of precocious youth: and yet, by no means an esteemed elder worthy of reverence and respect. His youth and inexperience becomes apparent as he learns revealing and troubling information about his grandfather. Furthermore, this knowledge puts him into a brief state of confusion when he states:

I could never be sure of what he meant. Grandfather had been a quiet old man who never made any trouble, yet on his deathbed he had called himself a traitor and a spy, and he had spoken of his meekness as a dangerous activity. It became a constant puzzle which lay unanswered in the back of my mind. (Ellison 16)

Ellison brilliantly uses point of view to illustrate a vivid picture of the narrator, and provides critical character development before his coming of age. The beginning of this coming of age is before the start of the Battle Royal. While still trying to understand the revelations of his grandfather, he is shocked to the core when the narrator states:

Then we were pushed into place. I almost wet my pants. A sea of faces, some hostile, some amused, ringed around us, and in the center, facing us, stood a magnificent blonde – stark naked. There was dead silence. (Ellison 19)

It is very interesting that the narrator almost wets his pants. Once again, Ellison uses point of view to further the sexual coming of age. Naturally, the idea of wetting one’s pants connotes images of childhood. Ellison juxtaposes the image of childhood with that of manhood in an ingenious and eye-opening light. When faced with his first “man like” situation, if you will, in the presence of a beautiful naked woman, the narrator quickly reverts to a child like nature. This is only possible because Ellison earlier establishes the narrator’s point of view with his grandfather and it allows him to further develop the narrator’s character.

The narrator’s child like state does not last for long. He so intently focuses on this naked woman, that he even notices the sweat around her nipples. He compares her breasts to the domes of East Indian temples. Moreover, his point of view definitely expands; it goes from that of a child to that of a man with startling alacrity. Because of point of view, Ellison is able to reveal the darker nature of the narrator and allows for further development of his character. The narrator says:

I wanted at one and the same time to run from the room, to sink through the floor, or go to her and cover her from my eyes and the eyes of the others with my body; to feel the soft thighs, to caress her and destroy her, to love her and murder her, to hide from her, and yet to stroke where below the small American flag tattooed upon her belly her thighs formed a capital V. (Ellison 19)

This passage completes the narrator’s sexual coming of age. Although previously akin to an innocent child, and almost wetting his pants, the narrator accepts the thinking of a man; he imagines touching the woman sexually, as most men would, but he also thinks to murder her as well. That thought is disturbing. However, armed with a mutable point of view, Ellison effortlessly illuminates the progression and character development of his protagonist.

The differences in the physical descriptions of women in Battle Royal and Araby are interesting: to say the least. If you will, allow me to mentally draw you a picture. Halle Berry. Angelina Jolie.

The narrator of Battle Royal highlights the sweat on nipples in a highly sexual manner; the narrator of Araby is much more conservative in his descriptions of Mangan’s sister. He writes:

She was waiting for us, her figure defined by the light from the half opened door. Her brother always teased her before he obeyed and I stood by the railings looking at her. Her dress swung as she moved her body and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side. (Joyce 22)

Joyce uses the point of view of a young boy to demonstrate the innocence and sincerity of youth. The narrator of Araby continually thinks of Mangan’s sister and he barely has control of himself, evidenced by his heart palpitations. He says, “When she came out in the doorstep my heart leaped. I ran to the hall, seized my books and followed her.” (Joyce 22) His lack of control grows into a kind of state of confusion. He then pines:

I thought little of the future. I did not know whether I would ever speak to her or not or, if I spoke to her, how I could tell her of my confused adoration. But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires. (Joyce 23)

The sexual coming of age for the narrator in Araby is much less pronounced than in Battle Royal. It seems that Mangan’s sister is simply his first crush. He has strong feelings for her and he obviously admires her. Joyce uses the point of view of a love stricken boy to highlight this point. He simply cannot get her out of his head; as he follows her in the real world she follows him in the ethereal dream world of his mind. He says, “Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance.” (Joyce 22) Later, he says:

Her name sprang to my lips at moments in stranger prayers and praises which I myself did not understand. My eyes were often full of tears (I could not tell why) and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom. (Joyce 23)

Joyce demonstrates how profound an effect Mangan’s sister has on the narrator. This is more evident because of the point of view Joyce utilizes. Not only did Joyce use the point of view of simply a boy watching a beautiful woman, Joyce even shows how he felt almost stalked by Mangan’s sister in his mind. It makes for quite a perspective.

While the narrator of Battle Royal spirals into darkness, reminiscent of Dante’s Inferno, the narrator of Araby fortunately stays in the light; he only wants the purple stuff [read drink]. Because the narrator of Araby is a young boy, and not a young man like in Battle Royal, the narrator of Araby is exponentially more innocent and more pure in his mental images of women. This is mainly where Joyce and Ellison differ in their uses of point of view, in terms of illustrating sexual thoughts. Also, the narrator of Araby perpetually has the point of view of a boy, while the point of view shifts from child, to young man, to man, in Battle Royal.

Because Ellison deliberately shifts the point of view, he adds a special emphasis on its supreme significance. Simply, the narrator of Battle Royal only grows and develops because he changed his point of view. These changes are essential to an understanding of the narrator. Had Ellison kept the point of view constant, we would not see the dark changes of the narrator. Conversely, Joyce kept the point view the same fundamentally; he simply showed more of the inner recesses of the narrator’s mind through his imagined stalking of Mangan’s sister.

In conclusion, both Ellison and Joyce brilliantly utilize the literary device point of view in order to shine much needed light on their respective protagonists. The consummate preacher and scholar, Martin Luther King Jr. borrows this literary device as well, he writes:

Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence when it helps us to see the enemy’s point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition. (King 143)

Deuces.

Bibliography/Works Cited

“Invisible Man”, Ralph Ellison

“Dubliners”, James Joyce

“I Have A Dream: Writings & Speeches That Changed The World”, foreword by Coretta Scott King, edited by James M. Washington