Imamu Amiri Baraka Somebody Blew Up America Poem - 7150 Words

Imamu Amiri Baraka Somebody Blew Up America Poem (Essay Sample) Content: Imamu Amiri Baraka - Somebody Blew Up AmericaThey say its some terrorist, some barbaric A Rab, in Afghanistan It wasnt our American terrorists It wasnt the Klan or the Skin heads Or the them that blows up nigger Churches, or reincarnates us on Death Row It wasnt Trent Lott Or David Duke or Giuliani Or Schundler, Helms retiringIt wasnt The gonorrhea in costume The white sheet diseases That have murdered black people Terrorized reason and sanity Most of humanity, as they pleasesThey say (who say?) Who do the saying Who is them paying Who tell the lies Who in disguise Who had the slaves Who got the bux out the BucksWho got fat from plantations Who genocided Indians Tried to waste the Black nationWho live on Wall Street The first plantation Who cut your nuts off Who rape your ma Who lynched your paWho got the tar, who got the feathers Who had the match, who set the fires Who killed and hired Who say they God still be the DevilWho the biggest only Who the most goodest Who do Jesus resembleWho created everything Who the smartest Who the greatest Who the richest Who say you ugly and they the goodlookingestWho define art Who define scienceWho made the bombs Who made the gunsWho bought the slaves, who sold themWho called you them names Who say Dahmer wasnt insaneWho? Who? Who?Who stole Puerto Rico Who stole the Indies, the Philipines, Manhattan Australia The Hebrides Who forced opium on the ChineseWho own them buildings Who got the money Who think you funny Who locked you up Who own the papersWho owned the slave ship Who run the armyWho the fake president Who the ruler Who the bankerWho? Who? Who?Who own the mine Who twist your mind Who got bread Who need peace Who you think need warWho own the oil Who do no toil Who own the soil Who is not a nigger Who is so great aint nobody biggerWho own this cityWho own the air Who own the waterWho own your crib Who rob and steal and cheat and murder and make lies the truth Who call you uncouthWho live in the bigge st house Who do the biggest crime Who go on vacation anytimeWho 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 LatinosWho? Who? Who?Who own the oceanWho own the airplanes Who own the malls Who own television Who own radioWho own what aint even known to be owned Who own the owners that aint the real ownersWho own the suburbs Who suck the cities Who make the lawsWho made Bush president Who believe the confederate flag need to be flying Who talk about democracy and be lyingWho the Beast in Revelations Who 666 Who know who decide Jesus get crucifiedWho the Devil on the real side Who got rich from Armenian genocideWho the biggest terrorist Who change the bible Who killed the most people Who do the most evil Who dont worry about survivalWho have the colonies Who stole the most land Who rule the world Who say they good but only do evil Who the biggest execu tionerWho? Who? Who?Who own the oil Who want more oil Who told you what you think that later you find out a lieWho? Who? Who?Who found Bin Laden, maybe they Satan Who pay the CIA, Who knew the bomb was gonna blow Who know why the terrorists Learned to fly in Florida, San DiegoWho know why Five Israelis was filming the explosion And cracking they sides at the notionWho need fossil fuel when the sun aint goin nowhereWho make the credit cards Who get the biggest tax cut Who walked out of the Conference Against Racism Who killed Malcolm, Kennedy his Brother Who killed Dr King, Who would want such a thing? Are they linked to the murder of Lincoln?Who invaded Grenada Who made money from apartheid Who keep the Irish a colony Who overthrow Chile and Nicaragua laterWho killed David Sibeko, Chris Hani, the same ones who killed Biko, Cabral, Neruda, Allende, Che Guevara, Sandino,Who killed Kabila, the ones who wasted Lumumba, Mondlane, Betty Shabazz, Die, Princess Di, Ralph Featherstone, Litt le BobbyWho locked up Mandela, Dhoruba, Geronimo, Assata, Mumia, Garvey, Dashiell Hammett, Alphaeus HuttonWho killed Huey Newton, Fred Hampton, Medgar Evers, Mikey Smith, Walter Rodney, Was it the ones who tried to poison Fidel Who tried to keep the Vietnamese OppressedWho put a price on Lenins headWho put the Jews in ovens, and who helped them do it Who said America First and okd the yellow starsWho killed Rosa Luxembourg, Liebneckt Who murdered the Rosenbergs And all the good people iced, tortured, assassinated, vanishedWho got rich from Algeria, Libya, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Saudi, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine,Who cut off peoples hands in the Congo Who invented Aids Who put the germs In the Indians blankets Who thought up The Trail of TearsWho blew up the Maine started the Spanish American War Who got Sharon back in Power Who backed Batista, Hitler, Bilbo, Chiang kai ChekWho decided Affirmative Action had to go Reconstruction, The New Deal, The New Frontier, The Great Society,Who do Tom Ass Clarence Work for Who doo doo come out the Colons mouth Who know what kind of Skeeza is a Condoleeza Who pay Connelly to be a wooden negro Who give Genius Awards to Homo Locus SubsidereWho overthrew Nkrumah, Bishop, Who poison Robeson, who try to put DuBois in Jail Who frame Rap Jamil al Amin, Who frame the Rosenbergs, Garvey, The Scottsboro Boys, The Hollywood TenWho set the Reichstag FireWho knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed Who told 4000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers To stay home that day Why did Sharon stay away?Who? Who? Who?Explosion of Owl the newspaper say The devil face cd be seenWho make money from war Who make dough from fear and lies Who want the world like it is Who want the world to be ruled by imperialism and national oppression and terror violence, and hunger and poverty.Who is the ruler of Hell? Who is the most powerfulWho you know ever Seen God?But everybody seen The DevilLike an Owl exploding In your life in your br ain in your self Like an Owl who know the devil All night, all day if you listen, Like an Owl Exploding in fire. We hear the questions rise In terrible flame like the whistle of a crazy dogLike the acid vomit of the fire of Hell Who and Who and WHO who who Whoooo and Whooooooooooooooooooooo!Linton Kwesi Johnson Di Great Insohreckshanit woz in April nineteen eighty-wandoun inna di ghetto af Brixtandat di babylan dem cause such a frickshandat it bring about a great insohreckshanan it spread all owevah di naeshanit woz a truly an histarical okayjanit woz event af di yearan I wish I ad been derewen wi run riot all owevah Brixtanwen wi mash-up plenty police vanwen wi mash-up di wicked wan planwen wi mash-up di Swamp Eighty-wanfi wha?fi mek di rulah dem andahstandat wi naw tek noh more a dem oppreshanan wen mi ckeck out di ghetto grap evinefi fine out all I coulda fineevry rebel jussa revel in dem storydem a taak bout di powah an di glorydem a taak bout di burnin an di lootindem a taak b out di smashin an di grabbindem a tell mi bout di vanquish an di victridem seh: di babylan dem went too farsoh wha?wi ad woz fi bun two kyaran wan an two innocent get marbut wha?noh soh it goh sometime inna war een starnoh soh it goh sometime inna war?dem seh: win bun dung di Georgewi coulda bin di lanlaadwi bun dung di Georgewi nevah bun di lanlaadwen wi run riot all owevah Brixtanwen wi mash-up plenty police vanwen wi mash-up di wicked wan planwen wi mash-up di Swamp Eighty-wandem seh: wi commandeer kyaran wi ghaddah ammunishanwi brill wi barricadean di wicked ketch afraidwi sen out wi scoutfog oh fine dem whereaboutden wi faam-up wi passian wi mek wi raidwell now dem run gaan goh plan countah-ackshanbut di plastic bullit an di waatah canaanwill bring a blam-blamwill bring a blam-blamnevah mind Scarmanwill bring a blam-blam2. Consider how the work of two or more poets studied on the module (UK, US or both) addresses issues of ethnic and/or racial identity in their poetry.Imamu Ami ri Baraka was a black poet born in New Jersey, 1934 and later moved to New York. He started the Black Arts Movement. The Black Arts Movement established 1965 was created to give black authors and artists a voice, freedom, exposure and self-empowerment. During the Newark riots in 1967, Baraka was arrested for carrying firearms and sentenced to two and a half years. The conviction was reversed during a retrial. He was christened as LeRoi Jones which he saw as a Christian slave name later changing it to Imamu Amiri Baraka. His poem Somebody Blew up America 2002 was banned. This led to Baraka being stripped of his position as Poet Laureate of New Jersey. Somebody Blew up America will be discoursed in the essay. Linton Kwesi Johnson was born in Chapelton, Jamaica in 1952. He moved to London in 1963 at a time when racism was at its peak. He joined the Black Panther Movement in 1970. In 1974 he joined Race Today Collective. His first book of poems was Voices of the Living and the Dead 1974 . The second collection was entitled Dread, Beat An Blood 1975 and the third Inglan is a Bitch 1980. Johnson is regarded as the father of dub poetry a term used to describe Reggae music with verse. He studied sociology at Goldsmiths College. In 1977 he was awarded a C. Day Lewis Fellowship and became Writer in Residence for the London borough of Lambeth. Johnson was made Associate Fellow at Warwick University, 1985 and Honorary Fellow at Wolverhampton Polytechnic in 1987. Johnson owned his own record label LKJ selling over two mill...