Amiri Baraka is now seeing Barack Obama differently. More than two years ago he appeared on our program and was slightly less than patient with a pre-election critique of Obama that placed the then candidate in a neo-colonial context. That afternoon he joined Tom Porter and Rosa Clemente for a rousing debate on the future president, electoral politics and where the political Left should seek to place itself. Then we were chided for our soft and antiquated analysis. Now Baraka says, the president has joined the “colonial powers” and is “delivering us into slavery…”
*This show originally aired October 6, 2008.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The New Invasion of Africa
So it wd be this way
That they wd get a negro
To bomb his own home
To join with the actual colonial
Powers, Britain, France, add Poison Hillary
With Israeli and Saudi to make certain
That revolution in Africa must have a stopper
So call in the white people who long tasted our blood
They would be the copper, overthrow Libya
With some bullshit humanitarian scam
With the negro yapping to make it seem right (far right)
But that’s how Africa got enslaved by the white
A negro selling his own folk, delivering us to slavery
In the middle of the night. When will you learn poet
And remember it so you know it
Imperialism can look like anything
Can be quiet and intelligent and even have
A pretty wife. But in the end, it is insatiable
And if it needs to, it will take your life.
AB 3/21/411
respect due to jared ball & rosa clemente for standing their ground. couldn’t have been easy with respectable brothers in-house and by phone laying down the pro-obama united front. even so, the very idea that such a conversation was allowed to take place is important. most media outlets wouldn’t even consider it. jazz and justice ahead of the curve as always – fantastic show.
I disagree.
This show had all the potential to be dynamic given who the guests were and what the topic was. Dr. Ball & Sistah Clemente (not Gonzalez), big-up for your patience and show of respect to your elders on the program (A. Baraka, T.Porter).
Obviously, those two gentlemen deserve all our respect as young Blacks/ Latinos/ People given their experience and knowledge in the Struggle.
That being said, two quotes: “We can all sing at the same time…but we can’t all talk at the same time”. And, “A man/ woman with their mouth always open can’t learn anything!”
This show was indicative of many of the problems that we, the People are suffering from. How many times did we need to hear that “90% of the Black People…”; so-on and so-forth…we heard you, now please let Ms. Clemente speak.
Just because a person has more years invested in something doesn’t make them automatically correct… No disrespect, but Dr. Baraka and Mr. Porter came off seeming old, bitter, and close-minded… Years and years of getting ripped off by the system and getting no real thanx from the People they’ve been fighting for has left them grasping for straws…anything close to a victory has them sounding intoxicated….the proof of this is how they kept repeating the same old stuff and simultaneously accusing Dr. Ball & Ms. Clemente of doing just that…
If they had a clear argument based on fact/ reality, they wouldn’t have to bogart the conversation. Came off madd-egotistical…played-out and outdated.
HTP (Peace),
Furious C.H.I.L.D.
You need to have on Professor Manu Ampim on your show. He did his Thesis on Dr King. [manuampim.com/index.html} Entitled the Revolutionary Dr King. You can purchase the 4 cd set on his website. I am telling you need to have him on. In fact, I will try to mail it off to you. His expertise on Dr King is unmatched. Also alot of Barack Obama nuts completely misunderstand history and Manu’s outstanding research will clarify King contributions as a revolutionary not as civil rights activist.
Thanks! Update our feature on Dr. King at http://www.voxunion.com/?p=60
Thank you Jared we need to keep these discussions going. It’s rough going for sure but we can all benefit bring as many ideas as possible to the fore and then forming workable some strategy. The fact is we are a diverse people representing quite a number demographic realities, if we talk among ourselves we have the possibility of bring all our resources together, if we don’t talk we’re going to stay divided. Thanks again.
Interesting talk…
From Larry Pinkney of BlackCommentator.com
October 18, 2008
Brother Netfa,
Greetings. Good to hear from you!
Thank you for sending me the link to the radio show.
I’m really glad that you liked my current BC column. Thanks bro. I didn’t realize that the system to submit comments to BC had changed. Nevertheless, if and when you get a chance to do so, please submit a comment through BC, as it helps to counter=2 0those who would love to see me silenced and / or shut down.
Yes, I do know Brother Jared and most recently saw him at the so-called ‘National Conference for Media Reform’ this past June. He is a very good brother for whom I have enormous respect.
As to being “respectful to elders” who disagree with us; respect is a two way street and Amiri Baraka is and was way out of line when he demagogically referred to all of those who do not support (this Wall Street backed, Zionist pig, colored puppet) Barack Obama as “rascals.” I too am an “elder” who spent many years in prison (enduring years of psychological and physical torture) for my well-documented political activities in support of Black and other oppressed peoples. Moreover, Glen Ford and Bruce Dixon, Ralph Poynter, Omali Yeshitela, and many other sisters and brothers (who are not Obama supporters) who are also so-called “elders.” I may be an elder but I am sure as hell not elderly, and Baraka’s demagogic nonsense is entirely unacceptable and inexcusable–be he an elder or not.
Those so-called leftists who support this Wall Street-backed, pro apartheid Zionist, self-serving opportunist Barack Obama will be remembered for their terrible collaboration with the Empire and for who and=2 0what they really are. Moreover, they should stop pretending to be concerned about and opposed to the increasing injustices at home or abroad, as one cannot both support and oppose the Empire simultaneously:
Click on BC-If You Support the Pro Apartheid Zionist Barack Obama:
http://www.blackcommentator.com/282/282_kir_if_you_support_obama.html
Here are a couple of other articles by various persons that I think you might find of interest:
1. Click on The McKinney Choice – The Progressive
http://www.progressive.org/mag/gray1008.html
2. Click on No Dog in this Fight : Information Clearing House – ICH
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21025.htm
i recently happened upon this program at http://assata.ning.com/ and listened to it in its entirety. i could have perhaps been better interested in the points being made by Bros. Porter and Baraka if they weren’t so smug and self-righteous in their opinionating. Instead i came away infuriated, particularly at the belittlement of Rosa Clemente for which the final straw for me was Baraka’s description of the McKinney/Clemente campaign as “self-aggrandizement.”
This truly should have been called the Baraka show for the lack of time given to Rosa to respond and perhaps even share some fresh perspectives with us listeners instead of rather disgustingly and continually be interrupted and placed on the defensive.
i also found it completely disingenuous for Porter/Baraka to tell Rosa that their attacks on her intellect were “not personal,” and for Porter at one point to even state that he was “sorry” if he appeared disrespectful, in a mocking type of way. This was essentially the sort of thing you would expect by bullies on a playground, not elders who we look to as imparting knowledge, who would rather verbally beat down this young Sista while reminiscing about the greatness of their own past political activity, forgetting that the sum total is that we are still in this condition, that we still ain’t free!
So why not keep trying by any and every means necessary, and why not teach that as a means toward victory instead of just keep getting down with the democrats, ain’t that what self-determination is supposed to be about? Did you, Bro. Baraka, somehow miss how dedicated Cynthia McKinney was when exposing the criminal politricians during her time in office, relentlessly standing up for our most neglected people and our forgotten freedom fighters, and what a remarkable and brilliant Sista she is, worthy of much more than an offhanded comment about how she helped Ras in Newark? Self-aggrandizement?
Being revolutionary is supposed to be motivated by love for the people, not some pedestal propped up holier than thou speechifying!
Thank you Sis. Marpessa for this (and for reconnecting with us – we used to rap back on some BRC lists). I also owe the revolutionary world an apology for being over-deferential to my elders and letting them get too far off on the ego, disrespect, etc. That is mostly (entirely?) my fault. Thanks again for listening and for your comments.
Jared
I remember when this clip was originally posted and I was surpised at the disrespect that the elder Amiri Baraka had given to my you brethren and sistren. To see this poem is an ah ha moment for sure. Just goes to show you that even those elders that we thought were progressive can get caught up in “Black nostalgia” and overlook the issues that affect our people…damn, now look at you! Ain’t no love loss for my homeboy but sometimes you got to fall back and hurry up and listen…
For the God Damn life of me I can’t understand how our certified warriors/elders (e.g. Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, Michael Eric Dyson, Cornel West, Tom Porter, et al…) could not see this from the start. Even a quasi-critical historical analysis of this nation’s current president and the ostensible perverted Euro-American version of democracy (more significant element than the president) offered to this nation’s citizens would lead any critically honest thinker to at least question the short and long term end game of President (he owns the concept and all that comes with it now) Obama and his backers. Baraka and Reed have been around longer than I’ve been born and this shit aint’ new.
Aside from their personality flaws and idiosyncrasies which seem significantly informed by surreptitious patriarchy any attempt on my part to pseudo psycho-analyze their (i.e. those who should know better) cognitive process/dissonance as it relates to the fascination and seemingly indefatigable defense of this president and subsequently this newfound belief in Euro-American democracy leaves me stumped. And Glenn Ford’s analysis of the psycho-emotional state of the Black collective, although brilliant and spot on (i.e. collective apathy leads to collective delusion) doesn’t and shouldn’t apply to those who’ve gone through, under and over this for decades. Hell, they’ve spilled copious amounts of blood over this shit and it seems, to someone like me who honors their presence (although diminished now, especially in Reed’s case), it was all done in vain. It shouldn’t take “Africom” and the formal invasion of any part of Africa (it’s no secret the CIA has been clandestinely operating over there for years) for Baraka to have seen this.
I take no pleasure in the ability of those who saw this coming from more than a mile away, although contrary to the likes of bloviating personalities who stand to commercially benefit from Obama’s failures (euphemism for intent), I wish we were wrong and couldn’t say I told you so. I just don’t understand how my elders, particularly the so-called Black intelligentsia/vanguard, couldn’t or wouldn’t see this on the horizon. Additional thoughts about it lead me to reductionist conclusions steeped in cynicism about some of my elders (e.g. maybe they didn’t and don’t love Black and oppressed people after all. Never mind the blood and tears they shed) and it hurts me to even think that way, let alone say it but God Damn! C’mon Son!
To Bakari,
I can definitely understand your point of view in regards to tne inability or lack of desire that some of the black intelligentia elders displayed in not critically analyzing the candidacy and subsequent presidency of Baraka Obama. I also do not condone the lack of both intellectual respect and common courtesy by Porter and Baraka to Clemente. Having said this, I must say that regardless of the depths of knowledge, brilliance, experience in the struggle, genuine love for the people they are first human. It extremely difficult to fight for a cause against tremendous odds for such a long time and not want to grasp an image or see a perceived glimpse of truimph and want to believe it. You may know that it is a farce intellectually, but your spirit tells your brain come on man let me have this little visual treat of “change” in the system, it’ll feed my soul. Also, we all have egos and there is nothing wrong with having a healthy one – I would even argue for many in the struggle it was the conscious/unconscious desire to preserve this that motivated them initially to fight against an oppresive culture/system/environment which sought to destroy this human quality. At the same time this heathy attribute can on occassion manifest itself in a negative way. I believe this interview was one those instances.
you buggin. obama’s election offset the invasion by 2 years. mccain campaigned on ‘bomb iran.’
baraka used that 2 years to organize & manuever. we will see if his critics can say the same.
I agree with you Jubilee. No question in my mind that Baraka and Porter have a depth of wisdom,knowledge and experience that the Rosa Clemente and Jared Ball couldn’t handle. I’m tired of young people who think that they should be handed the reins of leadership. It has to be won on the field..they will need to out organize and win the war of ideas first. Everything else is just tough talk and slick words ( posturing and posing ) …like a lot of ” Hip Hop “
+ 1 For Lincoln Perry
Brotha Ball, you take yourself waaaay to seriously. Enough with the radical/revolutionary grandstanding. If you want to “take the reigns,” take them. Go make something happen! Report back to us in two years (like you did here) and tell us how many people you organized, how many folk you educated, how many jobs you created, how many people you fed, how many sick folk you cured, how many capitalist regimes you’ve toppled, etc.
I look forward to your update.