Naleighna Kai's Literary Cafe Magazine NK LCM February 2018 Anniversary Issue | Page 20

Amiri Baraka
Kisha Green
Poet, writer, teacher, and political activist ...
Amiri Baraka was well known for his strident social
criticism, often writing in an incendiary style that made
it difficult for some audiences and critics to respond
with objectivity to his works. Throughout most of his
career, his method in poetry, drama, fiction, and essays
were confrontational, calculated to shock and awaken
audiences to the political concerns of Black Americans.
For decades, Baraka was one of the most prominent
voices in the world of American literature.
Baraka incited controversy throughout his career. He
was praised for speaking out against oppression as
well as accused of inciting hate. In the American Book
Review, Arnold Rampersad counted Baraka with Phyllis
Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Paul Laurence Dunbar,
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright,
and Ralph Ellison “as one of the eight figures . . . who have
significantly affected the course of African-American
literary culture.”
20 | NKLC Magazine
Pretty dope huh?
Barak’s story has always fascinated me because he was
outspoken but not some “ignorant man with a voice”
ranting about issues that affected so many who couldn’t put
speak out, but an educated man who could articulate the
struggles and challenges quite well. He had the education
and life experience to back up his words and platform. Barak
attended Rutgers University and Howard University, spent
three years in the U.S. Air Force, and returned to New York
City to attend Columbia University and the New School for
Social Research. With all of the above, he was the perfect
person to speak and work on behalf of those who were so
downtrodden they never realized there could be something
better.
In his prime, he embodied the words the late James Brown
sang when telling the world that we are Young, Gifted, and
Black. The admiration that I have for him turned to love