construed as a whole” (The People 173). Second, the real issue is not whether the
poem is anti-Semitic or classist or racist. The real question we must decide is “if the
material has the slightest redeeming social importance” (174). A 2002 article from The
Star-Ledger gets the point. Laura McCullough and Michael Broek write “if anything,
Baraka’s poem is about questioning authority, not about assigning blame, and this act of
questioning, which is falling of out fashion [. . .] needs to be strengthened, not subverted
by calls to censor the poem.”
As Baraka urges us, “POET ON!”
Works Cited
“Amiri Baraka 1934-2014.” Poetry Foundation. 2014. Web. 2 July 2014.
“Amiri Baraka: In His Own Words.” Anti-Defamation League. July 2003. Web. 2 July
2014.
Baraka, Amiri. “The ADL Smear Campaign against Me.” CounterPunch. 7 Oct. 2002.
Web. 2 July 2014.
---. The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 1997. Print.
---. “The Former LeRoi Jones: An Interview with Amiri Baraka.” Interview by Charlie
Reilly. 10 Aug. 1976. Conversations with Amiri Baraka. Ed. Charlie Reilly.
Jackson: Mississippi UP, 1994. 97-104. Print.
---. “If It’s Anger . . . Maybe That’s Good: An Interview with LeRoi Jones.” Interview by
Judy Stone. 23 Aug. 1964. Conversations with Amiri Baraka. Ed. Charlie Reilly.
Jackson: Mississippi UP, 1994. 8-11. Print.
---. “An Interview with LeRoi Jones.” Interview by Charlie Reilly. 1991. Conversations
with Amiri Baraka. Ed. Charlie Reilly. Jackson: Mississippi UP, 1994. 239-259.
Print.
---. “An Interview with Amiri Baraka.” Interview by Debra L. Edwards. 1980.
Conversations with Amiri Baraka. Ed. Charlie Reilly. Jackson: Mississippi UP,
1994. 146-167. Print.
---. “An Interview with Amiri Baraka.” Interview by William J. Harris. 5 Apr. 1980.
Conversations with Amiri Baraka. Ed. Charlie Reilly. Jackson: Mississippi UP,
1994. 168-180. Print.
---. “In Postscript: No Black Ink in Fax.” Somebody Blew Up America & Other
Poems. House of Nehesi Publishers: Philipsburg, St. Martin, 2003. 51-55. Print.
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