Sarah Clayburn - Poetic Propaganda lyrics

Between 1940 and 1980, African Americans were drowning in political turmoil. From the Civil Rights movement to the Black Arts Movement, black writers sought to expose political atrocities aimed at their communities. Poetry became a tool that allowed black communities to respond to national conflicts. Influential author, Amiri Baraka, radically characterizes the effects of political poetry in Black Art. It is through poetic styles and techniques that African American authors inspired revolution. 1) 1941- Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters organizes protest Margaret Walker- For My People (1942) “Let a new earth rise. Let another world be born. Let a bloody peace be written in the sky. Let a second generation full of courage issue forth; let a people loving freedom come to growth. Let a beauty full of healing and a strength of final clenching be the pulsing in our blood. Let the marital songs be written, let the dirges disappear. Let a race of men now rise and take control.” 2) 1943- Detroit and Harlem Riots Melvin B. Tolson- Dark Symphany (1944) “They tell us to forget Democracy is spurned. They tell us to forget The Bill of Rights is burned. Three hundred years we slaved, We slave and suffer yet: Though flesh and bone rebel, They tell us to forget!” 3) 1955- Rosa Parks arrested Langston Hughs- Ballads of the Landlord (1955) “Police! Police! Come and get this man! He's trying to ruin the government And overturn the land! Copper's whistle Patrol bell! Arrest.” 4) 1957- Federal troops went to Little Rock Gwendolyn Brooks- The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock (1960) “I scratch my head, ma**age the hate-I –had. I blink across my prim and penciled pad. The saga I was sent for is not down. Because there is a puzzle in this town. The biggest News I do not dare Telegraph to the Editor's chair: “They are like people everywhere.” The angry Editor would reply In hundred harryings of Why.” 5) 1964- New York Riot of 1964 David Henderson- Keep on Pushing (1970) "The Police Commissioner can muster five hundred cops in five minutes He can summon extra tear-gas bombs/ guns/ ammunition within a single call to a certain general alarm/ For Harlem reinforcements come from the Bronx just over the three-borough bridge/ a shot a cry a rumor can muster five hundred Negroes from idle and strategic street corners bars stoops hallways windows" Keep on pushing. 6) 1965- Malcolm X a**a**inated Sonia Sanchez- blk/rhetoric (1969) “who's gonna give our young blk/people new heroes (instead of catch/phrases) (instead of cad/ il/ acs) (instead of pimps) (instead of wite/who*es) (instead of d**) (instead of new dances) (instead of chit/ter/lings) (instead of 35 cent bottle of ripple) (instead of quick/ f**s in the hall/ way of wite/ america's mind) like. this. Is an S O S me. calling… … …” 7) 1973- Clifford Glover shot Audre Lorde- Power (1976) “Today that 37 year old white man with 13 years of police forcing was set free by 11 white men who said they were satisfied justice had been done and one black woman who said “ They convinced me” meaning they had dragged her 4'10” black woman's frame over the hot coals of four centuries of white male approval until she let go of the first real power she ever had and lined her own womb with cement to make a graveyard for our children.” 8) 1978- The Rape Case in Aix- en- Provence June Jordan- Poems about My Rights (1980) “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 ba*tard and if even after smashing a hammer to his head if even after that if he and his buddies f** me after that then I consented and there was no rape…”