a speech by Amiri Baraka, recorded earlier this month in Newark
Give Obama a break, some of his supporters argue. He's got to get elected first. Till them he can't be seen acknowledging the needs of Black America for job creation on a vast scale, for an end to foreclosures, the repeal of No Child Left Behind, the equitable rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, and lowering of the prison population and cutting military budget to free up money for these and other human needs.
Poet, playwright and longtime activist Amiri Baraka has a different take on the Obama candidacy, and the responsibility of the politically conscious.
In this speech he cautions those who imagine Obama will make a difference without a strong left movement pressuring and pushing him further and faster than he and his corporate backers really want to go.
"Even if there's gonna be a black president," said Baraka in Newark early this month, "if we don't do nothin' he won't do nothin'... the less we do, the less we can expect Obama to respond to us..."
Baraka took to task those who criticize Obama without actually organizing anything on the ground in their communities.
"The question," he said, "is what will you do, where will you go with the one opening that they leave you which they claim is democracy."
This is a 36 minute audio recording. Click the flash player below to hear the streaming audio. If you prefer to download the MP3 file instead, click the mic icon at right.
THIS AUDIO IS TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE
Regrettably we cannot publish the full credits for this audio piece at the moment because the server at www.radio4all.net is down or busy at BAR publication time. When the server is up again we will do so. Our thanks, meanwhile to the great people at
www.radio4all.net for making it and much else available.
After you contribute to BAR, you should drop a little on them too.
This year’s Victoire Prize went to ICTR lawyers David Jacobs and Peter Erlinder and Canadian journalist Jooneed Khan.
Throughout history, trade restrictions have reshaped economies for good or for ill. As Trump increases tariffs across industries, it is clear that this move will not revitalize the economy as he…
This week’s featured author is Judith Weisenfeld. Weisenfeld is Agate Brown and George L. Collord Professor in the Department of Religion at Princeton University. Her book is Black Religion in the…
As Ecuador heads into a run-off election on April 13, the issues of security, state violence and the economy remain at the forefront. Dollarization, submission to U.S. dictates, the proliferation of…
"DEI (Drunk, Epicurean, Incompetent) War Criminals" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
