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Laureate Faces Silence Of The Iambs (Amiri Baraka)
The Guardian (UK) ^
| 7-8-2003
| Gary Younge
Posted on 07/07/2003 7:51:00 PM PDT by blam
Laureate faces silence of the iambs
Gary Younge in New York
Tuesday July 8, 2003
The Guardian (UK)
New Jersey's legislature has voted to abolish the position of state poet laureate after the governor discovered that he could not sack the current holder of the post. Amiri Baraka, who was appointed by the Republican state governor, James McGreevey, has attracted criticism since reading his poem Somebody Blew Up America at a festival last year.
The poem, a series of rhetorical questions, is primarily a diatribe against American racism and imperialism, asking "Who stole Puerto Rico", "Who killed the most Jews" and "Who keep the Irish a colony".
But it also implied that Israel knew in advance that the September 11 terrorist attacks were going to happen, and repeated the anti-semitic urban myth that Israelis were told not to go to work on the day.
The poem also asks: "Who know why five Israelis was filming the explosion /And cracking they sides at the notion?"
The furore created by the reading prompted Mr McGreevey to denounce Baraka, and to ask him to resign and to stop taking his $10,000 (£6,000) annual stipend. Only when Baraka refused to go did Mr McGreevey find out that he had no authority to sack him.
Last week the New Jersey state legislature voted 69-2 to abolish the post of poet laureate.
Baraka has now threatened to sue the state for violating his first amendment rights to free speech and for slander. "Very few of those people have even read that poem," he said. "I can't have a differing opinion about a foreign state?"
TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: amiribaraka; antisemitism; faces; iambs; laureate; of; poetbooreate; poetry; silence; the
What a cocky POS!
1
posted on
07/07/2003 7:51:00 PM PDT
by
blam
To: blam
Republican State Governor?
2
posted on
07/07/2003 7:52:26 PM PDT
by
lormand
To: All
These Guys Don't Want You To Donate!
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3
posted on
07/07/2003 7:53:11 PM PDT
by
Support Free Republic
(Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
To: blam
Silence Of The Iambs I think the author's pun is bad it needs some more precision. If I had been the editor I'd see about revision. |
4
posted on
07/07/2003 7:57:19 PM PDT
by
Nick Danger
(The liberals are slaughtering themselves at the gates of the newsroom)
To: lormand
"Republican State Governor?" Newspapers don't have to be accurate anymore, he's a Democrat!
5
posted on
07/07/2003 8:00:22 PM PDT
by
blam
To: blam
The Marxist Guardian fancies itself as the New York Times of the UK.
6
posted on
07/07/2003 8:08:50 PM PDT
by
AF68
To: blam
bump
To: Nick Danger
Agreed. My suggestion:
Poison Penned
8
posted on
07/07/2003 8:14:39 PM PDT
by
gcruse
(There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women[.] --Margaret Thatcher)
To: blam
Whenever something happens that the Guardian considers bad the perpetrator is always identified as a "Republican" irrespective of actual political affiliation.
To: blam
Baraka has now threatened to sue the state for violating his first amendment rights to free speech and for slander. "Very few of those people have even read that poem," he said. "I can't have a differing opinion about a foreign state?"Sure, you've got the right to say anything you want. But as a public servant, paid for by public funds, you serve at the pleasure of the population, which appears to want you to peddle your hatred somewhere else, on your own dime.
Mark
10
posted on
07/07/2003 8:48:30 PM PDT
by
MarkL
(OK, I'm going to crawl back under my rock now!)
To: Support Free Republic
Regarding the banner held up by the anarchists in post #3, I've got just one question... If you "abolish capitalism" and "smach the state," who's going to write the benefits checks that all you utopian communists love so much...
Mark
11
posted on
07/07/2003 8:50:34 PM PDT
by
MarkL
(OK, I'm going to crawl back under my rock now!)
To: blam
I can't have a differing opinion about a foreign state?Read: "I hate those shyster f**king Jew bastards".
A. Murray Baruchstein
12
posted on
07/07/2003 8:57:58 PM PDT
by
zarf
(fuggetaboutit)
To: blam
They have now snuck in a correction on their web site.
To: RippleFire
"They have now snuck in a correction on their web site." I'll be darn, they sure did!
14
posted on
07/09/2003 6:49:13 AM PDT
by
blam
To: lormand
Actually, Bakara was appointed by the former Republican Governor, Christie Todd Whitman.
15
posted on
07/09/2003 7:15:39 AM PDT
by
gridlock
(My Dream: Dean and Sharpton duking it out for the nomination on the floor of the 'Rat Convention)
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