Table Of ContentA GENERATIONAL ANTHOLOGY OF SOCIAL & POLITICAL
BLACK LITERATURE & ART
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Welcome to the 21st century.
The game may be the same, but the rules have signifi¬
cantly changed. How does the post-Civil Rights gen¬
eration of Black artists and writers respond to the
social and political issues that affect us today? Role
Call is a conscious manifesto of a much maligned, and
often misunderstood generation that-far from slack¬
ing-is consciously and actively working to continue
the fight for justice and equality.
Boldly taking on issues of race relations, popular cul¬
ture, sexuality, education, religion, technology and the
rise of the prison industry. Role Call reflects the love for
self, family and community necessary to any struggle
for equality. This diverse collection of dynamic voices
and visions tackles its subjects with fresh, spare lan¬
guage, rich imagery and a passion for the issues and the
work that signal the arrival of a new Black Power-one
that is spiritually grounded, forged in multiple
alliances, and based on the credo that each of our expe¬
riences matter.
iCgInerational anthology
OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL BLACK ART & LITERATURE
Ul(#Mla^aSlL,^g A GENERATIONAL ANTHOLOGY
OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL BLACK ART & LITERATURE
edited by
Tony Medina
Samiya A. Bashir
Quraysh Ali Lansana
with a foreword by Haki R. Madhubuti
Third World Press
Chicago, Illinois
Third World Press, Chicago, Illinois 60619
© 2003 by Tony Medina, Samiya A. Bashir, QurayshAli Lansana
A
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Art & Literature /
edited by Tony Medina, Samiya A Bashir and QurayshAli Lansana
p. cm.
ISBN 0-88378-238-3 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-883-78239-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. American literature—African American authors. 2. African Americans—
Literary collections. 3. Social problems—Literary collections. 4- American litera¬
ture—20th century. 5. Politics—Literary collections. 6. Blacks—Literary collections. I.
Medina, Tony.
PS508.N3 R64 2002
8io.8’o358—dc2i
2001045718
All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without written permission of Third World Press.
Printed in the United States of America
10 090 08 07 06 05 04 o3 02 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Design: Washington Design, Brooklyn, NY
Michele Y. Washington & Emily Punjavilasluck
COVER IMAGE:
"Handful” by Kenneth L. Addison, mixed media batik
LEFT, FRONT INSIDE JACKET:
Pilot Want Her Wings, by Torkwase Dyson, oil on canvas
EDITOR PHOTO:
by Cheryl L. Minor
RIGHT, BACK INSIDE JACKET:
Miss Eve, by Kenneth L. Addison, monoprint collage
BACK COVER IMAGE:
Jigga Who, by Navin June Norling, mixed media on wood
LIBATION
creator, god/s, goddess/es, deities, prophets, saints,
earth, sun & moon, stars & planets, fire, water, ether, air, metals,
universal knowledge and truth.
the most positive and divine aspects of the ancestors of each of the contributors to this work,
all of our mothers and fathers whose deeds and misdeeds have shaped us.
we call the deities, spirits and saints of love, war, fertility, science, dance, art, song,
harvest, sex, creativity, mathematics, commerce, politics, destiny, life, death.
we pray that we have and will continue to live and create, giving proper respect
in the perpetuity of artistic, intellectual, physical and political action,
we pray that all of our creative endeavors assist in the elevation of our immediate
and universal lineages-those who we follow and those yet to come,
we give thanks to the goddesses and gods who have been there since the beginning
and helped our ancestors move and persevere throughout the diaspora,
through the most severe oppression and detachment.
we continue to call those deities, spirits and saints,
those indigenous to our homelands and traditions
and those we’ve met during our journeys, who assist in our survival and upliftment.
we recall the rhythms, tones and movements of our earliest rituals,
we give thanks for all things great and small.
we dedicate this book to our ancestors, those related by blood and by struggle,
who passed on during the making of this book:
Gwendolyn Brooks
Jacob Lawrence
Raymond R. Patterson
Safiya Henderson-Holmes
Dudley Randall
Wilson L. Driver
David Earl Jackson
Barbara Christian
John Biggers
Tito Puente
Aaliyah Haughton
Russell Hutchison
Belle Lawrence
Jasmine Houston
Tony Medina, Sr.
Jenese Aileen Russell Woodson
for them, for us, for you, for everyone that we can not name,
this is our offering.
V
■5, "
Contents
Foreword: The Generation Now xv Haki R. Madhubuti
Intro: Call &. Repsonse xvii The Editors
cn
WHAT ISTH£ ROLE OF TODAY'S EMERGING YOUNG ARTISTS IN
THE CURRENT STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY AND JUSTICE?
[_□
Future Generation 2 John Abner
1 Write 3 Askhari
Sankofa 5 Pamela Plummer
Aya 6 Kim Mayhorn
Incantation for the Word 7 Adrian Castro
Percussion Permeates 9 Eric Mack
How Music Relates to the Brain 10 Jeremiah Hoseah Landes
No One’s Slave 11 Jeremiah Hoseah Landes
From Girl in the Mirror 12 Natasha Tarpley
Dear Mama 13 Angela Shannon
1 Am My Mother 14 Staceyann Chin
Sticks and Stones 15 Kim Louise
detail—"A Woman Was Lynched the Other Day” 16 Kim Mayhorn
Case of Blues 17 Gina M. Streaty
Homage to Leonardo Drew’s Number Eight 18 Allison Joseph
Dumas 19 Jabari Asim
Believe Me 20 Shane Book
The Poet 21 Sheila L. Prevost
The Good Doctor Writes 22 DJ Renegade
After the Verdict 23 G. Winston James
larry 24 Brian Gilmore
Kofi 25 Johnalynn Holland
Harbors and Spirits 26 Jeffrey Renard Allen
Coltrane Spoke to Me One Night 30 Tony Medina
The Role Call 31 Thomas Sayers Ellis
HOW DO THE VOICES OF THE NEXT GENERATION
DEFINE THE ISSUES AND POLITICS OF TODAY?
America in Control 34 John Abner
on the use of charliebrown/teachatalk 35 r.c. glenn
Music, man, what is it gonna be? 36 Morgan Michael Craft
The Rapper 38 Sheila L. Prevost
Guernica 39 Kevin Young
We play in the Do-lt-yourself family rooms 42 Kate Rushin
retired, ronald reagan sits in his dayroom 43 Tyehimba Jess
blood and wine 45 Samiya A. Bashir
Corporate America Comes to £1 Barrio 47 Shaggy Flores
vii
contents
Jobless 49 Calida Garcia
The Bird Cage Bunch 50 Charlie R. Braxton
Survivors 51 Kysha N. Brown
Faces 54 Renaldo Davidson
Callin Out ya Uncle 55 Tish Benson
returned to sender 56 Mendi Lewis Obadike
Dear Daddy 57 Andrea M. Wren
Reba is a State Child and what you call fast 58 Kate Rushin
Berneatha’s Story 59 Samiya A. Bashir
Excerpt from Monster 61 Dael Orlandersmith
Who’s Afraid of a Black Grrrl Revolution? 63 Brigette M. Moore
What It’s Like to Be a Mixed Girl 66 Tara Betts
Growing Wild 67 Carol Smith Passariello
Braiding Rituals 70 Kenneth L. Addison
Poem Where My Mother and Father are Absent 71 Shara McCallum
The Zoo 72 Melanie Hope
Celebration 73 Jacqueline Johnson
Black or American 74 Jill Robinson
Untitled, from The Consumer series 79 Derrick Adams
What 1 Am 80 Terrence Hayes
My Environment 81 Kraig A. Blue
Justice in the Techno Age 82 Nancy Mercado
Arriving with Orders from Shaka Sankofa 83 Theodore A. Harris
War Pigs 84 s.r. bonafide
Cheney and Mandela: Reconciling the Truth 85 Farai Chideya
Cleaning the White House Latrine 87 Tony Medina
The Futher Adventures of Tutor the Turtle 88 Tim Seibles
The Cross, The Gun, Necklacing and Black People 89 Theodore A. Harris
The Bush Boys 90 Kelly Norman Ellis
Turtle Eggs 91 Pamela Sneed
Mother Tongue: Unman Chant 93 Edwin Torres
The Power of the Press 95 Lisa C. Moore
Lethal 99 Sheila L. Prevost
Invasion of the Body Snatchers 100 Tim Seibles
THE ROLE CALL
Contributors 103-113
VIII
