David Anthony Sam's Blog, page 126
July 8, 2020
Am I a racist? A Questionnaire
Do you agree with the following statements?
Asian people are naturally smarter in school.Black people are better at sports because their race gives them physical advantages.Mexicans are inherently less ambitious and that’s why they don’t work as hard.The reason that police use more violence in minority communities is because the people there are more violent.The reason certain minorities are poorer is because they don’t try.People should live in neighborhoods with their own kind. It’s the natural thing to do.White people deserve to be where they are because they earned it.Italians are more emotional than other peoples.Most Asian people become professionals like doctors and scientists.White people are not great dancers because they lack natural rhythm.The real racists are those who keep talking about racism.All lives matter. Stop singling out black lives.Blacks and liberal white people have a vested interest in racism.The reason police pull more black people over is because they are more likely to commit crimes.Black people talk the way they do because of their biologic makeup.Most shoplifters are black.I a more afraid when approached by a young black man than a young white man.People should have a mixed child. It’s just not fair to the child.People should marry their own kind.Scientists have proven that there are inherent racial characteristics that are foolish to ignore.I a not racist because I work with a black person and we get along fine.My ancestors came to this country long after slavery so I have no responsivity for it.People should stop taking about slavery and back people should get over it. It happened 150 years ago.The Confederate (battle) flag is a symbol of America and should be honored for the brave me who fought under it.Blacks and Hispanics should be content with what they have been given in this great country.Black people have enough rights. What more do they want?Black kids are more likely to use marijuana–that’s why more of them are in jail.I’m not prejudiced. I learned Spanish.Most Hispanics are illegal.Native Americans love to gamble. That’s why they own so many casinos.Black men have trouble controlling their sex drive.Most Arab-Americans hate our country.All white people are racists.People should not be offended by racial jokes. We have to have a sense of humor about things.Black people use the N-word so why can’t I?I don’t see color.If racism is still a problem, how come we had a black president?White people are likely to be the victims of reverse racism.Minority groups are too sensitive.I’m not racist–but…
The more statements you agreed with, the more likely you hold racist views. You may want to consider where those views came from and why you hold them.
If you disagreed with all of the statements, good for you. Now what are you doing to change the system?
No need to tell us your results. This is not about shame or celebration. We each need to keep working on ourselves and our society.
July 7, 2020
Monuments and Memorials – Some brief reflections
Monuments and memorials are created in the present of their erection as an interpretation of the past.
Damaging or destroying them is vandalism and is a crime, though a much less serious crime that assault or murder whether by a civilian or an officer of the law under cover of authority.
Those memorials and monuments are reinterpreted by each generation as they rethink the meaning of our history. They may try to fix that interpretation but our judgement of the past evolves.
The motivations of those who erected those monuments and memorials probably varied among the individuals who supported doing so. But it is a fact that they were erected during the imposition of Jim Crow, the revival of the KKK after WWI, and in response to the Civil Rights movement, especially after Brown v. Board.
And the espoused motivation as expressed in speeches at the time of the dedication of those memorials often clearly stated they were monument to preservation of the “Anglo-Saxon race” against those of inferior breed. For instance, https://www.dennyburk.com/a-speech-delivered-at-the-dedication-of-the-silent-sam-monument/
The motivations of those currently damaging, destroying or adding graffiti to historical monuments probably varies much among the individuals doing it–ranging from idealism through anger to ignorance of history and perhaps for some the joy of destruction.
But the espoused motivation of those who speak for the removal of the memorials doesn’t describe vandalism as the goal. For instance, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-07-06/mississippi-students-voted-move-civil-war-statue-now-fear-confederate-shrine
Those who advocate for keeping the memorials where they are located in city squares and public places often say “preserving our heritage” is the goal. However, never in that “heritage” is there a place for abolitionists like John and John Quincy Adams, Thaddeus Stevens, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, etc. Nor in those squares or public places are there monuments to the heritage of those who fought for the union and against slavery such a U. S. Grant of Lincoln.
Instead, the story of Union generals and politicians is often that they attacked and destroyed the innocent South like barbarians. What is left out is the story of how, for instance, Lee and his army invaded Pennsylvania and Maryland, captured free blacks even if they had never been slaves and enslaved them. Or the story of how many of those Confederate generals executed all black Union captives as at Fort Pillow. Or the story that some sought to reestablish white supremacy after the war through the creation of the KKK or other means.
So I conclude that it is long past time that we remove those monuments and memorials, not merely because of “sensitivity” to some who are offended but as a statement that we as a nation do recognize and remember our history, our entire history, and that we want to celebrate our ideals not our failings while acknowledging both with brutal honesty. That we will keep their names in the history book but not place them on tall monuments. That their statues may belong on the Confederate side of Gettysburg and other battlefields, but they no longer belong in the pantheon of those men and women who are the best of what it means to be and American. Their removal is not a “forgetting” of history. It is rather a correcting of it.
Review: Rattle Young Poets Anthology 2020
Rattle Young Poets Anthology 2020 by Timothy Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A delightful collection of poetry by young people, ages 5 to 15. Many of these poems are superior to those written by older, published poets (perhaps after the latter have been groomed by MFA programs?).
July 2, 2020
June 27, 2020
Toni Morrison on Life and Language
“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our living.” Toni Morrison
June 24, 2020
Review: In the Dark, Soft Earth
In the Dark, Soft Earth by Frank Watson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
In this collection, Frank Watson seeks inspiration from works of art and music, from nature, and from human relationship. The results are often interesting, as in the section inspired by paintings derived from a Tarot deck.
His language and imagery are both spare and simple. His metaphors sometimes strain, seemingly trying to resurrect a comparison from overuse. His lines are short and pithy and he makes good use of regular and irregular rhyme.
Overall, the poetry is less complex and rich than the art works printed alongside and the language sometimes edges towards the stale traditional. But there is an earnestness here, and the poems are accessible to those who do not regularly read poetry.
June 15, 2020
Meat for Tea – The Valley Review will publish three of my poems in an upcoming issue.
Meat for Tea – The Valley Review will publish three of my poems in an upcoming issue. They have previously published my work. Thank you Editor Elizabeth MacDuffie.
June 9, 2020
Review: The More Extravagant Feast: Poems
The More Extravagant Feast: Poems by Leah Naomi Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
With eloquent simplicity and an eye for the telling detail, Leah Naomi Green writes poetry that encompasses nature and the very personal into a lyric tapestry. The growth of her daughters in her body and then–after they are born–outside that body.
“This is the way we came
to remember the world.”
The likening of a wood stove being opened on the first cold day of Autumn and finding they had prepared wood to burn with the opening of her body in a C-section to the separate life of her daughter.
“i believed
at least one of us
must know the way”
The father who kills and dresses a deer for them to eat as a sacramental act.
“It is all I see,
a thing, alive, slowdown becoming my body.”
“When we eat,
what we eat is the body
of the world”
The death of her father and faith in life as a candle of flickering light embodied in wax
“whose job is not to spark,
or hold a flame, but to keep the lit wick steady,
constant and disappearing.”
A moving, personal, yet universal collection.
My poem “Kharon” will be included in a collection on the COVID pandemic call “Tales from Six Feet Apart” to be published by iō Literary Journal later this year.
My poem “Kharon” will be included in a collection on the COVID pandemic call “Tales from Six Feet Apart” to be published by iō Literary Journal later this year. 
My thanks to the editors who have previously published 3 of my poems.
June 5, 2020
Let America Be America Again BY LANGSTON HUGHES
BY LANGSTON HUGHES
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.
O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!
