Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 2000 African American Poets of the Vietnam War Megan Guernsey Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in English at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Guernsey, Megan, "African American Poets of the Vietnam War" (2000). Masters Theses. 1610. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/1610 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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Pl ·ue Oatd!J · Z~ thes1s4 form African American Poets of the Vietnam War (TITLE) BY Megan Gue rnsey THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Masters of Arts in English IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS YEAR I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THIS THESIS BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE GRADUATE DEGREE CITED ABOVE 7~JAfd-moDATE Abstract Almost 6000 African American men gave their lives in the Vietnam War. While peaceful protests, voter registration drives, and racial confrontations occurred throughout the United States, the government continued to send young Black men to Southeast Asia to preserve the "freedom" of the Vietnamese people. The irony of this situation lies in the fact that these soldiers were asked to fight a War in the name of democracy, to kill in order to secure rights that they themselves were being denied. Although many Black Americans saw military service as a means of escaping poor ghetto life, they often were confronted with the realities of discriminatory practices within the Army and the continuation of racism upon their return home. The poetry of Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, and YusefKomunyakaa explore what African American participation in the Vietanam War really meant. By using literary techniques unique to the Black Aesthetic and the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, these poets lyrically showed how Black involvement in the War aided the dominant white culture in its attempt for racial genocide. While Baraka related the oppressed condition of the African American to that of oppression in Third World countries, Nikki Giovanni wrote to prove that the War was a waste of Black youth that could better be used in the struggle for Civil Rights in the United States. YusefKomunyakaa, writing from a veteran's perspective almost two decades later, showed how the Vietnam War both blurred and emphasized the racial divisions between Black and white soldiers, along with the Vietnamese people themselves. ii Dedications I dedicate this thesis to my family: my mother, for teaching me to always speak my mind; my father, for giving me inspiration to write and travel; and my brother, for proving to me that true strength comes from always resisting the war. iii Acknowledgments The inspiration for this thesis came from my experiences on the Semester at Sea Program. I thank all that are involved with this organization for continuing to open the minds of college students across America and around the world. Because of this unique opportunity, I was able to crawl through the tunnels of the Viet Cong and sing Karaoke with the War' s survivors. Traveling through Vietnam and other countries exposed me to the incredible suffering of many people in Third World countries and has left me with the desire to help end the ignorance responsible for much of that suffering. Many thanks go out to my good friend, Jen Osborn, who not only allowed me to borrow her lap top computer for the entire summer, but also provided me with pep talks and emotional support. I would also like to give thanks to Dr. Robin Murray, my thesis director. Without her kind dedication, gentle hounding, and delicious veggie burgers, I can honestly say this project would have never been completed. iv Table of Contents i\bstract.................................................................................... Dedications................................................................................. ii Acknowledgments......................................................................... iii Table of Content,s •..•.•.••..•...•••..••••••••••.••••.••.••••••..•..•.••.•••••..•••.•••...•. iv Introduction................................................................................. 1 A man.. B ara ka : P oems 1·k1 e "F.as ts" an d "Daggers " .................................. 14 Nikki Giovanni: Poems for the Black Community....••.................. .......... 25 Yusef Komunyakaa: Poems that Remember...•...................• .................. 34 Conclusion •••....••..•.........•••...••••••.•••.......•..•.•.••.......•.....•..•......•.•...•• 46 Works Consulted .•.•.••••.....•••••••••••.••..•••.•••••••••..•.•..•.••.••••••••...•.•..••.• 49 1 INTRODUCTION Black poetry of the 1960s often called for increased political activism, drew on the strong oral tradition of the African American culture, and renewed the union of written verse and performance. According to Meredith Hindley, African American poetry of this period "wanted to inspire actions" (23). Subsequently, the works of writers like Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) Nikki Giovanni, and YusefKomunyakaa, "became a type of activism in [themselves]" (2). This activism accomplished a new Black aesthetic that fused politics and poetry in a voice that would claim self-worth within and justice in the society without. These poets created art that not only fulfilled their own needs for emotional expression, but also showed the immense necessity for social change in America. At the peak of the Cold War, these three authors addressed racism and the white fear of communism in eye-opening lyrical fashion. After the "fall" of China in 1950 and an unprecedented decade of"duck-and­ cover'' atomic years, many Black poets began to question the integrity of the democratic system and ask about their own "inalienable" rights as American citizens. If the Soviets were the so­ called enemies, then why were African Americans in a "free" society still being denied the privileges of lighter-skinned citizens? And furthermore, how could the United States government ask Blacks to fight for the freedom of the Vietnamese people when its own policies were corrupt? By applying the literary and cultural history of African Americans, which necessarily includes the antecedents of Western and African cultural traditions in this thesis, I show how Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, and YusefKomunyakaa turned their poetry into both "art" and "propaganda." Although Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren and President Lyndon Johnson proposed Civil Rights actions by judicial and legislative mandate, many citizens' minds had been 2 warped by years of accepting racism. Thus, many well-intentioned Civil Rights policies were embraced as ideals, yet ignored socially. Black Americans began to see the need to speak for themselves, to use their own words to unite against the hypocrisy of an unjust War that could not deliver on the ideals for which it claimed. Not only did many Black writers feel the drive to change life on the homefront, but they also aimed to avoid further African American involvement in Vietnam. Like Plato they too believed that poetry could stop warfare. According to Howard Nemerov in Reflections on Poetry and Poetics: Plato actually seems to believe, in a famous place in The Republic, that both poetry and ... a national conscience, or a national morale at any rate, really existed. So strongly did he believe in the relationship between them that their libertine and effeminate individualism might impair the soldiers' will to fight. (147) Unlike Plato, these poets suggest poetry to end War rather that ban the poets in order to sustain it. African American poetry of the Vietnam War reflects both the national, political conscience and a culturaL historical pride unique to the Black American. While many early Black American texts equated the struggle for freedom with the acceptance of the Christian faith and imitation of the traditionally "moral" white man, the Black Arts Movement of the sixties reflected a subculture dissatisfied with this delusion. The Black Arts Movement poets challenged the false logic of the good slave expected to live out life in godly submission to white masters with death as the price of freedom. Although earlier African American writers like Frederick Douglass of the 19th century and 0 laudah Equiano of the 17th century addressed the then-literate majority of white congregations, the works ofBaraka