Vol. XIX No. 10 Lotsa Groovv Love Stuff Fbhrnarv 11 199
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S ,:; I i~ a it :i I; ii · :~ :iii ~: :~ ii ::: 8 Ii.s :::~rt:e , :.: g i~ ,.x :' ': :: ii z a :i i: :: ' Ii · s x ii ii , :i ii · 1 ":::ii :. .:....:I5 aii i f · P:::: 8: S:-:·-· 1BI Di., ,· Bi :# I njI' e at; :2~ sje O''i:i: n~ i:' i) B ,uesfj, or · · ·i · a :t ndl.r uia~llt~ By Anne Ruggiero & Michael Yeh Kawaida. lives of social groups outside of our own--the Blue Ark was created fifteen years ago chance to be in class with a student who cele- "God has been replaced, as he has all over to promote awareness of black history and cul- brates different holidays, to converse with the West, with respectability and air conditioning." ture. The group has performed at schools, the- someone who has had a completely different --Amiri Baraka aters, and various jazz festivals. "Jazz is just upbringing, and to learn from a professor visit- real music from the heart," said band member ing from another country. This diversity A moving call to consolidating black Dwight West. "Traveling with the ensemble encourages tolerance, defies ignorance, and power rang out on campus, accompanied with and seeing the expressions on people's faces is makes us better citizens. It is in this spirit which 11 1 • c,• ~i poetry and jazz. really uplitmg. we celebrate Black History Month. Amiri Baraka, Baraka 's poetry touch- The Student Black History Month professor emeritus of es on themes in black his- Planning Committee has organized a number of Africana Studies at tory including slavery, events scheduled for the next couple of weeks, Stony Brook, read selec- segregation, and contem- which portray the significance of pausing to tions from his poetry porary social issues. The reflect on the position of the black community anthologies with his wife performance began with a in modem society. The events include lectures, Amina and jazz band portrayal of the rich cul- movies, concerts, and dance performances, with "Blue Ark: The Word ture of Africa. This tran- esteemed speakers and entertainers, and the Ship" on Thursday, quil scene was quickly Dance Theatre of Harlem. February 5. broken up with a disso- Other events organized in celebration Baraka is an nant shrill of a saxophone. of Black History for coming weeks are a screen- award-winning poet, The four narrators ing of the movies Rosewood and Soul Food, a playwright, and essayist, screamed in agony and lecture on emerging leaders of the twenty-first and a Catholic mass with a black who has been both Professor Amiri Baraka. (IPhzoto by Brian Schneider) made whippmg motions, century, praised and criticized for representing the great suf- Gospel choir. his militant civil rights stance. He received the fering 'from slavery. Familiar tunes such as At the end of his performance, prestigious Obie Award for his 1964 play The "When the Saints Come Marching In," "Take the Professor Baraka emphasized the importance to Dutchman, in which blacks and whites engage A Train," and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" took continue the fight against racism. The audience in symbolic confrontation. In addition to pen- on new meanings when combined with leapt up to give a standing ovation, as the per- ning nineteen other plays, he has composed Baraka's poetry. formers raised their fists in unison and pro- three jazz operas, two novels, seven nonfiction Stony Brook's identity centers largely claimed, "Keep struggling!" pieces, and thirteen volumes of poetry. In his on its diverse population. Multifarious ethnici- spare time, Baraka has founded the African Free ties among the student body and faculty have School, the Malcolm X Writers Workshop, Totem contributed to the cherished atmosphere of For more information on Black History Press, edited several magazines, and is the racial variety. The diversity of the Stony Brook Month events, call the Office of Student leader of the black Muslim organization campus has gifted us with rare insight into the Activities at 2-6470. THE STONY BROOK PRESS PAGE 2 .-I ' -B e-~-~p- __~p -_ -- _ ICt- I Q ------- ~-k- - I _ I s b~C I --~-- 1 -9 --- ~ ISSUES FLBA By Chris Sorochin would tell them my name was something less The thing that I found objectionable was obviously Christian than "Chris" and if they made that in both the displays and the little English-lan- (Author's Note: I had trouble coming up with a bigoted remarks, I would suddenly reveal that my guage guidebook available, the impression given is good, snappy title for this, until I read in Newsday forebears had been Jews and see what they would that the victims of this outrage were all Polish that the Press delights in giving intentional and say to that. This didn't happen. In fact, during the Catholics. The museum lobby walls are covered gratuitous offense. Problem solved! Notice how entire trip, everyone was most kind and hospitable with a mural naming all the camps in Poland my choice grabs the attention of the reader, has to me, especially my friend Karol and his family, (many more than I had known of), each symbolized only a tangential relation to the article's content who plied me with more food and drink than I by a cross. Similarly, "Points of Interest" maps from and is sure to get in the withered craw of decent thought humanly possible. Even relative strangers the Polish tourist board indicate the camps again Catholic church ladies like Candace de Russy.) were quite nice. I can't remember anyone being with a cross. The guidebook describes Pawiak as When I told friends, acquaintances and really nasty or rude to me, whicl exterminate the Polish hangers-on that I planned to spend my winter miss New York. people. I was dum- vacation in Poland, I got reactions similar to those Nor did I witness any of founded: there was one would expect upon announcing a little mid- the open racism and invective no mention of the fact winter jaunt to Antarctica, no doubt attributable to against foreigners that can all too that at least a good a melange of leftover Cold War propaganda, stale easily be seen in places like half of those annihi- Polish jokes and general American ignorance and Germany. (While there, I read lated were Jews. This apathy towards the rest of the world. Only my that skinheads and neonazis in is unconscionable. Polish-American brother-in-law, who normally has eastern Germany had declared The death camps in nothing positive to say about anything, seemed certain areas "liberated" from Europe are not merely enthused: "Yeah...good people.,.my grandfather foreigners and her undesirables.) the historical patri- used to read the Polish newspaper..." and I did hear Karol's father mony of the countries embarked on some "Roots" fantasy involving refer to a politician he disliked as in which they stand. polkas, pierogis and the Pope. a "Jew." I was told there were They belong to the And, I must admit, I myself even enter- lots of Jewish jokes. And I had to world and as such tained visions of a stark, post-communist waste- clear up several misconceptions must not be restricted land populated by sullen alcoholics and raving ahnb t African-AmPricans which to a narrow, national- .. Polish mini anti-Semites, speaking a language in which the seem to be imported in main- I Mmmmm. wieners... istic function. typical word has five or six ugly, menacing conso- stream US media which is now available in the I have in the works, therefore, a letter to nants and just one puny little vowel to handle country. the museum's curators. In it, I will be uncharacter- them all. This is an image fueled by much of what I also sat through "Fiddler on the Roof" istically diplomatic and say how much I enjoyed passes for journalism on the region. The other, twice; once the movie version on TV and once a live my visit to Poland and appreciated both the beau- newer image is of a "miracle" economy, bright and performance staged by the Teatr Muzyczny of ty of the country and the warmth of its people. I'll newly-capitalistic. Neither is really true. Gdynia to a very appreciative audience -I counted relate how moved I was by the museum and how First, the fabled anti-Semitism. I had at least three curtain calls. On both occasions there important such displays are. Then I'll tell them that hoped not to address this matter at length, since was audible sobbing when they all get "ethnically only half of the story is being told at Pawiak as it it's become something of a cliche, but maybe we cleansed" from their region. There was also a fasci- currently stands and suggest that the "Wall of can now move beyond the overworked stereotype nating TV miniseries about the Polish Resistance Shame" add some stars of David. A pink triangle of primitive, priest-ridden peasants mindlessly under Nazi occupation. In it, a collaborator who or two wouldn't hurt either. despising people who aren't even there anymore.