When poet and black activist Amiri Baraka was a librarian for the Air Force, he and his friends would stay up late, discussing works of great authors ““ and for him, this kind of engagement of ideas is the most important aspect of education.
Baraka spoke to an audience of 200 students about the importance of education and activism Tuesday during Black History Month and the African Student Union’s 40th anniversary.
“We’re celebrating ASU’s 40th anniversary by trying to bring people on campus who are conscious, who are aware about and have written prolific things about our history,” said D’Artagnan Scorza, ASU access coordinator.
Doug Johnson, chairman of ASU, began the event emphasizing the importance of art and activism.
“Art is not just the aesthetic, it’s what it brings, what it makes you think and what it teaches the youth,” Johnson said.
When Baraka was introduced on stage, the audience stood up and applauded him.
In light of Black History Month, Baraka spoke briefly about black suffering, as well as great black activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. He said blacks have been enslaved in the United States for twice as long as they have been free and are still recovering.
Baraka stressed the importance of self-education and asked students to read a range of writing from various activists such as Malcolm X. A degree from a university isn’t enough to make a person an intellectual, he said.
“To be an intellectual, you must understand the world that it is and see what direction it’s going in,” he added.
He criticized the current generation of black people for believing they made it to college simply because they are smarter than past generations. He said the only reason they made it to college is because others, who would never see the inside of a classroom, fought hard to bring them there.
Baraka said he believes that, with the opportunity of education, students can revolutionize the United States, and he urged them to fight against imperialism.
He connected racism, sexism and exploitation of immigrants to imperialism, and said he believes none of these can be ended until imperialism is ended.
Many consider Baraka’s ideas revolutionary.
“Baraka is quite frankly one of the greatest minds of the latter half of the 20th century,” said Scot Brown, an associate professor in the history department at UCLA. “He is consistently fearless to address the problems of his times.”
Baraka stressed change in all the topics he discussed in his speech. He said he wants to change the way the United States works by getting rid of the Electoral College, which is “aimed against poor white people,” he said.
“Why isn’t vote registration automatic?” he asked. “Taxes are automatic.”
He said he wants to change the United State’s government by getting rid of the Senate, which for him is just “two billionaires from each state.” Instead he wants a unicameral government that helps make the country’s decisions.
Baraka ended his speech with a “Low-Ku,” which is what he calls his own version of a haiku, about the problems in the world, as well as a poem about Sept. 11, 2001.
Audience members, such as Karume James, said they found Baraka’s words powerful.
“I think this is a crucial event for the student community at UCLA,” the 2006 alumnus said. “Somebody like Baraka who’s had a trend of speaking with truth and power brings a critical perspective to a student population and a generation.”