8
BLACK INK
November, 1972
Book review
‘No Name
in the Street’
Poem (No Name No. 3)
by Nikki Giovanni
The Black Revolution is passing you bye negroes
Anne Frank didn’t put cheese and bread away from you
Because she knew it would be different this time
The Nazi boots won’t march this year
Won’t march next year
Won’t come to pick you up in a honka honka VW bus
So don’t wait for that negroes
They already got Malcolm
They already got LeRoi
They already strapped a harness on Rap
They already pulled Stokely’s teeth
They already here if you can hear properly negroes
Didn’t you hear them when 40 thousand Indians died from
exposure to
honkies
Didn’t you hear them when Viet children died from
exposure to napalm
Can’t you hear them when Arab women die from exposure
to Israeli jews
You hear them while you die from exposure to wine and
poverty programs
If you hear properly negroes
Tomorrow was too late to properly arm yourself
See can you do now something, anything, but move now
negro
If the Black Revolution passes you bye it’s for damned
sure
The white reaction to it won’t.
Original short
story complete here
In a time when almost
everyone is writing books and
subjects are, unfortunately,
limited, what matters is not
what one writes but how he
writes. Obviously, James
Baldwin’s literary style has
merited him the privilege to add
another book to his shelf of
published works.
Baldwin’s latest book. No
Name in the Street, entails a
discussion of his times and of
the American society,
categorized conventionally,
analyzed thoroughly, and
relayed to readers as
philosophical thought.
The educational process is
depicted as indoctrinating for
whites and subjucating for
blacks. He also treats other
institutions with such analysis.
“One writes out of one’s own
experiences,” according to
Baldwin. And, if life is an
accumulation of experiences,
then Baldwin’s eight books
indicate he has seen a lot to
write about. No Name in the
Street investigates and relates his
years socially, morally,
politically, and sexually. The
result: it is not his life which is
actually being examined but the
American system. He tells the
story of the Black man in
America; he tells the story of
America. True. Both stories are
old prose in these 1970’s, but
Baldwin’s literary style refreshes
them historically with his usual
technique of personal
encounters.
He relives snatches of his
childhood, his adventures in
Europe, his first visit to the
South, and his encounters with
famous Black activists. As he
relays these events, he analyzes
them in terms of societal
influence, psychological
evolution, and social
stratification.
“The business of the writer is
to examine attitudes, to go
beneath the surface, to tape the
source,” Baldwin once wrote.
And so he does, when he
evaluates all facets of hfe,
attributing the devastation of
America to generations of social
ills and neglect. “Oh pioneers”
exemplifies that he is pointing
an accusing finger at white
supremacy.
Symbolically, Baldwin’s work
is not Paul Revere’s warning.
Nor is he assuming the role of a
prophet. He is tactfully narrating
the unforeseen as to the destiny
of America. It is a pessimistic
outlook. “An old world is
dying,” states Baldwin. His
prophecies in The Fire Next
Time are historically rendered in
No Name in the Street.
“People pay for what they
do, and, still more for what they
have allowed themselves to
become,” he writes. He describes
the whites as a people clinging to
their captivity and insisting on
their own destruction. Why?
Because they are thoughtless
people who never honestly
assessed their past. And, their
past actions have made the
present inevitable. He writes,
“the past makes the present
coherent.”
This same analysis is used in
evaluating the lives of Blacks. As
he takes a look at famous Blacks
and their lifetimes, he holds
accountable the social and
political process. He reviews
persons like Martin Luther King,
Jr., Malcolm X, and George
Jackson during their trials,
assassinations, and funerals.
No Name in the Street is by
no means intellectually
nourishing. But, it can be
thought provoking.
Baldwin is a writer, not a
historian, sociologist, or
psychologist. The success of his
work stems from his
achievement in mastering the
contemporary American essay.
He has the ability to organize
disarrayed events into the form
of art.
MY WHOLE LIFE
by Brenda Wadsworth
Mark. E. Coplon shifted his
weight nervously in the plush
orange chair of the waiting room
In the twenty-fiye minutes he
had been there his eyes had
completely and carefully etched
the impression of each painting,
each chair, each book, and each
individual occupying the same
room upon his memory. It was
quiet. Almost too quiet. His eyes
now bore a hole through the
door leading outside.
The phone on the
receptionist’s desk buzzed
noisily. He averted his gaze, yet
allowed his eyes to rest briefly
once again on every object that
fell in his path, until they finally
reached the desk and the motion
halted. With a faint sigh he put
down the magazine he had been
holding for the past ten minutes
and twisted in his chair to face
the nearest window. And then
he thought—dared to think
about the unexplainable series of
events that had brought him to
Life Planning Facilities that
Monday morning.
So much had happened, he
did not really know where to
begin. But here he had come to
place the bits and pieces of his
entire twenty years on the desk
of the Central Council—the
eternal Central Council that
promised to help people create
some type of life and style out
of a frustrated and tortured
existence.
He laughed softly to himself,
knowing that the Council would
be undertaking a big problem
when all the ups and downs of
his past existence had been
divulged. Would they seriously
believe that one so young could
he so completely botched up?
He had done nothing, seen
nothing, felt nothing. Emptiness.
A void. People he shunned,
though companionship he
longed for desperately. Think.
He could not really think. It was
too painful. Requiring too many
associations, too much conscious
effort. He feared contemplating
the vastness of the ordeal.
Nothing was oriented. All was
disjointed, confused. WRONG.
Wait. He was frightening
himself. He jerked back around
in the chair, pressing the base of
his spine hard against the
interior that only gave softly. He
quickly re-evaluated the scene.
Not much had changed. The
receptionist was talking to
another client. He relaxed and
gingerly lit a cigarette.
The Central Council, he
snickered, the great Central
Council. Could they possibly
help though, could they possibly
help? Could they? Could they?
He had heard so many lovely
stories and read of their amazing
accomplishments with people
like himself: the misfits, the
lonely, the sad. The Central
Council made them human, gave
them feelings, a purpose.
Mr. Coplon, Mr. Coplon. The
receptionist was tapping his
shoulder. You can go in now
His eyes darted about the room.
Everyone was watching him. Not
with sneers, but gentle, prodding
glances. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Give them your life. Your blood.
Go ahead. But you’ll never come
out Mark E. Coplon. You’ll
never come out. Their soul is
better than no soul Mark E.
Coplon. Their soul is better than
no soul.
DO YOU READ YOUR PAPER?
1. Who proposed the theory of the "new niggers?"
2. What Black leader mobilized the Black community during the
"Wilmington Insurrection" of February 4—6, 1971?
3. When are the regular BSM meetings?
4. What is the legislative organ of the BSM and when does it
meet? Who is your campus area representative on this body?
5. What is the fundamental premise of Brianism?
6. What five things should we do to relate our college experiences
to the Black community?
7. Who is the coordinator of the BSM drama group?
8. Who was the first B lack athlete of the month?
9. What country did "Stu" represent in the Olympics? He has
won a Bronze Medal — was it in the Olympics? If not, where?
10. Who is the director of the UNC YWCA?
11. Name five (5) important events in the Black experience that
happened during November.
12. What is the "Ebony Expressions?" Who was its founder and in
what Black institution did it have its beginnings?
13. Who is being quoted?
"Pat yourselves on the back brothers and sisters, and then bend
over and let the man kick you some more, until you get tired of
it ... . When you come back from your Third World Ego
Trip ... . Come join us. We'll still be struggling .... we will still
be Black!"
"Come together, read, discuss and agree upon a Black agenda for
lit>eration."
"UNITY, AWARENESS AND LIBERATION"
14. Who is the Black Resident Advisor in your dorm and where
does he live?
15. There are some "firsts" for Blacks at UNC this year. Do you
know what they are?
16. Who is Dr. Blyden Jackson and what course does he teach?
17. How much are BSM dues? Who do you pay them to, and when
are they due?
IF YOU CANNOT ANSWER ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS,
REREAD THE PAST TWO ISSUES OF YOUR BLACK INK' READ
YOUR FUTURE ISSUES MORE CAREFULLY.
IF YOU ANSWERED ALL OF THE QUESTIONS CORRECTLY,
KEEP ON PUSHIN' .... MORE POWER!!!
My whole life is
So demanding
I have to be
Polite and
Respectable
I must never
Step out of
Place or
Act
Superior
When I
Hurt
I should hide it
And
Pretend
There is no
Pain.
Why?
I want to
Act
Silly and
Throw
Fits and
Cry and
Run
Wild in the streets.
I am
Sick of
Holding things
In and
Being conventional.
One day
I intend to
Break loose
And
Blow
This whole
Phoney world
Out of
Place!
AUDITIONS
How many niggers did you say were out there?
Four.
Give cla.ssic ballet as a starter...
If they can do that
Mak’em walk on water!
Ruby ('. Saunders