Black Panther Party of Northern California - Freedom Archives

Special Ed~i~orial :__ BROTHBR LBROI
Leroi Jorfes started writing while he .was `a,'boyi,'»
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. . . bls.ck
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ow
;~ck p~ ~ .
® ~ . . black, power
,: blaciK ps,z~ the -
o . bls,ck ,px~r;t,~r
he 'h ~s +growtx into a Black
Man, so ha~~ his "~vr3.t ngs developed ar~d matuzed -intcs- some f the mcaart, .3:mpntaant
writings an¢.thopght's of the Black worl,d . .
Sb1'aie Slack writers have severely 'cr aicl ~ Lct`~t~.'t s ~~
Black enough . But what these :writers forget i~ ~Y~at Lero
.._taupe by the wh%te motherfucker t~o buy him of ~ grid ' maims
tablishment writer . ` At the same tune, he has 'g~bwt~ by, ' 1
his prize-winning Cbut not very Black) easay'rr~' a Libre"
orb, he is the one Black American write! to 'feast his
western c3vilizatiorx.'s art for art salve decacierxce ~tnd flip
to the vestibule of mother-Africa . Listen to Leroi bring
ancestarss
. . . . . . . .The magic dance in the street . Run up and dawn Br ad Stareet,nig~gers~
take the shit you want, Take their lives if need be, bu,t et what you ~tant
what you need . Dance up and down the`~treets,'turn all th rnusi~ up, run throe
the streets with music, beautiful radios cn Market Street s tMe~ are brought
here especially for you . Our brothexs are moving a~11 over sms,shing at ~ex~ywh3~te
faces . We must make our owr~ 4Vorld ~ ~~n, Aur own world s an w:e cannot do this
unless the white man is dead . . . . . . . .
Maybe youlre not hip to it ;
but this passage is not
prose, no, . it isn't This
is Afr~.can poetry at it s
best . It is the poetry ;
formless, rhymeless, the
lilting poetry of Africa .
Let it roll off your tongue,,
ululate it, and see, whethex
., y~au can, ever get away
from it .
We ask ; Would these same
Black writexs have had the r
strength ,°' not to submit to
white Azrie~3:carx fin~,nc~.ah
flattery ,and `; still ,be~eo?ne
poet-pr ophets ' for ' Bl ack
pes~ple anywhere ' near the
~r~~,iber of Leroi Jones? We ~~,
~ .
.r; :.
'.~"l~:xV'~i:NCd lJ. Leltui Jones* and
ri~s3rtgs, ~ .neat being
has`~~sme~shed ali at~
~:m 3~nta, . a nigger e~
eps anc~' 'k~wnds since
19-60 ) .: ~ In auz opine~'thetic
effcart Pa®t
Iii$ woxd~" sdur~ds an.~
orth adtir3,ce fray o
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