“Who invaded GrenadaWho made money from apartheidWho keep the Irish a colonyWho overthrow Chile and Nicaragua laterWho killed David Sibeko, Chris Hani,the same ones who killed Biko, Cabral,Neruda, Allende, Che Guevara, Sandino,Who killed Kabila, the ones who wasted Lumumba, Mondlane , Betty Shabazz, Princess Margaret, Ralph Featherstone, Little BobbyWho locked up Mandela, Dhoruba, Geronimo,Assata, Mumia,Garvey, Dashiell Hammett, Alphaeus HuttonWho killed Huey Newton, Fred Hampton,MedgarEvers, Mikey Smith, Walter Rodney,Was it the ones who tried to poison FidelWho tried to keep the Vietnamese OppressedWho put a price on Lenin’s head?”(Amiri Baraka)

Who says Amiri Baraka is no more?He is alive as long as there exists humanity. He shall remain relevant as long as critical questions continue to be posed. When Baraka wrote the poem “Somebody Blew Up America”, he was accused of anti-semitism, he was stripped of the poet laureate rank of New Jersey and many prominent political leaders and activists ridiculed him for having taken such a radical stand at a time when the country was mourning 9/11, as jingoism was the only poetic license a poet could afford to retain in America then. And yet, Amiri Baraka did not give in to the patriotic flavor of the day. He instead spoke the truth. Awards and recognitions were not going to influence him. He relinquished the honorary positions. He adopted what a true radical does: he remained unafraid of truth.

This truth however became the contentious issue for a hypocritical world order that soon termed him as controversial. What was controversial about furthering the cause of peace as an active oppositional stand against militarism and racism? Upon his demise, New York Times called him the “polarizing poet”. Polarizing? What was polarizing about the poet who dreamt of unifying the world while challenging the artificial geographical borders conveniently set by colonial masters?

Amiri Baraka was neither controversial nor polarizing. He was a poet, a historian, a progressive, romantic, revolutionary communist. And he was always unafraid of truth. The truth to him was revolution. A revolution to him was beyond a certain group of people, certain race of people, or people of a certain nationality. Like Paul Robeson before him, he strove for the revolution through his art. He shunned social divisions imposed by the ruling class. And if to acquire this truth, he had to struggle to reach there, he remained unafraid of that. He was not ashamed of transforming himself as a political being if by doing so he could further the progressive causes of the world. He wrote:

“I see art as a weapon of revolution. I define revolution in Marxist terms. Once I defined revolution in Nationalist terms. But I came to my Marxist view as a result of having struggled as a Nationalist and found certain dead ends theoretically and ideologically, as far as Nationalism was concerned and had to reach out for the communist ideology.”

When I met Amiri Baraka for the first time in Summer of 2011 at his house, he was 77. I had expected to see an old man, a retired poet, a tired revolutionary, or maybe a combination of all three. What I found in him instead was a young man deeply curious to know about international affairs, a passionate researcher sharing his new findings, and an enthusiastic radical radiating hope for the future. I had promised to be back to his place for another meeting, perhaps to conduct a more formal interview. But then I also knew that formal interviews are not conducted with lovers of revolution. Or, maybe I was quick to abandon any professional project in the midst of the hearty welcome, fine homemade foods and introductions with his entire family; the warmth and love that they bestowed upon my father (journalist Subhas Chandra Pattanayak) and I, when we visited him along with my dearest friend Dr. Todd S Burroughs, and beloved Professor and freedom fighter Dr. Les Edmond.

Todd S Burroughs, Amiri Baraka, Subhas Chandra Pattanayak, Les Edmond

I saw Mr. Baraka two more times - once in Brooklyn during an evening of revolutionary recitals, and the last time was at a Left Forum event. On both the occasions, he kindly asked about my father and reminded me that we needed to have that interview we have been planning for. Well, the interview could never finally take place. But I have no regrets at all. The fact that I did get to see him in person a few times was itself such a precious experience. The fact that he and his remarkable wife, revolutionary poetess Amina Baraka posed for my lens will always remain the high point of my artistic career.

Amina Baraka & Amiri BarakaPersonal is political and that is how I was drawn towards him early on. And that is the philosophy which was embodied in Baraka’s works throughout. His poems inspired me and empowered me. Baraka to me was Langston Hughes of our times. A poet of his people, a poet for all people. Like Hughes, his songs carried messages not of hope, but of revolution. Not of charities and feel good rhetorics, of sweet talks or inner peace bullshits. But of raw emotions, critical posers and call for actions.Hughes had written:“GoodbyeChrist Jesus Lord God Jehova,Beat it on away from here now.Make way for a new guy with no religion at all-A real guy namedMarx Communist Lenin Peasant Stalin Worker ME-I said, ME!”

Baraka, too wrote:“We’ll worship JesusWhen Jesus doSomethinWhen jesus blow upthe white house…we’ll worship jesus whenhe get bad enough to at least scaresomebody - cops not afraidof jesuspushers not afraidof jesus, capitalists racistsimperialists not afraidof jesus shit they makin money off jesuswe’ll worship jesus when Maodo, when tour doeswhen the cross replaces Nkrumah’s starJesus need to hurt some a ourenemies, then we’ll check him out…we ain’t gon worship jesusnot till he do somethingnot till he help usnot till the world get changedand he ain’t, jesus ain’t, he can’t change the worldwe can change the worldwe can struggle against the forces of backwardness,we can struggle against our selves, our slowness, our connectionwith the oppressor, the very cultural aggression which binds us to our enemiesas their slaves.we can change the worldwe aint gonna worship jesus cause jesus don’t existexcept in slum stained tears or trillion dollar opulence stretching back in history, the historyof the oppression of the human mindxxxxxwe worship the strength in uswe worship our selves….throw jesus out your mindbuild the new world out of reality, and new visionwe come to find out what there is of the worldto understand what there is here in the world!to visualize change, and force it.we worship revolution.”

Todd S Burroughs, Amiri Baraka & Saswat Pattanayak

This is the Baraka I have known. The “real guy” Hughes wanted us to remember, emulate and while worshipping the revolution, to worship the revolutionary. It is not the gods who are immortal. It is Baraka and the revolutionaries like him who shall always live in our midst.

Immortality is radicalism. Going to the roots and to find that all of us never really perished. We are all connected with each other, in our life form and without, in our present and our collective history. This is again what Baraka used to characterize as "Digging", the name of the outstanding work of his that traces the evolution of Afro-American art. About that book, he had written, "This book is a microscope, a telescope, and being Black, a periscope. All to dig what is deeply serious...The sun is what keeps this planet alive, including the Music, like we say, the Soul of which is Black."

Baraka's black-is-beautiful was a legendary call for international unity for the people of the third world. It was a call for communism in a country that was the most anti-communist in the planet. Baraka never faltered, never feared and always remained the fighter, against conventional wisdom. In "Reggae or Not!", he outlined who he was as a black man in America:

“Self DeterminationRevolutionSocialism Socialism SocialismDEATH TO ALLIGATOR EATING CAPITALISMDEATH TO BIG TEETH BLOOD DRIPPING IMPERIALISMI be black angry communistI be part of rising black nationI be together with all fighters who fight imperialismI be together in a party with warmakers for the peopleI be black and african and still contemporary marxist warriorI be connected to people by blood and history and pain and struggleWe be together a party as one fist and voiceWe be I be We, We, We, the whole fist and invincible flameWe be a party soon, we know our comrade for struggle…Only Socialism will savethe Black NationOnly Socialism will saveAmericaOnly Socialism will savethe world!”

Goodbye, angry black communist. See you again in the morning, the soul of the sun.

- Saswat Pattanayak || Saswat.com