N.J. poet laureate asked to resign
dailyrecord.com
Anti-Israel passage angers McGreevey
By Chris Gosier, Daily Record
Gov. James E. McGreevey has asked for the resignation of New Jersey's poet laureate for publicly reading a poem that suggests that Israel had foreknowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks.
But the poet laureate -- Amiri Baraka of Newark -- was defiant on Friday, saying he refuses to quit.
The passage, delivered at a poetry festival at Waterloo Village in Byram last weekend, has provoked an outcry from the Anti-Defamation League, which is calling it an anti-Semitic statement that continues a "pernicious lie" about Israel.
Baraka, who was named the state's poet laureate in May, says the passage is aimed at Israeli policies, not Jews generally. He said he plans to line up support from the state's artistic community.
"I'm not resigning. That's bizarre," Baraka said Friday.
"If they do this, I'm going to call on poets throughout the state to resist this. See how this war turns out."
McGreevey can only ask Baraka to resign, a spokesman said. The governor has no power to rescind his appointment because it was made by a panel of the New Jersey State Council of the Arts and the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, spokesman Kevin Davitt said.
Davitt said McGreevey asked Baraka on Thursday for his resignation. Baraka, however, said he knew nothing about McGreevey's request.
Officials with the arts council and the humanities council could not be reached for comment.
Baraka, a Newark native, is the state's second poet laureate. He was first associated with the Beat Generation writers while in his 20s, and was a leader of the Black Arts movement of the 1960s. He first attained national attention for his Obie Award-winning play, "Dutchman," written under the name of Leroi Jones, and he continues to confront political and social issues in his work.
The controversial passage comes from "Somebody Blew Up America," a six-page poem that Baraka delivered on Sept. 20 at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival at Waterloo Village. The poem was written last year, before Baraka was appointed poet laureate.
The poem touches on a variety of world events and current social issues before reaching the passage:
"Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed
Who told 4,000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers
To stay home that day
Why did (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon stay away?"
The ADL released a statement Friday praising McGreevey's decision.
"It may be that as a poet, Mr. Baraka may say what he chooses, no matter how ugly, irresponsible or deceptive," the statement says. "However, we don't believe that the residents of New Jersey, nor their representatives, should have such anti-Semitic venom spewed in their name."
The ADL also provided an opinion piece by its national director, Abraham H. Foxman, saying, "Jews have been scapegoated and libeled throughout history.
"Since the attacks, the conspiracy-mongers of the Arab world … have taken anti-Israel propaganda to a new level," Foxman said.
Jim Haba, director of the Geraldine R. Dodge festival, said poets are free to read what they want and he didn't know about the poem beforehand.
"The festival itself does not sanction this kind of attack or slur, and does not support it, and never has," Haba said.
Haba said he was offended by the passage, but praised the rest of the poem for recounting other instances of oppression, including the persecution of Jews.
"The poem, if you look at it, has a lot more going on in it," Haba said. "It's a very ambitious poem that tries to take on the question of the assumption and the use of power in the world, and specifically in the history of the United States."
Haba said several people in the audience shouted "boo" when the passage was read.
Baraka said he wrote the passage out of belief that numerous nations, including Israel, knew the attacks would happen.
In the section, he says, he was asking questions about the attacks and who was responsible for them.
He said he mentioned Israel specifically "because (Israel) particularly has been allowed to use (President) Bush's declaration of war on terrorism as a justification for massacring the Palestinians."
"Judaism and Israel are not synonymous, just like Christianity and the United States are not synonymous," he said.
Davitt said McGreevey was not seeking Baraka's ouster at the urging of the ADL. McGreevey's statement said he "strongly condemns any racist or anti-Semitic remark by any individual."
"The language used in (the) poem could be interpreted as stating that Israelis were forewarned of the Sept. 11 attacks," McGreevey said.
"Mr. Baraka should clarify the intent of his language, apologize for any potential misinterpretation and resign."
Despite the flap over the poem, Haba called it "a tiny, tiny moment in a huge event."
"We're talking about less than five seconds within 160 hours of performances over four days at the festival," Haba said. |
