Poetry And Politics: Autum Ashante's School Appearance

March 14, 2006 — - A 7-year-old New York poet has fired up adults following a racially charged performance at a middle school.

Autum Ashante, who is home-schooled and lives with her father in Mount Vernon, was invited by a music teacher to present her poetry during a Black History Month program at Peekskill Middle School on Feb. 28. She has written her own poetry and performed in front of audiences since she was 4.

Before reciting a poem, Ashante asked only the black students in the audience to stand and recite with her the "Black Child's Pledge" by the Black Panther Party's Shirley Williams. It begins, "I pledge allegiance to my black people. I pledge to develop my mind and body to the greatest extent possible. I will learn all that I can in order to give my best to my people in their struggle for liberation."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=1723616&page=1

Here's the poem:

White Nationalism Put U In Bondage
White nationalism is what put you in bondage
Pirate and vampires like Columbus, Morgan, and Darwin
Drank the blood of the sheep, trampled all over them with
Steel, tricks and deceit.
Nothing has changed take a look in our streets
The mis-education of she and Hegro -- leaves you on your knee2grow
Black lands taken from your hands, by vampires with no remorse
They took the gold, the wisdom and all of the storytellers
They took the black women, with the black man weak
Made to watch as they changed the paradigm
Of our village
They killed the blind, they killed the lazy, they went
So far as to kill the unborn baby
Yeah White nationalism is what put you in bondage
Pirates and vampires like Columbus, Morgan, and Darwin
They drank the blood of the sheep, trampled all over them with
Steel laden feet, throw in the tricks alcohol and deceit.
Nothing has changed take a look at our streets.

I know I'll piss off plenty of people when I say I think the poem is lousy and doesn't reflect a child's unfettered imagination. It's stilted and trite. Yes, I know she's only 7. That's largely my point. The poetry of talented yougsters is much freer.

The poem sucks.

I was totally expecting to be attacked.

What is "White Nationalism"? White is a color, or a race. Nationalism has nothing to do with color or race but rather nationality. The poem goes down hill from there.

At that age (hell, at any age), kids who are writing poetry are writing work that's largely derivative of the work they're exposed to.

"The poetry of talented youngsters is much freer" because those "talented" youngsters are exposed to free verse. Go into any elementary classroom today and you're more likely to see Williams's "The Red Wheelbarrow" being taught, but not Kilmer's "Trees." I state this not as criticism, but as a fact.

I'd like to acknowledge for the thread's sake this poem's obvious influence by hip-hop metrical patterns and wordplay. I'm no scholar of hip-hop, and I never listen to it with the exception of what I'm exposed to on the radio. But I listened to "The Mis-Education of Lauryn Hill" enough times to recognize the use of similar lyrical techniques and rhythmic patterns. Even the way the poem breaks with its own metrics is common in the hip-hop I've heard.

I could go on, but I'll stop before I bore myself.

Thanks for posting this. I quite enjoyed it.

I didn't mean freer in the sense of form, but freer in association and content, more imaginative. It really doesn't have that much to do with whether a child is exposed to Shakespeare's sonnets or William's "wheelbarrow". I hope to god they're not reading Kilmer.

Any form can ve a vehicle for free expression, be it a sestina or haiku. There's something very pedestrian about this poem.

Can you specify what in particular strikes you as pedestrian? I still don't understand what you're getting at.

The poem is pretty complex for a seven-year old mind. I'll be the first to acknowledge that in all probability the content merely mimics or regurgitates whatever the child is being taught at home. This is to be expected in work coming from children that age. What impresses me is that this child is regurgitating a fairly complex thesis, and a political one at that. Most political poetry that comes from children is far simpler in its scope and of the "war is bad, peace is good, let's hold hands" variety. This poem points its finger, and I applaud its bravery.

Kids will go to great lengths to please their parents, and aren't even conscious of it.