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71
kill that being which we call a nigger?” And “Huh? nigger can you/kill”
may be read as an inversion of the same question: “that being called
nigger, can you kill it?” The rest of the poem bears out this reading. She
continues:
Can you kill the nigger
in you
Can you make your nigger mind
die
Can you kill your nigger mind
It is clear in these lines that Giovanni is admonishing the “nigger”
(perhaps even her reader?) to throw off their colonized minds, to kill that
within them that has been brainwashed by white America. The stakes for
not doing so are incredibly high:
We kill in Viet Nam
for them
We kill for UN & NATO & SEATO & US
And everywhere for all alphabet but
BLACK
Black people are sent to fight and die in wars around the world under the
banner of the American flag and as U.S. citizens. Yet, full equality at
home has not been achieved. Here, Giovanni asserts an argument that is
not new. Black people have fought in every war in which the U.S. has
Object Description
| Title | "As shelters against the cold": women writers of the Black Arts and Chicano movements, 1965-1978 |
| Author | Ryder, Ulli Kira |
| Author email | uryder@usc.edu; uryder@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | American Studies & Ethnicity |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-08-27 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Restricted until 27 October 2010. |
| Date published | 2010-10-27 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | McKenna, Teresa |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Sanchez, George J. Johnson, Dana |
| Abstract | This dissertation examines the work of women writers in the Black Arts and Chicano movements during the years 1965-1978. I argue that understanding the intersectional nature of the women's experiences is crucial for understanding their literary output. Further, I argue that Chicanas and African American women of this era challenged homogenous notions of community and racial identity and that we can trace the development of the Third World feminism and multiculturalism that came to the fore in the 1980s to this earlier period. Thus, this study also impacts the way we conceptualize identity formation and the creation of the literary canon. Investigating the ways in which these women integrated nationalist and feminist rhetoric and activism in their work is crucial for a full understanding of this critical period in U.S. history. At stake is an understanding of how Chicana and African American women in the United States have formed identities and communities; struggled for liberation and equality; and become part of the U.S. literary canon. |
| Keyword | Black Power; Black Arts movement; Chicano movement; civil rights; racial identity formation; womanism; borderlands theory; feminism; Third World feminism; nationalism; intersectionality |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA |
| Coverage date | 1965/1978 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1698 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Ryder, Ulli Kira |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Ryder-2415 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume40/etd-Ryder-2415.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 76 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 71 kill that being which we call a nigger?” And “Huh? nigger can you/kill” may be read as an inversion of the same question: “that being called nigger, can you kill it?” The rest of the poem bears out this reading. She continues: Can you kill the nigger in you Can you make your nigger mind die Can you kill your nigger mind It is clear in these lines that Giovanni is admonishing the “nigger” (perhaps even her reader?) to throw off their colonized minds, to kill that within them that has been brainwashed by white America. The stakes for not doing so are incredibly high: We kill in Viet Nam for them We kill for UN & NATO & SEATO & US And everywhere for all alphabet but BLACK Black people are sent to fight and die in wars around the world under the banner of the American flag and as U.S. citizens. Yet, full equality at home has not been achieved. Here, Giovanni asserts an argument that is not new. Black people have fought in every war in which the U.S. has |
