Who is able to be a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr? Why? What are the standards and elements that make him MLK? The way in which MLK Jr has been packaged as more than a noun, but a verb and an adjective moves him from being a ‘particular’ and into the realm of the ‘universal’. MLK is something that we do – his actions and influence have become a dictionary definition of peaceful protest (according to acceptable cultural standards). Walker’s poem has a conversation with the idea of who can be a ‘King’; the definition of such is found within the accomplishments and actions of MLK Jr., and because of that this poem hovers in the middle of the universal/particular spectrum.
I really appreciate the form that Walker uses; the short lines and lack of punctuation make me read the poem quickly, taking in the words as a single important concept instead of a poem made up of various parts. The question mark at the end of the poem is given even more impact – this concept is a question that I must answer…that I am meant to contemplate and because of that, the poem becomes personal (I love how punctuation can establish a relationship between content and reader).
The question that Walker asks is an important one – if status is taken away from the particular…if the specific identifiers are changed, could this figure still aspire to become universal? Would we still use this ‘new King’ as a verb/adjective if he is a rap artist if he is no longer a doctor “but a little faster/ from the streets/ quoting gangsta rap/ not Gandhi” (7-10)? In essence, Walker is asking a question about social and cultural standards…what is acceptable as a worthy figure and what is not, what is acceptable enough to become the universal and what is not.
I view these concepts as a continuum of energy that flows from one to the other and back again…they cannot be separated because one forms from the other and vice versa. What was once particular can become universal and the other way around. Walker’s poem contemplates this idea by looking at the unjust standards we place on social/cultural acceptance (the doctor vs. the thug).
Interesting enough, this made me think about Tupac Shakur and how some still do not see him as a poet and continue to view him as a thug and rap artist, but his influence has surpassed that resistance into something universal...I love this by the way (enjoy)
I really appreciate your close read of Walker's poem, down to the relevance of the punctuation. It makes it clear to anyone that the poem challenges the idea that someone "common" and not the world-renown martyr of Dr. King is also just as valid a human being. To look at each other beyond the externals - the street life, the hard, the hunger, the feed - is a truly revolutionary act. I'm so glad you included the video.
ReplyDeleteTupac sang about and sadly never got to see the Black president. This song's melody is so tragic, it sounds like crying. It feels like he's echoing forward Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?" from 1971, 27 years before 2Pac's "Changes." https://youtu.be/H-kA3UtBj4M
Both songs sing directly to Mother/Mama and brother. It's the revolutionary act, the protest against believing what the police and the jail industry have built their mansions on.
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ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your connections between MLK, Walker and Tupac. I also think that it's very sad that Tupac is not seen as canonical when his poems are so obviously crafted with more mastery than I have read in a lot of "classical" literature. And as for the question that walker uses, I think critics always write off the artists and thinkers that they should be listening to. The resistance to change sickens me, Tupac was so right and I don't think we as a society learned from his warnings.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Tupac in the connection. It makes total sense in terms of linear movement and Rhyme. or lack there of. Does this interesting unwinding of MLK is identity and I think it's very effective and you seem to catch it and the way it's done completely
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