The Owl
(An Answer to Amiri Baraka’s Someone Blew Up America’s Question of “Who?”)
The amount of corruption within the United States’ violent involvement in the Middle East is almost unreal. Unfortunately, the wars have been too real—half a million deaths in the first year of Iraqi Freedom alone (Rogers). These wars have been labeled--the violence, filtered-- to fit a specific agenda. Whether the deaths are deemed an acceptable loss in the name of national security, or as a devastating injustice, the reality doesn’t change. Lives have been lost. Lives that will never be brought back. The intention of wars is in part due to attacks on the twins towers on September 11th 2001. When the buildings fell, almost three thousand people died, according…show more content… Many conspiracy theories exist about the attacks. Although it is commonly held that the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda is responsible, some think it was an inside job—coming from the United States. Others acknowledge Al-Qaeda as the perpetrator, but blame the cause on past involvement of the United States in the Middle East. One such person is Amiri Baraka. In his poem, Somebody Blew Up America, Baraka points to the larger system as the root cause of violence. He never blames a single entity, but through the use of rhetorical questioning it is obvious as to whom Baraka is accusing as being the real terrorist. Using the word “who” 191 times, Baraka establishes a connection within any reader who feels empathy with victims of anonymous crimes. (IV 1) Who is to blame? Amiri Baraka’s Somebody Blew Up…show more content… Not only does he mention the “Klan” but also KKK members, David Duke, and Trent Lott. Mentioning Wall Street as the first plantation, manifest destiny, and control of oil serve as a few examples to prove America is the “who”. Slavery made a metaphor to describe the terror induced by white America. The most common verbs in the poem are “own,” “stole,” and “killed” appearing over fifty times total. The language is charged with these slavery trigger words. Not to mention, the graphic details of, “Who cut your nuts off/ Who rape your ma/ Who lynched your pa/ Who got the tar, who got the feathers/ Who had the match, who set the fires”, are a direct life line to black America. This balance between brutal and savage descriptions and epistemological repetition of trigger words makes the target of the poem clear. For it to be any more clear, Baraka would have to name the individuals of which he speaks. Coincidently, he does. 67 individuals—mostly victims—are named by Amiri Baraka. Looking at one pair of victims, the Rosenbergs, is enough to get the picture. Although every name holds an identity and story that is important to Baraka’s portrayal of white America, the specific story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg is enough to understand. According to the New York Times, “Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg were American citizens executed for conspiracy to commit