For Malcolm, A Year After by Etheridge Knight (1966)

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Eulogy delivered by Ossie Davis at the funeral of Malcolm X :

“Here – at this final hour, in this quiet place – Harlem has come to bid farewell to one of its brightest hopes -extinguished now, and gone from us forever. For Harlem is where he worked and where he struggled and fought – his home of homes, where his heart was, and where his people are – and it is, therefore, most fitting that we meet once again – in Harlem – to share these last moments with him. For Harlem has ever been gracious to those who have loved her, have fought her, and have defended her honor even to the death.

It is not in the memory of man that this beleaguered, unfortunate, but nonetheless proud community has found a braver, more gallant young champion than this Afro-American who lies before us – unconquered still. I say the word again, as he would want me to : Afro-American – Afro-American Malcolm, who was a master, was most meticulous in his use of words. Nobody knew better than he the power words have over minds of men. Malcolm had stopped being a ‘Negro’ years ago. It had become too small, too puny, too weak a word for him. Malcolm was bigger than that. Malcolm had become an Afro-American and he wanted – so desperately – that we, that all his people, would become Afro-Americans too." [1]

Poetry

For Malcolm, A Year After

Etheridge Knight

Compose for Red a proper verse;

Adhere to foot and strict iamb;

Control the burst of angry words

Or they might boil and break the dam.

Or they might boil and overflow

And drench me, drown me, drive me mad.

So swear no oath, so shed no tear,

And sing no song blue Baptist sad.

Evoke no image, stir no flame,

And spin no yarn across the air.

Make empty anglo tea lace words—

Make them dead white and dry bone bare.

Compose a verse for Malcolm man,

And make it rime and make it prim.

The verse will die—as all men do—

but not the memory of him!

Death might come singing sweet like C,

Or knocking like the old folk say,

The moon and stars may pass away,

But not the anger of that day. [2]

Author

Etheridge Knight was born April 19, 1931, an African-American poet whose one of his remarkable works debuted in 1968, Poems from Prison. The book recalls in verse of his eight-year-long sentence after being arrested. His second book, Black Voices from Prison, first published in Italy in 1970 under the title Voce negre dal carcere. He was one of the major poets of the Black Arts Movement, which flourished from the early 1960s until the middle of 1970s. [3]

After dropping out of school in eighth grade and serving as a medical technician in Korea, Knight’s past life was , he became addicted to drugs and alcohol, turned to crime. In 1960, he was arrested and prisoned for robbery. [4]

He emerged as a robust voice of the Black Arts movement shown by his works which concerns freedom from oppression. [5]

According to Black American Literature Forum by Patricia Liggins Hill, Knight’s prison poetry are much focuses on imprisonment as a form of modern slavery and seeking ways for free while in incarceration. [6]

Racism Issue

Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965 by a member of the Nation of Islam while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity in at the Audubon Ballroom, New York City.

For Malcolm, A Year After, is a tribute to the activist and religious leader which voiced shock, anger, sadness that shocked Black America after his death. Malcolm X was an advocate for the urban poor and working-class black America. [7]

References

  1. Thoughtful Thursday: Malcolm X. Ground Control Parenting. February 21, 2019. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  2. Poetry and the Civil Rights Movement. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved January 15, 2021
  3. Etheridge Knight. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 15, 2021
  4. Etheridge Knight. Poetry Out Loud. Retrieved January 15, 2021
  5. M. Cunningham, John. Etheridge Knight. Britannica. Retrieved January 15, 2021
  6. Jones, Jae. POEM FOR MALCOLM, A YEAR AFTER BY ETHERIDGE KNIGHT. Black Then. June 23, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2020
  7. Thoughtful Thursday: Malcolm X. Ground Control Parenting. February 21, 2019. Retrieved January 15, 2021.