Connections Between the Black Panther Party "10-Point Program" and BAM Poetry
I believe the first, third, and fourth points of the 10-Point Program are most directly expressed in Black Arts Movement poetry. Specifically, the poems “For Black Poets Who Think of Suicide,” “I am a cowboy in the boat of Ra,” and “Sin of Msippi,” respectively. The Black Arts Movement poems and the 10-Point Program are connected by themes of independence and autonomy from oppressive white influences and the desire for absolutely equal opportunities and rights. In my interpretation, points one, three, and four closely resemble the ideas mainly expressed in these three poems. Everything could be connected through the common theme of the Black empowerment era, both in the literary realm and in real-world, actionable causes. I connected the first point, “We Want Freedom. We Want Power To Determine The Destiny Of Our Black Community,” to Etheridge Knight’s “For Black Poets Who Think of Suicide. This idea of black people having the ability to w...