its peak. >> host: thank you for your time. . . political satire and black literature. the ed knowledge he of the word satire begins with the latin

term maturer, which means a mix. satire is a mix of wit, a mix of wit and irony and humor. it is used to criticize persons particularly figures of power and authority, institutions, ideas morays and so on. the satirist feels the need to be critiqued and held up in bold relief so their excesses and hypocrisies and deceived and foolish intentions are downright evil can be laid bare for the public to see. a political satire is always present in african-american life fueled by the political and social travails, absurdities and mariano oppression that we have experienced in our sojourn upon -- and warm early it is taken that forms of signified,

playing the dozens, whooping, playing the fool. examples of the left is a story of slaves, the enslaved african-american who said to his and flavor, master you look noble just like that lie in over there. the master says, that is not a lion. that is a. he says, you sure do look like cam. [laughter] that is informal. and that is going on inside the auditorium somewhere. it is so deeply part of our lives in the way we engage our reality. formerly fellow african-american political satire can be seen as early as the writings of charles chestnut at the end of the 19th century and probably the first completely satirical novel written by and about african-americans is george schadler skyler 1931 novel blood

no more which attacks racism by imagining an america without black folks. since then we have seen a number of works that are praised black and political consciousness, tickled our finer literary talent and afforded us quite a few laughs as well. authors and works such as langston hughes, wave of white folks, moses man of the mountain, john oliver kila killing the cotillion all the way up to paul beaty's provides shuffle, darius james-- and preeminently ishmael reed's mumbo-jumbo and japanese by spring, arguably some of the most important works of african-american political

satire. today we have a distinguished panel of writers, journalists and political commentators who are going to talk about black clinical satire. the elements of black political satire. it is a challenge. it is limited possibilities. the major practitioners, etc. and we look forward to a lively and interesting conversation. and i am going to introduce our panelists, those who were here and as we say in african-american vernacular, those who are on their way and here is one field has arrived. first, i would like to introduce herb boyd, herb boyd to my left.

herb boyd is an award-winning author and journalist who has published 17 books and countless articles for national magazines and newspapers. his books include brother men, on the sea of black men in america, an anthology. [applause] he has co-edited with robert, the black scholar journal and on the american book award for nonfiction. in 1999 herb boyd 13 first-place awards from the new york associate of black journalism for articles published for the amsterdam is. this. he has written black panthers for beginners, it an autobiography of people three centuries told by those who lived it. race and resistance. his most recent book, i think is the life and times of sugar ray robinson. what is the most recent one?

>> that is all right, go ahead. [laughter] >> is a bald ones parlor? >> yeah. that is the most recent one. >> i wish i were as prolific as you. boyd is the managing director of the black black world. he is-- is one of new york's treasures and in harlem we treasure him especially, herb boyd. [applause] next is thomas bradshaw. according to the "new york times" by rod thomas bradshaw's work is likely to leave you speechless. a professor of playwriting at medger evers college bradshaw has been named one of the top 10 playwrights to watch by new york and best provocative playwright in 2007 by the village voice. if you call provocative by the

village voice, you must be provocative. displays include don, southern provinces, purity and strom thurmond is not a racist. he is currently working on-- thomas bradshaw. [applause] major robert o'dell owens is a politician and prominent member, i hope i have this right, it democratic socialism of america. democratic socialist have all my respect. we all know him though as the representative, the house representative from brooklyn who replaced shirley chisholm. he has been a very, very important voice, representation for us in the united states

congress. he has been a member of the congressional progressive caucus in addition to the black congressional caucus. he is also an author and a major figure that the popular television, the west wing, have a character that almost certainly is based on major owens, mark richardson. some things you may not know is he is also nicknamed the wrapping wrap because he writes rap. he is an important writer and thinker in black political satire and and nonfiction and he is now a faculty member in the department of public administration at medger evers college. representative major owens.

[applause] and we hope to have with us charles olson. if he is able to get here from washington, we will introduce him when he comes. i would like to open up our discussion, begin our discussion by each panel is making opening statement about black clinical satire and approach it from whatever direction you would like. beginning with you. >> thank you. let me start from this direction or indirection. let me say how pleased i am to be here for wet? the tenth annual black writers conference. i guess i have been at each and every one of them in one capacity or another. ordinarily i am out there with you reporting from panel to panel and over the years there has been some fascinating,

outstanding remarkable writers we have gathered here. let me give you my rap on satire straight out of wikipedia. now, no i won't do that. [laughter] it was early in the morning in the middle of the night and two dead boys got up to fight or go they said what was blind and what couldn't see so they use that little brother for the referee. back to back they faced each other, they chose their weapons and shut the brother. a dead policeman heard the noise and got up and shot the two dead boys. a lot of satire or at least the definitions of satire is wrapped up in that little bit. indirection, irony, oxymoronic or one of those big old 57th words. it mixes sound like this is one of those graduates panels here. even talking about satire which is something we don't talk about much. whenever you are faced with a

situation like this, her viewer on a panel to talk about satire. well i have been written in a satire, although some of my readers may see it is that. i did not intended to be that my stuff is usually straight ahead fact oriented, although i think the last time i was here tom and major i did a thing in creative nonfiction which is where cuban blur those lines between fact and fiction. elli feely had a concept, he called that section when he was doing that remarkable book that all of the red, and if you didn't read it you probably saw the monumental television series based on roots routes depending on what part of the country you come from. one of the things about satire in doing my research on it, i stumbled and both tom and i

talked about this here. it is a remarkable piece here on someone i wish we could have him here. darrell dixon carr. what a fascinating interview. i went on line and found this and you can do the same so if we don't cover this topic sufficiently, i would suggest you check out this particular article. he is just an expert on this and i learned so much from him. one of the things i learned is that these many years i have been reading satire and i didn't know it. one of the things that struck me about darrell's discussion, i know we have all these men appear. where are the women? don't women deal with satire? i imagine a lot of them are livid, you know. but i am sure if you want to go back in time, and there'll does

mention hurston. moses and the mountain, i think i was on but even in the eyes are watching god in terms of the relationship there between-- you may find aspects, janie crawford, you may find aspects of irony there verbally as opposed to in a real physical way, but certainly there must be someone out there who have been dealing with satire. i went through my library and i couldn't find one bad-- i think think calo hopkinson and her book, the salt roads, comes pretty close. there are some things there. certainly i heard tony kaye the embargo, but when you are defining than is being with humor, some forms of sarcasm and

cynicism, being ironic and i think that is probably the chief board. it is like being ironic, how ironic it is that i can't think of a more ironic greater than ishmael reed. if you pick a stuff up, almost all of his books have an aspect, some element of irony, wit and humor. ralph ellison's invisible man, what i am suggesting to you is just about all of the writers, and tom and i talked about this earlier, that most writers out there at one time or another in their career have dabbled or had one of their books or essays or something like that that had elements of satire there. certainly with the invisible man, which satire can go in so many different directions. it can go to the tragic. it can go to the comic. it can go to the sci-fi. it can go to speculative fiction. it could go to fantasy and you

will find it even beyond the literary genre. at talk about it from a television stand blind like in living color or saturday night live are mad magazine. all these things have dabbled or have had some aspect of satire involved there. and if you come down across the years, if you go back to the harlem-- and you mentioned george schuyler, black no more. in black no more, my theatrical standpoint probably tom can deal with this better. day of absence, that is where you find it happening within the theater and many times i was thinking about george wolf, the museum which is another thing. to make humor and sometimes to ridicule and also to stab and to be very critical, and you begin

to change things. i think we had a number of these driving concerns when you talk about satire. i was looking at the razor by a principle everett, which is a more recent book that deals with that particularly as he talks about the new movie out there, precious. in a racer there is a very humorous thing in which he lampoons were parodies where does a signifying job where safire is pushed in the movie precious. again, i recommend that to you. a very fine writer he gives this whole notion of satire a current expression. across the years, out of the renaissance, you had a number of writers there be on george. langston hughes, jesse fawcett, no love larsen.

all of these writers had some element of satire, particularly talking about passing which is one of the vibrant themes when you look at the literature of the harlem renaissance. it was a theme that passed-- showed up all the time. the autobiography of an ex-man, sometimes the title itself. cecil brown, the life and times of mr. jive. when you talk about folklore, cecil brown does a wonderful job and it can have, with your opening thing, about the little thing and i will close with this. when caesar brown talks about a little small man named ethan. blatt-- back in the plantation time the plantation owners would take their as powerful as dead black men and put them up against each other, usually at the festivals and fairs and see

who had you might see the baddest n word on the blog. ethan was put up by his men to go up against goliath. he stood 6 feet 8 inches, weighed about 300 pounds and when he came out there to meet at from he grabbed a sledgehammer and threw it a mile up in the air and when it landed it does them well about 12 feet deep. he was just showing off, his muscular power and his prowess. be from looked at him and said i'm in trouble. but what he did, he came out, had his capon and asked for his gloves and everything and had a -- he put his on glove on and kept the other one in his hand. he walked over to the wagon where master and mistress were. ptech one of the gloves and

slapped him upside the head. goliath saw that and took off down the road. [laughter] he said, look here, anybody who slapped his head out here is a bad, you know what i am saying. [laughter] tom, you have got it baby. >> thank you herb. [applause] >> brother bradshaw. >> i find the word-- is this working? i find the word satire to be a difficult one to define. i feel like there is a difference between the way we talk about and think about satire in our popular media and

what it actually is. satire is often used to describe broad comedy and pure mockery and things that are purely sarcastic in town. when i think satire actually has to have very serious underpinnings, and actually needs to be an almost scathing portrayal in order to really be defined as satire. i am a playwright, so i'm going to talk about satire in the theater a bit. i can't think of many black playwrights who i would describe as satirists.

george wolf always-- obviously. the museum is probably the greatest and well-known examples we have in a modern context. i was thinking about a married barack and his early plays and i went into find him dearly as satire but i think they have satirical elements. satire has to be in opposition to something, and most of the work being done by african-american playwrights is very reverential. most of the work in the theater

is focused on counteracting popular perceptions of blacks and i guess more popular forms of media, a.k.a. people shooting each other in the face, people smoking crack, mothers who don't take care of their children and in the theater, much of the work we see today is attempting to do something similar to the-- i would say in forcefully rejecting the images that we see in our more popular media, meaning movies. i say that 98% of the population does not attend theater, however most people go to the movie theater at one point or another.

and i think this reverence is actually dangerous, because-- because if you just present a relentlessly positive point of view, then bad in a sense becomes a lie because everybody knows that there is something that is being hidden. i think that satire at its best is hypertruthful in a way. it gets at in essence a truth that is truer than reality itself.

so, i think that satire is essential and you know, it certainly needs to be more punch bowl in the theater, but i will talk more about this. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you. >> let me begin by thanking the gentleman for allowing me and since many of you are published writers, i have a lot of unfinished work and unpublished work that i haven't published, a couple of plays in a couple of novels and some nonfiction, a lot of unfinished. one of my students said you are a master of the works in progress. [laughter] so i appreciate being invited to join you.

on the one hand, i am not going to cry too long because the what i want to talk about today is my wrap point in the broadest definition is what i would accept. i like escaping the trail. i like to think of the poems of outrage in terms of satire. and i am way ahead of most of the guys in that spectrum. they publish tens of thousands of congressional records, copies every day so i'm the most widely read. [laughter] it may not be up to par but i'm the most widely read. i put about 100 raps wraps in the congressional records over the years and i have always wanted to be a writer.

i did politics and i won't go into that story but i've always wanted to be a writer. now i'm retired and trying to get these unfinished works in progress moving. this is not by chance that being in congress and being frustrated , so many things were happening that drove my blood pressure up and i had no outlet. along about that time the rap guys began to be popular and i was one of the few guys in the establishment ready to defend the rap guys. it is poetry. most of wrath is poetry. when they talk about women and as nasty as possible it is not productive pro-attorney. it is not good poetry but it is in harmony with shakespeare and a whole lot of other guys that wrote nasty stuff throughout history. they were nothing new in terms of getting at the sexual

innuendos and being male chauvinist. it is nothing new but the elements of poetry is what i wanted to encourage. i went to a program in brownsville where young guys were doing rap and i went in and is as a guest speaker. i was a congressman and had long been associated with this black history club so that is what i expected to do. at any rate i had done some rap so they said would you do a couple of your raps? so i got up and recited a couple of my raps and they said they-- listened patiently and very tolerant. after a while they said to me, okay congressman, thank you. he said let's have a hand for that rather. i am an egghead rapper. that doesn't make the grade with them. by first grade frustration that i expressed in outrage in the congressional record was a

meeting with mary and wide edelman in the capital. remember the congressional black caucus joined us on an discussion about an important childcare bill at the time. she's the head of the children's the funds-- defense. we did not clear that with their readers. it was a breakfast meeting so it was like bringing her in was an affront. he treated her very nastily. we were upset about that. a lot of other guys were steaming about it. i said this is the day i'm going to put my first rap in the congressional record. march 27, 1990 and i dedicated to maryland right edelman. let the mothers lead the fight. but the mothers read the flight.

throwaway delays, stop the murders, let the mothers lead the fight. break out of the house, rats are running the world. let the mothers lead the fight. and it goes on a little bit or like that. [applause] that was a bit of a test case. i was wondering how much i could get away with because many of these raps i did not reside on the floor of the house. i put them in writing and we submitted them in a statement for the congressional record. so i submitted them and i wondered-- they said no this is not principled. we are not going to do this. i got very angry about the savings and loan scandal. do you think the banking mess is bad right now? the thing about the banking mess and the fact that they bankers in washington took us over the precipice of destroying the kahane me is that they had done

it before on a smaller scale. the savings and loan scandal was very much the same kind of thing that we had to bail out the banks. they came to us, the congress this time with a request for $700 billion at one time and you say that is a lot of money. what they did in the savings and loan crisis was the first installment with $70 billion they had a clause in there that said, and as much as they need so they didn't have to come back to congress and nobody knows how much the so-called resolution trust corporation is spent today. you can find out. i think it was a trillion dollars they used to bail out those banks and it was the same pattern. on a bank messed up, and this case, some big banks were bailed out. i was very frustrated, so i first of all at the same time they were projecting cutting the budget, including cutting welfare, food stamps, wic, all the things our-- medicaid so i

was angry about that and another entry that i put in the congressional record, i said what are we going to do about this on? a meeting they were having at the white house, tip o'neill and ronald reagan to talk about the cuts in who they wanted to cut so i wrote a rather saying at the big white d.c. mansion there is a meeting of the mob and the question on the table is which beggars will they rub? there is a meeting of the mob and i will never get a job. the poor have no appeal. which housing for the homeless will they get? there is a meeting of the mob. etc., etc.. [applause] as they went on, everyone-- you must comprehend their deregulated ways. don't just stand there, let the

judges go down. they wouldn't come around despite bright daylight they'll take every sons. no cops, there is a writing demand. bring your lincoln and cadillac mercedes or a rolls-royce, champagne caviar the best they will enjoy. there is a riot and they are all having fun. [applause] a number of them, i'm not going to bore you. i will end with one quick that i thought maybe would really go nuts over. when mandela came and would speak before a joint session of congress one of the not cease from california, he is a real right-wing sob. he said why are we inviting mandela's to address the joint session of congress. what is the difference between mandela and willie horton?

he was paroled by dukakis-- so they hung that around dukakis's knack for the whole campaign and here he is comparing mandela with willie horton? my blood pressure went up a few points and all the members of congress were angry. i said to hell with it. i will tell you everything i said, fascist, go home. for you the house chambers, let's put all not cease to bed. go tell the headline scavenger the willie horton is more like his mama. only the black guys got that. [applause] >> thank you, thank you. >> i will close out with a nice funny one. and that is, at the time that

they were trying to cut the school lunch program they insisted before reagan came in that they wanted to cut back on the school lunch program and one the one-way proposal is that you had to have a vegetable the nutritionist said so they said well, let's declare that ketchup is a vegetable. if you have ketchup, you have a vegetable. that is bad enough but the next go-round they didn't even talk about specifically what they were going to cut. they just said we are going to cut $2 billion out of the school lunch program and i came up with this one which people found funny. even the uft let me recited at their meeting and they put it in a magazine but they put in punctuation. i didn't have any punctuation. the nation needs your lunch and i said to these kids, this great

nation can afford the lunch program. this great nation needs their lunch. be brave, stand out of both the bunch. [inaudible] there is a fiscal crunch. this nation nature lunch. pledge allegiance to the flag and mobilize sharon brown bag. kids of america there is a fiscal crunch. this great nation now need your lunch. [applause] >> thank you, thank you. here we have a fine example of political satire right on the ground. we thank you very much. we would like to welcome our final panelist, charles ellison. we know you had to come from

washington and we are glad to see you. charles ellison is the author of the politically acclaimed-- he is a huffington post contributor and a host of the new school on sirius xm radio. he is a senior fellow and public policy and chief adviser for the center for new policy and policy of denver in visiting fellow for the institute for politics, democracy and the internet at george washington university. charles ellison, please give us a few minutes and an opening statement before our conversation begins. [applause] >> thank you for having me here today. actually i am quite honored to have been invited. and to be in the presence of such great people like the congressman. i remember you when i was a staff on capitol hill a long time ago, to seeing you in the halls and watching.

congressman owens is here. he is a little bit modest about it, but he did quite a bit and sort of breaking the tedium and the sameness and a lot of the pretentiousness that typically he characterizes capitol hill and particularly with a lot of things that you did on the house floor and reading your poems in the poetry, but you were making some very cogent points about the state of american politics, and about political discourse and about american society and it would be funny like a lot of my fellow white colleagues or staffers on capitol hill, who is this cat? but, congressman you cut to 100 i appreciate that so i am honored. i would not downplay these raps, the hip-hop that is in the congressional record now that you put together so i'm honored to be sitting next to you and

herb boyd i remember tbw t., black world today. i've marked that. i went there every day to check that out for quality information and news on what was happening in the black world band on the black political landscape, what was happening culturally and internationally, socially and economically, so i really appreciate being here. we have definitely got to catch up. >> you skipped me. [laughter] >> we have got to catch up dumm. there is that satire, but just kind of going into-- i can get into the satire and how that actually delayed me getting here , but i can get into the politics and politics in black literature and some of the influences, some of the things

that shape may not only as a political analyst but also as a commentator, as a writer writer come as an author, as an individual really. i grew up in a family and a household that had a very deep appreciation for the classics but when i say the classics, the black classics. they are part of the literary canon as well. i had-- last week i received as a birthday gift, i received one of these, like it did judo competitor to the candle and the sony reader and one thing that struck me, when it was going through this sort of digital montage of different classic writers, obviously they have all transitioned, they have all passed and they were all white. hayek curt vonnegut in. i have read some of those words

and i won't discredit them. actually think, pride and prejudice, dracula and little women and of course i grew up with that. >> barnes & noble, you know. >> but i noticed how there were no black writers that were being considered in that montage and even when the three books would download, when i try to download invisible man by ralph ellison which i reread many times, i only got cliff notes on invisible man. i appreciated the note. it is a pleasant birthday present, but i was just struck by that, by the back that invisible man, that is an american literary classic and that was one of the books that shaped me as an individual.

every year or so i will read it over and over again. that is one of the great not only american classics but that went-- that was one of those books that said sort of a new trend in terms of-- it looked into black politics or issues of lack political power, issues internally from a division that we deal with in terms of class division, social division. how we are also, how we as a people, how we relate to the rest of society. i think you mentioned george schuyler, and books that come to mind are black empire. a lot of people don't remember black empire and actually that work of fiction, not only being sadder is that making powerful

observations in george that was actually a black conservative play. he made some powerful observations of the black empire. you created this alternate universe or world where this mastermind creates this movement , and starts taking over the world. it is pretty powerful commentary that we find in black empire and we find how schuyler takes elements of apollo 6 and takes elements of all the various social clashes, the elements-- also some religious and spiritual themes from african culture and infused it into this very compelling piece, this very compelling work which is sort of an underground classic. it comes to mind as far as politics and black literature such as emotion park, very deep, not just a novel but sort of a commentary on the state of modern american clinical

discourse, but also how we are sort of trying to find our place in society and it was kind of more of the perspective of black class and the upper crust, but he has some very interesting observations through his character about black life and black politics, about how we relate or interface with the rest of the world and the political landscape. but i always go back-- i'm a big sci-fi nut, i read a lot of science fiction. one of my icons is samuel delany. when you look at works like babil 17, he has some really deep, serious, very intense political themes in these books. obviously it is looking at a alternate or parallel universe

or in another kind of future but especially, it is a big reading going for it is quite a challenge but the landing pretty much to his character was poetic about basically in a post-apocalyptic world, how we would fare in certain situations in certain circumstances. also octavia with the kindred, the terrible series. does have very deep political, deep-seated political-- when i think about black literary it is because of the history of the past 400 years. is a very political history. it is a very conflicted, very complex, very tragic history. politics is tragedy and politics is satire. satire is politics.

we are very political people and it comes out in all of our literature. it comes out in some of the other authors that were mentioned. i know i got your little late but i overheard-- it comes out in langston hughes works. it comes out in chester heinz work. hurston and gwendolyn brooks. nick gillani. i know my title, tantrum, which is a very gritty, dark fiction sort of political thriller, a lot of that was inspired by derrick bell's, faces at the bottom of the well. i remember reading bad as a young lad and just the way he wanted to make some really clear points about american law, about american politics through these conversations he was having with his main female protagonist, geneva. i was just like wow, i would

love to write a book like this so tantrum is a lot of that. tantrum is essentially taking all of these various characters that we have all grown up with. i grew up in north philadelphia and we used to call them storefront creatures, from the preachers to the strong sister trying to raise her child or children in trying to make it made to those brothers that were like uncles to me, that i grew up with on the corner of logan in north philly and also the corrupt politicians that made philly what it is still today, unfortunately, to all sorts of other characters, black-and-white and i said in philadelphia and i sort of took elements of inspiration from works like ralph ralph ellison's

invisible man, like faces at the bottom of the well of mike sam delaney's dahlgren and i would say i was inspired by some of those works and the messages that they were saying. i think i will come to sort of a closing here but i think is black writers, as black writers, as black thinkers and observers, of american life, of what is happening in our diaspora, what is happening in our world, we have an obligation in our literature, in our observations, and our commentary, we have an obligation to keep it real so to speak and to talk about these things and to talk about them in a very open and very candid format. we have to do that and i think that is what makes black literature so unique and sets it apart from the rest of the american literary canon but at the same time but is very unique

and sort of unusual at the same time, i know there is an ongoing debate in the same conversation is taking place right now at this conference. it is very much at the core. it actually is like the lifeblood, the essence of what we call american literature or what what we call literature because there is so much in it and it is just so beautiful. now i am really pleased and honored to be here today and i'm really looking forward to having this conversation about politics and satire and black ligature and also about some of the issues surrounding it. i am looking forward to your questions as well about it. >> thank you, thank you. [applause] >> let's open up the conversation with a question. we have defined blood for lyrical satire or satire in general as consisting of wit and

irony and humor. but, i guess i would like to talk a few minutes about what are the specific functions of black political satire in particular? what is the function for the functions of black political satire in particular? what are the targets, persons or concepts and also we might get to what is under targeted thus far? gentleman. >> go ahead, major. i submit the mic to the congressman. >> i just want to say, let's begin with the other standing-- understanding that black political satire, black literature in general, black art in general, black culture in general are vital. it is not a luxury and there is

too big a gap between politics and the black community and culture in the black community. too big of a gap. we cannot afford to have that kind of gap. satire at one point was a lifesaver for people who wanted to criticize their government. fairytales and a number of things that we find entertaining and funny were sometimes political. humpty dumpty sat on the wall, humpty dumpty had a great fall-- somebody was picked up on and aimed at a target powerful enough to cut off his head. somebody said whose was it? richard nixon sat on the wall, richard nixon had a great fall. who put richard nixon back together again? and free america we didn't have to camouflage that. and free america i can put it in the congressional record and wait for censorship. it never came.

so why can't we use other forms of art, satire being one of them effectively right now in yemen they are subsidizing the number one rap artists. can you believe that? they blew up the ship-- al qaeda's first instructive step in the word about yemen going over to al qaeda and becoming more radicalized-- the government is subsidizing to keep rappers to do rabb bly, don't commit an error, stay away from terror. i am oversimplifying it. i don't know they are up language but i saw it on trance -- television. they translated. but you know the power of culture is something we should understand. don't let them be separated as

there is too much separation within the black community. we can afford it. we are like a developing society within an overdeveloped society. we are still a developing society and we need to be able to defend ourselves and hold our own and in order to do that you need powerful, political people. you need people in a cultural arena backing them up and inspiring the masters. we can't have one set over here, writing poetry which puts down our own politicians in our own folks and the right size criticizing and showing them the way. don't just dismiss it. we can't afford to dismiss a few people in power and the people we have empowered can't afford to ignore the people in the culture. you don't get the young people-- obama understood this and he appealed to certain segments of

society and decided to go out and get the young people in every segment of society and that included a lot of guys that i saw who wouldn't be caught dead in a polling place on election day. i saw them there. they were there. a cultural thing happens to bring the men. >> i hope i spoke your point. >> i think it is a good question. one of the things about this is that, given the folly of today and what they call reality it is so difficult. listen to your wrapper for example to distinguish some of the things that you have in a satirical way from the reality of what is going into the congressional record, it is hard to find the lines of distinction there between some of the stuff that is being said in the

congressional record. but that represents the reality and i think that is what you are rap is responding to to some degree. this is what we put on the record, well put this on the record too. one of the things i would like to put on that record is when you look at the origin of the black writers get-togethers here at medger evers on person comes to mind for me and that is john oliver killen's. he wrote very strong, i would think social realism. straightaway, if you look at youngblood, tzipi and then we heard the thunder, but then he could also tip off into satire. how many of you have had-- heard of the book the cotillion? what is the subtitle? on bolus worth half the herd.

what he does bear, he begins to poke fun at anything thomas made reference to the word mockery which of course is another part of it and ridicule but with a purpose not only of castigating and putting down elements of black community because essentially that is what he is doing. he is talking about the bs of bouzhwa existence in america, how blacks get caught up into the ole and the debutantes and what have you, and he makes fun of that and the characters he uses, the strongest characters in there if i remember correctly is denali in aruba and right away that indicates a certain kind of stance that he takes in terms of politics. he is coming from the black

nationalist perspective or go do you know what i'm saying? he is talking about being a black nationalist and he has that privilege position and perspective to lampoon and ridicule and i think thomas was saying something earlier about, if you are going to satire something or parity, then you have to have an assumption out there in terms of what is this reality that you are challenging, that you are trying to redirect? so they kind of go together. otherwise, the thing falls apart major you talk about nursery rhymes and going back in time. i remember as a kid i read gulliver's travels, and that was certainly a very sharp critique from jonathan swift of the politics of his day, coming from ireland at that time.

another one that struck me as a young person was george orwell. i talked it over with my lawyer. he was saying that the first thing came to his mind was 1984. i said no, no, no, animal farm. check out animal farm and there you have the depiction again between a certain kind of a class analogy embedded in them. already you get that position from which orwell is speaking and the critique that he has about the nature of things. and across the years, you talk about invisible man. invisible man is a blend of satire and surrealism. depending on which chapter you read. from one chapter to another, because another part of satire is you know you have this idea that it is a very real person out there or organization or institution that he is talking about. but ellison was clear.

at least that is what he explained to a couple of interviewers. he was not intending that to be marcus garvey, but it is hard for us not to see that, because every other characteristic and feature of that individual seem to suggest that. i don't know if he was being disingenuous when he was talking about a review. i didn't mean marcus garvey. yet taken so much flak coming from elements of the community that helps garvey in high esteem and how dare you make fun, poke fun. it even david levering lewis, he began to back off from his kind of depiction from marcus garvey and his book when harlem was invoked. david said, i didn't mean it like that. if he had to do over again he would not depict him in that manner. but he has every right. as a writer you go in there and try to bring some levity and some balance and analysis to a

situation and sometimes you can make your point very very strongly and firmly by ridiculing it. and so that is another part of satire, which we look at certain books and they are and where do you enter? how do you come into this situation? where are you as a reader? where you stand? that is way for me, ishmael reed is pretty much a past master. we always talk about mark twain from the white perspective. for me ishmael reed, do you hear me ishmael, i am talking to you baby. [laughter] >> i appreciate that. what are some of the targets of black political satire? what should be the target? >> you touched on something. i agree with everything that you said in they also think satire can be used to-- i mean it is

really all about reality and the ways of thinking. satire can be used to present an alternate and extreme point of view of what reality could be. one of the things that has always interested me is this kind of like the idea of black identity and what that is, and you know you take the example of obama. here we have a man that is bi-racial but an american context we look at him and say, there is a black man. i have never been able to understand how we can look at someone who is half black and half white and say there is a black man right there. half black and half white, why can't you say i am a white man then? so, i wrote this play called clans about a bi-racial grow from indiana who rejects her blackness enjoyed the white supremacist group.

by doing that, obviously that is extreme and absurd portrayal, however it opens up a different way of thinking about identity, so satire can also be used to challenge our commonly held assumptions about almost anything, and you know force people to question their deep-seated reliefs. ..

>> but to answer your question as far as the targets, there has to be an awareness of black political satire as fundamentally

active. very active it is like black sites -- satire and something unique in the sense because of a very unique history that we have had we have no choice of the matter but to make satire politically since then this fundamentally active aside issues of identity come up, it issues regarding the hour place in society in relation to demographics of other groups and also fear is this urge to somehow make society atone for what it has done to us with a lot of black political satire and i

see that message your theme in more contemporary political satire. some people would debate to this is literature but ic -- coming out with that rage amd with somebody who is actually fairly well-to-do. it has to do with middle-class life and disposition. definitely target groups are us trying to make sense out of who we are and also the other target group the predominant white society that has subjugated us for so long. it is like nathan hall.

there is a lot of screaming that is very evident with black political satire it becomes very apparent with of the target audience. coming from different perspectives and dangles. >> the targets and should be elected officials you elect people to represent you pay volunteer you for the position they should be able to get into the kitchen and stand the heat but we have a problem in terms with we lost perk we have a much stronger black press which in addition also criticized king kept on their toes more. we lost a lot of that

revenue should you cannot criticize internally, blacks cannot criticize black leaders and hispanics cannot criticize hispanic leaders is ridiculous. we need that element in our democracy, the free press. a pass to be there so we're showing people you are being ridiculous maybe they will stop being ridiculous and not do something more serious. you have the state senate taken over by democrats for the first time. it seems to be the leadership with the black hispanics it was a clown show we should be between them over the head to get their act together.

the obama is president now he will not we president forever. pretty soon the untouchable term ran out. even further down to the bottom than he used to be. of you don't deal with making sure your readers produce and use power, you are in trouble they do stupid things because the first two big thing they did was let it go it becomes more stupid. >> can i jump been here? two raise the point* in the age of obama, could you talk about the role of black political satire?

in the age of obama. >> point* out the fact that he is the target that no president has never talked about and they come at him as the enemy. our enemy. satire with them this is racism. it is racism. [applause] then we should make it clear we should have cartoons of the nuremberg trials. on the other hand, with the aba met administration itself there are criticisms you could make right away. where are the facts in his and it administration?

where is that to experience i hop -- with employment or the experience box could bring? merisel lot of past history what got people jobs right away while worried about it will be a job so then they work everyday and major on they make their own career. there's a lot of stuff this circle has ruled out too much harvard and yale not be enough morehouse. [laughter] [applause]

i feel sorry for those people. disarray rogers. there's a lot of people like that but you cannot be a diva and be in charge at the same time. at the same time they handled her a little harshly. >> >> project in the age of obama is an issue with black political satire to try to focus on the issues and conduct a critical analysis of the obama administration and the types of policies that it puts forth and too much of what i am seeing been commentary your black

political satire, just with the obama lifestyle or them personally but biracial, he is the president of the united states now somebody made an interesting comment about his image he has a cool and calm demeanor to put the air on that nothing phases me. it reminds us of folks that are right across the street but he does not need to be cool he is president of the united states why does he have to let people know the n.c.a.a. basketball brackets? if he listens to jasey if we

keep allowing him to do that, then we are not doing him a justice or ourselves any justice. he is the president of united states. we have to be, i appreciate the optimism and the visual. don't get me wrong but now we're past the inauguration phase and the phase that it is the hawks doubles in the white house. now it is time to roll up your sleeves and like places of philadelphia and new york where people are unemployed. the unemployment is actually in excess of 25% did you take into consideration those who are underemployed or involved in the underground economy that we see quite a bit that we see

in north philly or south central. the black political satire has to be more serious. i and a stand there is a very favored piece of writing the way of the samurai. and 51 to criticize, you have to offer them a glass of water. but we have to give very serious. this is not about the euphoria because he could be a one-term black president before this is over. not only that, we have a situation where 1/4 of the

black middle class is affected by the recession. [applause] >> those are very good points and in the age of obama black political satire has an important role to play. >> there is a lot of room for passion to letting folks know you're willing to fight. >> we will open two questions from the audience. please remember we have other people who want questions we want questions. not statements. >> thank you. thank you for plugging john and holding up our new publication of kill wins review. that is a plug for us.

but some of the sharpest satire today that i have read has been laughing out loud is really difference there satirizing of brothers industry to know as real know that has been off limits anybody have a take on this? why is there no gekko? >> >> raising a very good point*, i know that getting into some very intense debates and discussions about this there is some data literature's street literature, a first, there's someone of a distinction between urban fiction and st. literature. my book is urban fiction and i am proud to say that.

win chuck does fight club because he is white nobody wants to call his tough urban fiction we have to be careful how we throughout the labels because we do to ourselves what other people have been doing to us. he makes an excellent point* that there is a lot that it does not have so much satirical because i think there is very hard and intense that it is hard and real but there is some very serious quality commentary about the stuff that a lot of us would like to ignore but it is rough out there and that is where the street fiction is trying to say that people were screaming they want to tell us in

society this is what is happening you cannot ignore it. if we continue to ignore it it could erupt and escalate into something that is very unfortunate for all of us not just in this room the society at large. it would be nice to have that discussion to include folks from those who are designating the street lit sean drug. i will say there is unnecessary glorification of street life fact that it is very disruptive, irresponsible and people to its for the sake of doing it right to that type of nonsense people right the history let and a drop in the suburbs. but does not make sense.

but it is for the whole purpose of catering to folks who just don't know better. that is another discussion. i don't to go off topic but i want to say i think we should appreciate. that is a legitimate element or aspect of black literature because it is just modern day. i hope that answers your questions. >> we don't have more time. we just want to get more questions. >> i am with the black authors showcase. like empire was a great satirical novel, today i see very little satirical material coming out about

africa. a lot of things we could write back to our sabbath true. is that a topic that you find most writers are afraid to pull the covers up to talk about what is happening in africa right now? >> africans are writing about it. i cannot pronounce his name but and the name of his book? there are a number of africans who write great political satire. not a lot of african-americans because we're already familiar. >> let me mention to were three of them. win rain clouds gather, in

fact, she wrote quite a few books that would touch on not only satire but the reality of the situation that has to be done first. we can talk about the political satire out there but when you look at "the new york post" under page six what they did with nine sharpton and obama we did not have a response to that. we deal with their cartoonist and writers to 10 to come at us with a sense of demolishing and reducing it is like one time we had amos and andy and suddenly you have something that two men created the symbols of

the african-american community and then calhoun, that was ridiculous but watching these kids on television who said i now want to be like this guy then he becomes the emblematic the shady go for this. if you had it in the context of a larger perspective to see what is happening within the african-american community it is okay because they have those out there but year with a wider expansive not only the humor

but the intelligence of that community. >> from day after can content is very important africa and the literature and challenges the whole question, christianity to come in and give the africans the bible while they ripped off o million to. he talks of the tradition of the communities in which she comes from looking at the nigerians book you can get some aspects not only of the reality of this situation but the counter position with the critique they bring to that reality is. >> day quick question and please keep your answers brief. >> very quick four part

question. [laughter] it will be very quick. >> mr. bradshaw, i could have gotten is completely wrong but you seem too slightly differ with your fellow panelist that you felt that true satire is extremely difficult that much of what goes for satire and black literature is easy. could you elaborate on what you meant when you said hyper true? would you say something like the yes men. those are group of people that goal of the country and pretend to be corporate leaders and say we have just got some of the war in vietnam and then they come back and say we never said that but it goes all over the news and they say things that people want to hear.

>> okay. i think that, really, a true satire often goes unrecognized actually because i think it makes people angry and that is the distinction i am trying to make. if it is obvious that a satire that we're making fun of these people is easy. i think if you are just simply mocking people and everyone agrees with you, then actually is the affirmation of the status quo because you are reaffirming the believes the people already have. that is why they laugh in the agreement but satire

should challenge something within each person themselves and implicate everyone, i think everyone has a part in the status quo. i think satire should be out to challenge the status quo unless it is perfect then we all have a part. >> we want to thank our panel last for this great wide ranging and comprehensive discussion and hopefully it will inspire us to go back to think about the role of black political satires.

[applause] and use it in the way of a bomb in constructive ways. >> may i make a request? >> please say i like to meet with you. thank you. >> we now go into the second panel of the 2010 national black writers conference. this may contain language that some may find offensive >> good morning in a soon-to-be released biography -- of life of

literary activism the author takes note of the following. >> why el killens attempted attempted, speaking of his first novel, the pool of activism as well as his day job slows his progress. he faced a contradiction with which he would wrestle with the next 40 years. the perpetual need for solitude to write and his insatiable desire -- something is happening here. to participate concrete into

the social movement. he aimed to be both a writer and an activist who would help on the frontline. ". ever since the first human being imposed that will to power upon another, our history has been marked by both social condition and a social struggles. by a presumption of caste and class and the corresponding degradation against our humanity. it ever since all of that began, we have sought and fought for liberation. each subsequent generation confronted by the challenge to acquiesce, to escape, or

to resist or change the nature of that imposition. throughout the americas ever since 1493 calmat our collective history has been marked by a social psychosis that measures or place in the world according to race, ethnicity and gender. the struggle between how truly human we are and the refusal of another to recognize what we each claim. the act of self assertion assertion, to give voice to our voice and refusing to a except our conditions come in manifest itself an art common music, and certainly both the spoken an