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Portland Observer, July 27,1963, Section I, Page 5
Sonia Sanchez addresses the 1M3 NBUF Convention here last week.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
Poet speaks of women,
the 1960s and liberation
G RASS R O O T N EW S. N . W. —
The Fourth Annuel Convention of
the National Black United Front
brought together two o f our m oit
prominent cultural activists, Broth
er M aulana Karenga and Sister Son
ia Sanchez.
Sister Sanchez is a mother, poet,
professor, playwright and author of
ten books. She has the talents o f the
motherland along with the strength
o f Harriet Tubm an, Fannie Lou
Ham er and my grandmother who
did not sell the souls o f Black people
down the riser o f racism to confirm
the vulgarities that America wanted
to hear about Black people. I was so
awed by Sanchez's presence that I
forgot to plug in my microphone.
And according to delegates inter
viewed, her poem at the convention
was among the most memorable.
In an interview I asked her how
meaningful the traditional women's
movement was to the A fro -A m eri
can sister. " I t does not have the sig
nificance that it should have. There
are things women have to do that
will not be done by major organiza
tions. There are ideas that we as
women can perpetrate and push.
But as a separate kind o f motion or
movement, n o ." She says that Black
women were always into organizing
and supporting (he struggles o f their
sisters and brothers.
Sonia Sanchez is a survivor o f the
Black Liberation Movement o f the
1960s. M any o f her counterparts
from that period o f time are sug
gesting that we as Afro-Americans
forget about that part o f our his
tory. Sanchez disagrees. " L ik e any
other period we have got to deal
with the 1960s as a continuation of
the 1930s, '40s and '50s. When we
deal with the 1960s you can't deal
with it alone. W hat we did in the
1960s came about because there
were people who walked before us.
The 1980s must also be a continua
tion o f the 1960s. W hat this country
is trying to do in a very wicked man
ner is to say that the 1960s were very
unimportant. Many people who
now say that the 1960s were unim
portant times became educated be
cause other people pushed this
country to a certain point which
opened up the universities."
Sanchez says that America de
clared war on the ideas and move
ments o f the 1960s. “ They bought
o ff some people and killed others.
They tried to discredit people in all
kinds o f ways with rumors and in fil
tration. It was a complete war that
went on in this country. Therefore,
it seemed as if things died down
when in fact they literally wiped
people out along the way. This
country prevented people from
being seen and heard.”
W ith more than half o f the Black
children in America being raised in
one-parent
households,
Sanchez
says we are dealing with a whole
new kind o f motherhood. " W o r k
ing hard and raising children by
vourself didn’ t mean the same kind
o f thing as it docs now. Women are
looking up and seeing the world
move at a much faster pace. You sec
them in housing projects with dope,
criminals and rapists, and you won
der why they have given up. Young
black girls who are having babies
are into drugs. W e are dealing with
a different type o f motherhood. It is
a whole different kind o f slavery."
She also says she believes that the
crisis in Black m ale/fem ale relation
ships is not new. " I t has become in
tensified a lot by (he mass media.
W e must look at this problem from
a historical point o f view. During
slavery Black women used to look at
Black men secondarily. They began
to look at Black men through the
eyes o f the master. W e have got to
understand how that has stayed in
our residual memory. W e didn't
come out o f slavery forgetting ev
erything. We haven't talked about a
Black woman knowing she had a
husband and (hat the white master
could have her anytim e."
W hy don't we see the cultural and
political activism in artists o f the
1980s that was evident in the artists
o f the 1960s? " I think there is still
activism by some people who are
still active. Those writers spanned
the '50s into the '60s. But (hen you
have other bourgeois writers in this
bourgeois society who write what
America wants to hear. They will
take the folklore o f Black folks and
the things Black people say and put
it out (here. It becomes exotic. They
say, 'Let me read this book about
you Black folks and sec how you
live so I can again look at you and
you can reaffirm my whole idea
about Black folks being exotic peo
ple.' ”
Sonia Sanchez could have made a
lot o f money writing about Black
people the way America wanted her
to write about her people. " W e were
not out to make lots o f money. We
were out to put our words in the li
braries o f America. W hat happened
along the way is that Black folks
looked up and said ‘ 1 like this.* And
that is how we made those motions
and movements in this country.
W hat we want from this country is
(he dignity and humanity that Black
folks are supposed to have all over
the world. M y whole life is involved
in bringing Black folks into that
whole human aren a."
Her advice to the aspiring young
Afro-A m erican writer: "Persevere,
write and write and write. See if you
can take some courses or have peo
ple around you who review your
work. Send your work out regular
ly. Study and read everybody pos
sible because it's important to see
how other people write. Understand
that you come from a long tradition
o f great Black writers and if it seems
like you are all alone, you are not.
There were people before you and
there will be people who will come
after you. You have got to keep our
traditions alive.”
Next week: M aulana Karenga.
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