Donnerstag, 2. September 2010

Dr. Neal Hall: Trying to be a Black man in America (Deutsche Fassung)

The Starspangled Banner/Public Domain/(Fake) Son House: The Star Spangled Banner

soultrainC-Schwarz auf Weiß: Dr Neal Hall: Trying to be a Black man in America (English version) 


In diesen Tagen steht der Patriotismus hoch im Kurs in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, und mit ihm die dazugehörigen Insignien: Bürgermärsche und -proteste, Heimat- und Nationalhymnen und last not least natürlich viele, viele Fahnen. Die US-Flagge - das berühmte Star-spangled Banner - und die Nationalhymne, die dieses Banner ehrt, sind gemeinsam das Symbol, unter dem sich alle Amerikaner versammeln sollen, auf das alle gleich stolz sein sollten - ganz egal, welcher Rasse oder Klasse sie angehören bzw.zu welcher Zeit sie leben oder gelebt haben.

Um deutlich zu machen, wie oberflächlich, ja zynisch diese patriotische Wunschvorstellung oft sein kann - in einer Zeit, in der ultra-rechte Weiße sich gerade als Erben des Traums und des Kampfes von Dr. Martin Luther King jr. und der Schwarzen Bürgerrechtsbewegung der 60iger Jahre vor dem Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC produziert haben - habe ich das kürzlich hier schon einmal erwähnte Buch von Dr. Neal Hall zur Hand genommen. Der Arzt und US-Bürger Schwarzer Hautfarbe zeigt darin autentisch, eindrucksvoll und mit der mächtigen, doch sensiblen Sprache des Poeten, was es bedeutet, heute als Schwarzer in Amerika zu leben.







Das erste Gedicht spricht vom Star-spangled Banner sowie der Nationalhymne gleichen Namens und der Geschichte der Menschen, die sie einstmals erschufen und zum Symbol der Freiheit machten und denen, die  - oft unfrei - damit lebten:




Between Soiled Sheets

By the dawn's early light,
the founding fathers of freedom and
democracy found their way to rape the
mothers of my mother.

At twilight's last gleaming
there, on the shore dimly seen
thro' the mists of the deep.

they raped our shackled black mothers
between kneeling and praying
to that white Jesus the white man
sold them would come
to save them from him...
...raped our slaved mothers
between pleading and screaming,
between screamin'g and weeping,
between weeping and whimpering
between the soiled sheets of
freedom and democracy.

Raped, one at a time,
time after time until the distant moon
reflecting in their detached silent gazes
turned away to shet tears as founding
fathers of liberty undressed the mothers of
my mother one at a time, time after time,
between the soiled sheets
of freedom and democracy.

Between their rockets' red glare, and bombs bursting in air
there, between the soiled sheets
of freedom and democracy,
the founding fathers of liberty
raped our mothers until their defiant curly
hairs acquiesced and fell limp down, across
their undressed shoulders.

Raped until our slave mothers'
black skin bred and bled
laddered mulattos caste(d) by hue,
to pave the road to our despair,
our affliction with self-hate, our addiction to
dependency and division.

Raped until our slave mothers'
black skin bred and bled
our identity in white things
and white dreams.

There beneath that
star-spangled banner yet wav(ing)
the founding fathers of liberty
raped us of our mothers' dreams,
our fathers' history,
our human dignity,
our methods and means,
our manhood, our selfhood,
the legacy handed to legacies,
there, between those soiled sheets of
star-spangled freedom and democracy.
Neal Hall, M.D.
[Italics] - From Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key, 9.14.1814]



Hier finden Sie den Originaltext der US-Nationalhymne sowie die deutsche Übersetzung, die Geschichte und eine historische Tonaufnahme:

The Star-Spangled Banner – Wikipedia

The Diamond Four – “The Star Spangled Banner” mp3 | PublicDomain2ten

24.07.2010: Die Ultra-Rechte demonstriert in Washingtion DC/AFP/Spiegel online Demo in Washington: US-Rechte gegen Obama - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Politik

 
Martin Luther King's birthday
has been transformed into
a day of atonement.

The one day white America uses to absolve
itself of the previous 364 days of continuous
racial opression, injustice and exploitation.
Neal Hall, M.D.



Massendemonstration: Obamas Gegner rühmen Martin Luther King

Glenn Beck Rally:Beck Says US Has `Wandered In Darkness’ Too Long

Not Much Talk About MLK at Glenn Beck Rally

Writer Claims Glenn Beck Is The White Version Of Malcolm X

Commentary: The Rhetoric of Hate - Essence.com

I feel better already. 


Progress

Today,
they don't call you Nigger.

Well!

not loud enough for you to hear.
Neal Hall, M.D.



Even though
we've been given more room
to roam about since the days of slavery,
the sign on the fence
that keeps us in our place
and defines the boundaries
of our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness
still reads plantation.
Neal Hall, M.D.

Thousands of people joined the Rev. Al Sharpton and other leaders Saturday to commemorate the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington in 1963. The event, billed as “Reclaim the Dream,” included a five-mile march that culminated at the Mall, where conservative talk show host Glenn Beck had organized the simultaneous “Restoring Honor” rally./Sharpton's Reclaim the Dream Rally Recalls the 1963 March



VIDEO: Who Owns The Civil Rights Movement?


Sharpton's Reclaim the Dream Rally Recalls the 1963 March

“Reclaim The Dream” Rally Bring Thousands To D.C. In Honor Of MLK

Glenn Beck Wants to Restore Honor to America? How Ironic


Drowning Out Hate Hustlers: Palin, Beck Cannot Steal America’s Soul


Glenn Beck’s Rally Turns Out An Unimpressive 87,000 Attendees


Der 1929 geborene Baptistenprediger widmete sein Leben dem Kampf um gleiche Rechte für Schwarze und Weiße. Seit Mitte der 1950er Jahre galt er als die führende Stimme der schwarzen Bürgerrechtsbewegung. Tief beeindruckt /Martin-Luther-King-Day in den USA - "I have a dream" - Bild 2 - Politik - sueddeutsche.de

An effective black leader
is one who is
knowledgeable of,
but thinks and acts
outside, the white box
with clarity and conviction
and without compromise.

An effective black leader
is one who knows
that knowledge is not power.

Power is power.

But that knowledge,
tells one where best
and from which box
to wheel that power.

An effective black leader knows that
peace and freedom stand tranquil
atop the imminent threat, in their defence,
of measurable economic violence.
Neal Hall, M.D.



 
Inner Light

Our lives must shine
so that others traveling the same road of
hopes and desires may see their way through
the pain, success and adversity of life.
Neal Hall, M.D.

Dr. Neal Hall


Dr. Neal Hall's Buch "Nigger for Life" zeigt auf seinen 265 Seiten noch zahllose weitere Facetten darüber auf, was es bedeutet, als Schwarzer Mann in Amerika zu leben.Der Fach-Chirurg, der nach wie vor diesen Beruf auch ausübt, hat seine Gedichte über viele Jahre zunächst für sich selbst geschrieben und gesammelt, bevor er sich 2009 entschloß, damit an die Öffentlichkeit zu gehen. Das Buch hat mittlerweile - nicht nur wegen seines provokanten Titels - großes Aufsehen in den USA erregt. Zahlreiche Literaturwissenschaftler und -Kritiker sowie namhafte Bürgerrechtler bescheinigen dem Autor neben seines sensiblen Ausdrucks und den dennoch kraftvollen Sprachbildern die Fähigkeit, mit seiner Poesie das Leben anderer Menschen zu berühren, wenn nicht gar zu verändern:

"Dr. Hall was born and raised in Warren, Ohio. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University where he achieved All Ivy, All East Coast, All America Honors, Co-Captained The Cornell Track and Field Team, Cornell's Athlete of the Year - 78', Gold Medalist 78' U.S. National Sport Festival Mini Olympics and Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee.

Dr. Hall received his medical degree from Michigan State and his ophthalmology surgical subspecialty training from Harvard University.

As a young boy, Dr. Hall was taught to believe Washington never told a lie, Lincoln freed the slaves; that the American dream was a reality well within the reach of every American. All he needed to do to make this dream a reality was apply himself: self motivation, discipline, hard work and education. After years of academic rigors, freshly minted from a Harvard ophthalmic medical and surgical subspecialty in tow, Dr. Hall discovered - painfully - that despite all his hard work, enthusiasm and drive, America does not deliver equally.

Whether he works as an ophthalmologist or poet, his reality is clear-cut. In the eyes of "unspoken America" he is a Nigger For Life. Dr. Hall discovered that in "unspoken America", race is the one thing by which he is "first" judged; by which he is "first" measured, "first" against which his life and accomplishments are metered diminished value, dignity and equality; all of which have everything to do with accessing choice, opportunity, power and freedom. Now he can see - painfully - disguised from the eyes of the child he used to be, America's continued state of slavery."


HomeAbout the Author
Reader's Comments
Nigger For Life Book
Contact





Trying to be a black man in America
is like freeddom's thirst trying to
clench water within broken hands.
Neal Hall, M.D.




Foto: Thank you! Dankeschön!

1. The Starspangled Banner/Public Domain/(Fake) Son House: The Star Spangled Banner

2. Dr. Neal Hall/bookcover, website/Nigger for Life Book, Neal Hall, M.D., Poet

3. 24.07.2010: Die Ultra-Rechte demonstriert in Washingtion DC/AFP/Spiegel online Demo in Washington: US-Rechte gegen Obama - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten - Politik

4. Thousands of people joined the Rev. Al Sharpton and other leaders Saturday to commemorate the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington in 1963./Sharpton's Reclaim the Dream Rally Recalls the 1963 March


5. Dr. Martin Luther King jr.: Der 1929 geborene Baptistenprediger widmete sein Leben dem Kampf um gleiche Rechte für Schwarze und Weiße. Seit Mitte der 1950er Jahre galt er als die führende Stimme der schwarzen Bürgerrechtsbewegung. Tief beeindruckt /Martin-Luther-King-Day in den USA - "I have a dream" - Bild 2 - Politik - sueddeutsche.de


6. + 7. Dr. Neal Hall/website


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