Maulana Karenga's Black Cultural Nationalism

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Recommended: The revolution will not be televised summary

The Black arts movement created a new medium that had its own distinct black aesthetic to bring about and inspire revolutionary change. Karenga’s essay “Black Cultural Nationalism” outlines three distinct components that black art must meet in order to be true black art. These three components are that “it must be functional, collective, and committing.” What this means is that black art must serve a purpose towards revolutionary change. It cannot simple be “art for arts sake” but rather must be a means by which artists make revolution through a medium that awakens, invigorates, and inspires revolution with in the black community. Gil Scott-Heron’s poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” commits its audience to a revolutionary awakening by emphasizing the importance of being a part of this change, which ties into what Maulana Karenga asserts about the “function of art is to make …show more content…

The poem is a perfect example of how form and message come together in a uniquely black aesthetic that can be measured to, the three criteria that Karenga sets as qualification for black art. It is functional in the sense that the main message of the poem is to galvanize black people to support the revolution and wake them up to the message that the revolution will wait for no one nor will it be something that they can ignore. This view is further supported by Karenga who states “black art must expose the enemy, praise the people and support the revolution.” Within the poem we see NBC and famous white people being quoted and identified as people who will not support or stand up to for revolution for black people. This further supports the authors view and message to his audience that revolution is something that they have to seize themselves because if they don’t stand up for themselves no one else

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