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Artistic and Political Manifestos

During the 1960’s and 1970’s many artistic and political manifestos were written calling for change in the Black Community. These manifestos were works of art that offer a statement of belief and opinion about how things should be. Larry Neal wrote an artistic manifesto envisioning what black arts should be like, while The Black Panther Party wrote a political manifesto envisioning extreme change in the Unites States government.

Larry Neal’s manifesto, “The Black Arts Movement,” is manly about what art should express. He believes that art should be about ethics instead of aesthetics. It should be about what is going on in society, values, and morals. He argues that art shouldn’t be about beauty. He explains how Western society tends to use art as entertainment instead of art that is useful for people in the community. This art enforces the idea of the white people’s way of looking at the world. As he states in the second paragraph:

Therefore, the main thrust of this new breed of contemporary writers is to confront the contradictions arising out of the Black man’s experience in the racist West. Currently, these writers are re-evaluating Western aesthetics, the traditional role of the writer, and the social function of art. Implicit in this reevaluation is the need to develop a “black aesthetic.” It is the opinion of many Black writers, I among them, that the Western aesthetic has run its course: it is impossible to construct anything meaningful within its decaying structure.

In this part he is saying that western aesthetics does not value African Americans and that it is racist and alienates them. New writers are questioning this art and they are acknowledging that this art doesn’t support them. Therefore, they believe that this art is done and that they will create new art that represents them. He want African Americans to create new art that would stand for what they believe in and value. As Neal states, “The Black artist must create new forms and new values, sing new songs (or purity old ones); and along with other Black authorities, he must create a new history, new symbols, myths and legends (and purify old ones by fire).” Since western ideas of art don’t represent them, they should create art that does. Artistic text that Larry Neal would be in favor of is the poem “Black Art” by LeRoi Jones because it talks about how a poem is not a poem unless it talks about realistic, everyday issues in society. He does not want poems that talk about love when African Americans are treated unequal and the Vietnam War is going on. Like he states, “Let there be no love poems written until love can exist freely and cleanly.”

The Black Panther Party was an African American organization trying to improve the conditions of the black people during the mid 1960’s and 1970’s. Their “10 Point Platform” is a manifesto where they are calling for extreme change for the black community. Their Platform includes political and economical change. Some of their requests are power to determine their own destinies. They wanted to have their own representatives that have the interest of the black people. They wanted freedom for all the African Americans that were held in prison because they did not receive a fair trial and wanted all African Americans to be free from from the military service. They wanted the right to a decent education. They also wanted economical rights, such as decent housing and employment. As the 10^th point explains, “We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace. And as major political objective, a United Nation-supervised plebiscite to be held throughout the black colony in which only black colonial subjects will be allowed to participate for the purpose of determining the will of the black people as to their national destiny.” The Black Panther Party would be in favor of the Young Lords Party’s “13-Point Program and Platform” because just like the Black Panther Party they are setting exactly what they want to be changed. They both have similar point such as withdraw from military and freeing prisoners that were tried unfairly. They both also want their people to be educated about their own culture.

Both Larry Neal and the Black Panther Party are responding to similar issues faced by many African Americans since they were written only two year apart. Larry Neal’s manifesto was published in the summer of 1968. A lot was going on in the world during this time. Many assassinations against black leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. were taken place. The Vietnam War was as still going on. Many troops were being killed and it seemed like The United States were going to lose the war. Many whites and Blacks are starting to oppose the war. There is still a lot of racism going on in the country. African Americans are still put down even in art. Many countries in Africa and Asia are being decolonized. This might have led Larry Neal to write this text because he is expressing that African Americans have their own history and beauty that must be shown and not oppressed by western aesthetics. Just like these countries are coming out and decolonizing, so should black art come out and represent African Americans. The Black Panther Party’s 10 Point Platform is written in 1966. I can see why they choose to write this manifesto because with all the injustice going on in society, they wanted to rebel against it and express that should be different. Like the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party attempted to do by trying to form their own political party in the interest of the Black community.

I find the Larry Neal manifesto more persuasive because it is an interesting idea of using art in a way to make a different instead of are being used as just beauty. Why should art be about western values when so much is going on in the world that needs to be addressed and changed? Therefore, I would like to join Larry Neal artistic movement. The Black Panther Party have a good list of what they want to change and why, but I believe they are asking for too much at once. They are not only asking for political right, but economical rights as well. Even whites do not have some of these economical rights they are asking for in the capitalist economy of the United States. This makes is much harder to achieve all their goals.