Summary: The True Import Of Present Dialogue, Black Vs. Negro

Intrepid Nikki

Auriel Jones
AP Literature and Composition
Ms. Yarborough
10 February 2014 Nikki Giovanni, born as Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, is an extremely extraordinary poet whose writing style and themes of her literary works were very inspiring during the Civil Rights Movement. She is considered one of the greatest revolutionary writers in American history of all time. Giovanni was born June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Shortly after, her parents moved Giovanni and her older sister to Cincinnati, Ohio. From a very young age, Giovanni always had a confident, forceful, and independent personality, matching the qualities off her maternal grandmother. On numerous occasions, she
In these poems, Giovanni expressed her opinion of the revolution by supporting open violence and also by expressing her intolerant attitude for change and freedom (“Nikki Giovanni 181”). These novels were a compilation of many revolutionary poems. After Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, Giovanni published these two works later in the same year. In her poem, “The True Import of Present Dialogue, Black vs. Negro”, Giovanni showed how she was not holding her tongue for anyone. According to the lyrics of the poem “The True Import of Present Dialogue, Black vs. Negro”, it would be logical to think that Giovanni was furious that Dr. King had been killed and how her own race was acting as cowards by following the commands of whites. She was also concerned that black men were being sent out of the country to fight other men, when they could not even fight for their freedom at home (Lee 182). In this poem she repeatedly says, “Can you kill a nigger/ can a nigger kill” and “We ain’t got to prove we can die/ we got to prove we can kill”. From these lyrics, one may believe that Giovanni is done with Dr. King’s nonviolent ways. She is now provoking violence and wishing for the death of white America through her lyrics (Harris 193). Although every American was supposed to have the freedom of speech, Giovanni’s blunt style of writing could have had her assassinated,
Nikki Giovanni’s gift is her bluntness and honesty. According to the critic David LLorens, Giovanni is growing everyday into a better poet because she is married to honesty (190). He once said “Enjoy the guts of Giovanni on her journey into Adulthood, a poem that acts like a fifth of iodine on an open wound with its raw power” (Llorens 190). LLorens was promoting Giovanni’s blunt poetry style with his positive criticism. He also was responding to her frank poetry. After reading his full criticism, one would think that he was in love with Giovanni and her work. This shows how her style had such a positive impact on society. Similar to Llorens’s criticism, Sarah Fabio also thought that Giovanni was a magnificent writer (190). She once said, “Nikki is a special poet for this special time-a revolutionary one.… She records in a special way evoking images largely through cataloguing (Fabio 190). Fabio was explaining how Giovanni’s works were exceptionally unique during the hectic time period that was occurring. She viewed the works as magic. Giovanni influenced others to speak their minds and to not be afraid of holding back. She constantly received reviews that proved what a strong, vigorous woman she actually was and still