Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social & Political Black Literature & Art
Synopsis:
Co-edited by Tony Medina, Samiya Bashir & Quraysh Ali Lansana
"Welcome to the 21st Century" bids the opening line of this literary "multimedia" experience, brought to us by three leading black author-activists of the post--Civil Rights Movement generation: Tony Medina, Samiya A. Bashir, and Quraysh Ali Lansana. This collection of more than three hundred poems, essays, paintings, photos and mixed media representations features a myriad of voices of the generation that bridges the gap between the children of the Civil Rights Movement and those of the present hip hop movement. Role Call is described by its editors as a manifesto for this much maligned often misunderstood generation, eager to shake off the fetters of society's unflattering inaccurate labels. Its pages tell of a generation that has bravely taken up the challenge passed along by their forebears to fight for equality and justice.
Boldly taking on issues of race relations, popular culture, sexuality, education, technology and the rise of the prison industry, Role Call reflects the love for self, family, and community necessary to any struggle for equality. This diverse collection of dynamic voices and visions tackles its subjects with fresh, sparse language, rich imagery and passion for the issues and the work that signal the arrival of a new Black Power--one that is spiritually grounded, forged in multiple alliances, and based on the credo that each of our experiences matter.
Tony Medina, poet, professor, activist is the author of ten books, including the recent titles DeShawn Days, Love for Langston, and Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam. Samiya A. Bashir, poet, writer, and editor, has appeared in Poetry for the People: A Revolutionary Blueprint, Other Countries: Voices Rising, and Contemporary American Women Poets. Quraysh Ali Lansana is the author of three poetry collections, including the Third World Press release Southside Rain, as well as a children's book; he has edited three anthologies, including Glencoe/McGraw-Hill's African American Literature Reader.
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Role Call @ samiya bashir dot com
Role Call @ Amazon
Original Publish Date:
October 25, 2002
Publishing Notes:
“Nothing predictable here: no re-run, and no ho-hum, neither. Role Call is news! Each of these artists seriously means to wake up your brain and your body. This is a break-through, dareyoutobedumbenoughtosleepthroughwhatsfinallygoingon exploration of stuff as varied as pain and ecstasy. Oh, more than good news! Word.” —June Jordan “Fanon said: To speak is to assume a culture, and to bear responsibility for a civilization. These young poets do just that with their humor, their hip hop/street idioms, their love for selves and the language, their abundance of information which they so generously share with us. My brothers. My sisters. Welcome to this thing that we do called poetry. Welcome to life.” —Sonia Sanchez “In these uncertain and unimaginably violent times, many writers find themselves questioning the relevance of the work they do. For the young writers in Role Call, the question is moot. Their passionate voices are already about the work of creating a new language, a wider context, a deeper understanding and a more lasting peace. They already konw that silence equals death. Role Call is the voice of a generation determined not only to change the way we write, but the way we live. ” —Pearl Cleage “Consider that anthos is the Greek word for flower and logia the Greek word for collecting. Now imagine a solitary author, laboring for months over a novel, a story or a poem, cultivating it like a gardener who slaves over a prizewinning African violet. Now imagine a florist carefully pruning and arranging a collection of brilliantly hued flowers, in other words, an anthology. Editors Samiya A. Bashir, Quaraysh Ali Lansana and Tony Medina have done just that in Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature and Art. A weighty tome--a phat 512 pages--Role Call is divided into seven sections that examine how the work of recognized and emerging young black artists deal with race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and class, as well as the joy and pain of being black in America.” — Trent Masiki, Black Issues Book Review
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