NYU Black Renaissance Noire NYU Black Renaissance Noire V. 16.1 | Page 7

Republican politicians pursue the same
short-term goals while campaigning
that have become the standard model
for many American corporate businesses.
Donald Trump’s Republican primary
campaign recalls the campaign tactics
of Italian billionaire Silvio Berlusconi.
Berlusconi successfully ran for office
but subsequently led Italy down the
road to fiscal disaster from which it has
yet to recover. Berlusconi’s model is
a stark, tragic example of short-term
political gain over a long-term strategy
that may benefit everyone.

In their cynical (short-term) pursuit of
ratings and money, corporate media
bears much of the responsibility for
the toxic tribalism and presidential
campaign debacle we’re witnessing
this election season. Rachel Maddow
of msnbc has been the lone, wise,
courageous and shining light in all this
darkness. At this moment in our
history we need more like her example
in this moribund, compromised
and corrupt media. Let’s hope the
incredibly dangerous example of
Donald Trump will lead some of them
to reexamine their priorities.

For me, this frightening scenario will
lead to a kind of mass hysteria similar
to that ignited by the genocidal killings
in Hitler’s Germany during World
War II, to what occurred in Cambodia
and Rwanda, or to what is happening
today in South Sudan, Syria, Egypt,
Libya, and Iraq, unless wiser more
visionary forces emerge.

On a brighter note, we here at Black
Renaissance Noire have pulled together
another issue for you to read and
digest. As always, we hope you will
find it as engaging and exciting as we
do. In this issue, we are privileged to
publish fiction by the distinguished
Kenyan novelist, Ngũgı̃ wa Thiong’o,
and a short fiction piece by Eric
Priestley. We are thrilled to offer an
excerpt from saxophonist and physicist,
Stephon Alexander’s new book
The Jazz of Physics, a short essay from
Ishmael Reed, as well as non-fiction
prose from Walter L. Gordon, III,
E. Ethelbert Miller, Eben Wood,
Joseph McLaren, art critic and
filmmaker Lydie Diakhaté’s article
on sculptor, Melvin Edwards, and an
interview by Steven Isoardi with poet,
Kamau Daáood. In this eclectic mix
are poems by Kamau Daáood, No’u
Revilla, Shayla Lawson, Bill Harris,
former California Poet Laureate,
Al Young, Joel Dias-Porter, Terry
Blackhawk, and the legendary grand
Dame of Detroit poetry, Naomi Long
Madgett. Finally, we offer stunning
visual images from Marielle Plaisir
and Peter Bradley, who grace our
front and back covers, fabric artist,
Carole Harris, and paintings and
sculpture of Ruth Hardinger.
As always, we at Black Renaissance Noire
welcome your feedback on this and
every issue, and we thank you for your
continued support of our efforts. n
BLACK RENAISSANCE NOIRE

Nowhere in the definition is “tribe” or
“tribalism” defined sorely in a racial or
ethnic manner, but it is defined as “a
strong loyalty to one’s tribe or group.”
It’s what is also happening in some
aspects of the white evangelical church
movement, where some leaders who
have seemingly sold their souls to the
Republican Party and annexed their
whole congregations to the ignorance
of the retro, backwards party of George
W. Bush. These are mostly all white
evangelicals — though you have some
blacks too — drinking from the “Kool
Aid” trough of group thought.

5

Sadly, the American corporate media
has not stepped up to the plate to
provide a balanced critique of all the
various candidates running in
Republican and Democratic races all
over the country. Instead of analyzing
their various claims and critiquing
the candidates’ policies and positions,
the corporate media gleefully treats
this year’s presidential campaign like
horse races and reality tv shows,
reporting trivial bromides about who
said what about the other candidate’s
sexual proclivities. Rather than having
any discussion of policy or political
positions during the Republican debates,
corporate media focuses on whether
protestors should or shouldn’t be hit
up side their heads and thrown out of
political rallies. This kind of nonsense
has become the most important element
in one of the most important voting
cycles for the presidential (and
congressional and senate) elections in
the history of this democracy.