AmeriKKKa, You Haven't Been A Virgin

[Rakhmetov]

By Langston Hughes

Columbia,
My dear girl,
You really haven't been a virgin for so long.
It's ludicrous to keep up the pretext.
You're terribly involved in world assignations
And everybody knows it.
You've slept with all the big powers
In military uniforms,
And you've taken the sweet life
Of all the little brown fellows
In loincloths and cotton trousers.
When they've resisted,
You've yelled, "Rape,"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Being one of the world's big vampires,
Why don't you come on out and say so
Like Japan, and England, and France,
And all the other nymphomaniacs of power
Who've long since dropped their
Smoke screens of innocence
To sit frankly on a bed of bombs?

* Columbia (IPA: /kəˈlʌmbiə/ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English)) is the first popular (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popularity) and poetic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry) name for the United States of America (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States); it is also the origin of the name for the District of Columbia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Washington%2C_D.C.), the federal district (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_district) which is coextensive with the federal capital (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital), Washington. Columbia is a feminine form (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_gender) derived from Christopher Columbus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus), one of the first Europeans to explore the Americas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_colonization_of_the_Americas) after the Vikings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_colonization_of_the_Americas). The moniker dates from before the American Revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution) in 1776 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1776) but fell out of use in the early 20th century.

[Prairie Fire]

So, here bloody imperialist aggression is associated with female promiscuity.:rolleyes:

[Rakhmetov]

It's called an extended metaphor or conceit.

[Prairie Fire]

Yes, thanks, Mengistu. I'm aware of what a metaphor is.

My actual concern is that, the crimes of genocide ("...And you've taken the sweet life, Of all the little brown fellows, In loincloths and cotton trousers..."), imperialist appropriation, aggressive war,etc are placed in the same category as female sexuality.

So, here, female "impurity" is a metaphor for ruthless capitalist appropriation by ruthless military means. So, the question becomes,why is this an appropriate metaphor?

I guess the reason is because the feminine is always ascribed a negative social-context, and negative events are (somehow) always ascribed a feminine identity in our society.

If you are a weak or cowardly persyn, regardless of gender, you are a "pussy" (feminine).

If you are a male who can't throw a ball properly, you "throw like a girl". You're not just a male who sucks at throwing a ball (which completely shatters the 'throw like a girl' expression, if both genders have the same capacity to succeed or fail,) , you're a male with 'female qualities'. Somehow, even male incompetence is still "female".

So, here in this poem, we get this pseudo-Christian, "Whore of Babylon" crap, where imperialism and exploitation are assigned female qualities,
and "impure" womyn are somehow akin to rampant unbridled militarism and global plunder.

I especially love this line: "..When they've resisted, You've yelled, 'rape,'...".

Again, I get the metaphor (that American imperialism plays the victim, when it is the aggressor,), but here it is not only the peoples under seige by American imperialism that are portrayed as the victim, but by the metaphor, it also some persyn (presumably male) who is un-fairly accused of rape by this harlot trying to take advantage of him.

This seems, to me, another expression of the sentiments of a visible section of contemporary males, who see female civil rights as a restriction on their persynal freedoms, and actually believe that they are now "oppressed" by (semi-) emancipated womyn.

I think that not only does this persecution complex reflected in the poem not reflect the social conditions as they exist today, but it is a pretty vulgar way of trivializing rape, as though it is something that womyn "cry wolf" with on whim (or, in this case, to our advantage,) when in reality the vast majority of rape victims don't even report the incident to authorities.

This whole poem, while a critique of imperialism, is un-fortunately not able to make a break with the other dominant notions of the society. I understand where it comes from ( unfortunately, a lot of grass roots expressions of anti-capitalism/anti-imperialism are inevitibly going to be tainted by water marks of capitalist ideology and social norms,), but I am still going to criticize it rather than nod along.

[khad]

It's called an extended metaphor or conceit.
It is a pretty poor metaphor, since it's the imperialists who do the raping. Literally.

[FreeFocus]

Yeah, the metaphor is an odd one and doesn't make much sense IMO. Not taking anything away from Langston Hughes, obviously, and his point is something we can all agree on (the brutality of imperialism), but it would have been more appropriate to frame American imperialism as the rapist.

Nonetheless, remember the context of Hughes' time. Sex prior to marriage was taboo (although this was still around the "Roaring 20s," when it was becoming a little more accepted). Therefore, women would falsely claim that they were virgins. Likewise, America maintains this aura of imperial innocence, although it's the biggest imperialist in history.

[Old Man Diogenes]

By Langston Hughes

Columbia,
My dear girl,
You really haven't been a virgin for so long.
It's ludicrous to keep up the pretext.
You're terribly involved in world assignations
And everybody knows it.
You've slept with all the big powers
In military uniforms,
And you've taken the sweet life
Of all the little brown fellows
In loincloths and cotton trousers.
When they've resisted,
You've yelled, "Rape,"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Being one of the world's big vampires,
Why don't you come on out and say so
Like Japan, and England, and France,
And all the other nymphomaniacs of power
Who've long since dropped their
Smoke screens of innocence
To sit frankly on a bed of bombs?

I like it, quite clever.

[Revy]

Columbia as a "poetic" name for America sucks for obvious reasons, its origins in the name of Christopher Columbus. But then again, there is an actual country called Colombia which has those origins in its name too.

I think Usonia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usonia) is the "utopian" name for the USA, and could make a great alternative name for a future socialist republic.

[Pogue]

I don't like it, the reference to female promiscuity is unfair.

[Manifesto]

I like it, quite clever.
I liked it too. Yes sexist but still good.

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

Langston Hughes is amazing.

Easily one of America's best poets.

[ls]

I liked it too. Yes sexist but still good.

Go away.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Its shit.

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

What a fine literary analysis this is.


Out of curiosity, does anyone on this forum happen to listen to rap music by any chance?

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

So, here bloody imperialist aggression is associated with female promiscuity.:rolleyes:

When the first english settlement was set up they named the area around it "Virginia" because the Europeans hadn't stuck their ding dong in it yet.

[RotStern]

I liked it lol I will write one AND CARVE IT ONTO THE WOOD OF THE WHITE HOUSE :D

WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!

[Communist Theory]

The poem has fucking nothing to do with politics.
Or is that a metaphor?

[Killfacer]

fucking god awful.

[Revy]

When the first english settlement was set up they named the area around it "Virginia" because the Europeans hadn't stuck their ding dong in it yet.

I thought they named it Virginia after Queen Elizabeth, who styled herself "the Virgin Queen" with all that "I'm married to England" bullshit.

[mel]

The poem has fucking nothing to do with politics.
Or is that a metaphor?

It's a metaphor.

You don't have a whole lot of experience with poetry, do you?

[The Author]

I thought they named it Virginia after Queen Elizabeth, who styled herself "the Virgin Queen" with all that "I'm married to England" bullshit.

Yes, that is absolutely correct. Virginia is a reference to Elizabeth I.

The metaphor in Hughes' poem is poor.

[Manifesto]

Go away.
Because I liked it and admitted that it was sexist?

[RHIZOMES]

Langston Hughes is the man. Remember this is the early 20th century when Langston Hughes was writing this.

[JimmyJazz]

It would be awesome if Langston Hughes had actually called it AmeriKKKa.

[Communist Theory]

It's a metaphor.

You don't have a whole lot of experience with poetry, do you?
I was sarcastically asking if the poem having absolutely nothing to do with politics was a metaphor.
The metaphors in the poem are piss poor.