Brutal Imagination: Persistent Ghosts of Dead Mockingbirds

Approximately twenty years has passed since Susan Vaughan Smith was convicted to life imprisonment for the deceitful and disturbingly heinous crime of murdering her own children, in the highly publicized case in South Carolina garnering national attention. Despite the ruling, an intensely drawn-out charade played the game of Smith's falsely accusing a black man – a fictionalized tale, and a ghostly figment of her 'brutal imagination' – to borrow poet Cornelius Eady's term. While one might surmise that the truth of the case through irrefutable evidence finally emerged to the relief of many, poetry selections from Cornelius Eady's “Brutal Imagination: Poems” speaks to the larger sense of the entire issue about the AfricanAmerican experience today'sAmerican society. Amidst the backdrop of the hurricane of perplexity the Susan Smith case brings to light, this essay addresses how Eady's poetry helps to confront a literary analysis of deeper issues at stake. The dark clouds hovering over Smith's indictment in 1995 may be forgotten. Nevertheless, the greater implications of the passionate lies of her polemic abide.

Herein shall be visited a brief background of “Brutal Imagination: Poems” author Cornelius Eady, excerpts from a poem of course, and how film media contributes to negative images and perceptions of Black males. Also mentioned and discussed is the easy permissiveness allowing Black men to be such universal scapegoats in the first place, and a commentary on the recent bickering regarding the high-profile Trayvon Martin case tied into President Obama's speech on the matter.

Cornelius Eady grew up in Rochester, New York. Eady, according to Trethewey in a well-respected literary publication Ploughshares, describes his hunger for reading poetry from Amiri Baraka to Allen Ginsberg and while being “too poor” to own much “spent hours at the library listening” (193). Trethewey further informs Eady's talents in creative writing as ultimately leading the poet on the road to becoming fellowship recipient of Guggenheim Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts grants. Several poems from Brutal Imagination are entitled as follows: “How I Got Born,” “My Heart,” “Susan Smith's Police Report,” “What Isn't Known About The Abductor,” “Sympathy,” “Confession,” “Piss,” “Liar,” “Truth,” and several more. An excerpt from Cornelius Eady's poem “Susan Smith's Police Report” is apropos at this time.

An excerpt from the poem, “Susan Smith's Police Report” from the book reads:

“My shape came from out-of-nowhere.

The way some things don't belong

That's the way

I clanged up to the car

Trapped by a badly timed light

Her poor kids never saw our image

Swell in the rearview mirror.

I was the danger of bulk; fast,

Nervous fingers

Barked the unlocked door open

And in I flooded, all the heartache

A lonely stretch of road can give.

Then she was alone, blinking in

The sight of an indifferent moon

Above the pines

This, she swore, was the sound

Of my voice.” (12).

Taken from the first half of the book, the Black man's plight is examined through a collective white imagination. The poem nearly reminds of an elegy, the death of the children, the death of any Black man's character, and having no heroes. Eady's usage of “our image” casts an unfair verdict upon all African American men. The imagery suggests animalistic savagery in the word “barked” and perhaps portrays the perception of Black males by whites as being lower than a dog. Everyone knows not even a canine would attack humans unprovoked. Interesting, yes? The rhyme scheme in terms of line endings and beginnings of each stanza, is doing rich work to make the point. “An indifferent moon...above the pines” and “all the heartache...a lonely stretch of road can give” (12). However, while Eady's poetic diagnosis of the ill perceived character of Black men in society persists, maybe there is more evidence to propose a grander conspiracy. The negative contribution of film media adds to these well-received depictions of Black males.

Whether one would provide an analysis from a psychology or sociological perspective, it seems as if the story is always the same. In a peer-reviewed journal article by Kenneth Chan, “The Construction of Black Male Identity in Black Action Films of the Nineties,” hypothesizes that a clever video collage blends “trendy” music, “rap singers turned actors,” and volatile action to entertain from the “geopolitics of ghetto space” as helping to shape views of an entire populace's segment that speaks volumes to movie-goers (1). The term 'blaxploitation' sets the pace in American society and has continued to materialize and capitalize from a “period of militant political black activism fueled by” identified consciousness of African American folks' “social expectations” (1). But the removal of fancy scholarly words helps to unveil the cloak of the hateful incitement and disdain towards Black males in general, and the low perception these films generate.

The point is this. Why and how did Susan Smith feel so damned comfortable in lying to the police that her children were attacked by some fictional, brute of a Black man? This is the question. The logical conclusion then, in terms of an evaluation of these kinds of films, is that the slanted racist influence of these negative images is doing work. It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. What are avalanches of moving/audio pictures worth? A million words? Five trillion? One indeed might wonder. In an interesting yet sad writeup reviewing Susan Smith's life leading up to the tragedy of murdering her children Michael and Alexander, recounts narcissistic delusions. Yet is it enough to simply discount Smith as an insane anomaly? This writer thinks not. Another brief example may serve an understanding how an entire sub-group of persons are prematurely judged by whites.

Such cases are more the norm than the exception. According to Kauffman, Oscar Grant was falsely charged/convicted of murder for 28 years in a California prison – while it is common knowledge that Trayvon Martin's killer George Zimmerman was exonerated by trial jury in the death of the Florida teen. Despite the fact that inflamed tempers from both opinionated sides would argue, does not justify prejudicial excuse to castigate an entire people. Casting such a mass slur upon all blue-eyed people or mentally retarded persons would constitute a widespread public outrage. Yet the bloody gunning down of African American males is permitted as if it were a national sport. Imagine that.

What some are trying to figure out is this: Is it a matter of convenience or an easy unspoken (silently agreed upon) permission that allows Black males to remain the universal scapegoats for the whole United States of America? Easy convenience may render one explanation. But, to dig deeper is to ask why? The full gamut of history aids in telling the tale. Once again in 'Troy Davis' fashion, the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case was flung into the international spotlight to impute the common problem of racism in America – more specifically settling in on the dehumanization of Black males. In conjunction with this idea, it is ironic that an at least partially Black male is currently the President of the United States. Barack Obama made a stunning, nearly twenty-minute speech concerning the events and national violence sparked around the circumstances of the Trayvon Martin case controversy.

Although it is unknown to this writer if President Obama's detailed address in its entirety about the Trayvon Martin case, was aired nationally – it should have been. According to The White House's own video recording of the speech, which others had uploaded its podcast onto Youtube as well President Obama handled a touchy issue without placing outright reprehension on anyone. In his address the President states:

“...in the African-American community there's a lot of pain around

what happened here...I think it's important to recognize that the

African American community is looking at this issue through a set

of experiences and a history [italics, mine] that doesn't go away...”

(“President Obama Speaks on Trayvon Martin”).

What is perhaps most stunning in the President's comments, is his reference to the possibility that Trayvon Martin could have been his son or himself as a youth. He mildly rebukes and graciously acknowledges the racial disparity in the application of jurisprudence outcomes in the nation. In other words, a short paraphrase of one comment by President Barack Obama simply announces that people are not stupid, and that they understand the context involving Black males in events of violence contributing to legal verdicts. In summing up, Obama simply entreats the people of America how to move towards more positive regularities.

Some would completely dismiss the address, by side-stepping the issue at hand, to complain about President Obama's role in other politically charged debates. This is a mistake. The historically noteworthy address cuts to the core of airing out America's dirty laundry which some think stinks to high heaven. Granted, not everyone will agree. However, one crucially vital point the President makes in the legal outcome of Zimmerman having the law on his side to lethally defend himself, because he felt threatened, might have been Martin's move in a different scenario. Obama points out a 'what-if' scenario if Martin had had a weapon and felt threatened – would he have been legally justified and exonerated for killing Zimmerman if the shoe were on the other foot? His conclusion drew upon the factor that maybe state and local laws should be reviewed and/or amended that will not encourage and perpetrate mass violence.

Think about it. If a lot of people unnecessarily played the card of feeling threatened, and being justified by the law, there might be a daily murder on every street corner in America. There is no real defense for the truly guilty. In the end, Eady asserts it best: “The cab is lit with brutal imagination” (7). What more can be said?

Works Cited

Chan, Kenneth. “The Construction of Black Male Identity in Black Action Films of the Nineties.” Cinema Journal 37.2 (1998): 35-48. ProQuest. Web. 7 Sep. 2013.

“Crime/Punishment Susan Smith – Profile of a Child Killer – The Tragic South Carolina Case of the Murders of Michael and Alexander Smith.” About. About.com, n.d. 7 Sep. 2013.

Eady, Cornelius. Brutal Imagination: Poems. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons A Member of Penguin Putnam Inc., 2001. Print.

Kauffman, Doug. “The untold story of Oscar Grant's father – Racism, mass incarceration and police brutality.” Liberation News. Liberation Newspaper of The Party for Socialism at LiberationNews.org., 3 Aug. 2013. Web. 7 Sep. 2013.

Obama, Barack. “President Obama Speaks on Trayvon Martin.” The White House. Washington, D.C. Youtube podcast]. 19 July 2013. Historical Keynote Address. *link{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHBdZWbncXI}.

Trethewey, Natasha. “About Cornelius Eady.” Ploughshares Spring 202: 193-7. ProQuest. Web. 7 Sep. 2013.