BABAJOHN KILLENS: THE GREAT GRIOT MASTER OF BROOKLYN

"Our struggle for liberation is indeed a long long distance race, for we are out for nothing short of winning the entire human race and we are up against a formidable foe.  To win this race will require planning, pacing, discipline and stamina, and a belief in our ability to win the long protracted struggle.  We must construct one hundred year plans; two hundred year plans.  We must construct institutions for generations unborn."     John Oliver Killens

I Am Flowers of the Delta Clan Flowers and the line of O. Killens. 

This is the ritual 1st line of all my major works: a griotic opening, who you are and who you were trained by.  I was trained by John O Killens; the Great Griot Master of Brooklyn.

Babajohn taught me not only how to write but how to be a writer, taught me how to be a visionary, what he called a longdistance runner, what I call the longgame.  Babajohn showed me the way

Came to NYC in the summer of 73 to get into Babajohns workshop over at Columbia and stayed in it till he died in 1987. Whereever John taught he stipulated that his workshop would be open to the community and over the years he drew a cadre of young writers unto him.  One by one my literary companeros y companeras were drawn into the circle of young writers following John O. Killens from Colombia to Howard to Bronx Community to his final resting place at Medgar Evers.  Brooklyn.  Crossroads of the Black World.  I called it the Meeting Ground and Babajohn was its master griot.

13 years I followed John Killens from school to school.  Only looking back do I see that I was learning what is called in mystic traditions, the unwritten knowledge - that which can only be learned from the extended example of the masters life.

I have internalized so many of John O’s precepts about being a writer that he continues to guide me.  Wherever I go, whatever I do John O. Killens walks with me.  I try to make him proud and I would never do anything as a writer that I dont think John O would approve of.

John O was a literary visionary, had this vision of blackwriters as ideological orchestrators, players on the hoodoo board of destiny:

"Our struggle for liberation is indeed a long long distance race, for we are out for nothing short of winning the entire human race and we are up against a formidable foe.  To win this race will require planning, pacing, discipline and stamina, and a belief in our ability to win the long protracted struggle.  We must construct one hundred year plans; two hundred year plans.  We must construct institutions for generations unborn."

In pursuit of that vision he tried to make of himself a place where young writers grew, tried to institutionalize a black literary infrastructure.

In doing so he taught generations of writers in the longgame, trained us in how to be a literary mob, how to wield literary power, how to be successful writers – cultural influents.

We were all politicos and artistic activists who had come out of the Black Arts Movement, believed in art as an instrument of cultural empowerment, an instrument of redemption, that’s why we were drawn to John in the 1st place, he showed us how it was done.

First thing we all had to learn that politics cant carry a story.  John used to tell us over and over,  "The more important that you have to say, the more obligated you are to say it well.” 

Preached craft, craft and more craft, told us we had to grow as craftsfolk for the rest of our literary lives.

Babajohn taught us that what makes a writer significant is not the popularity of the moment but the lifetime commitment to craft, content and character.  Discipline and Sincerity.  Taught us the judgment of any literary movement is the quality of the works produced by it: the issues raised pertinent to its generations: the ideological instruments forged to finesse its challenges: its influence on future literary work: its legacy. 

But that in the final analysis it is always the Work that counts.  Do it.  Do it right. 

John O Killens was irredemptively oldschool.   He believed passionately in the moral dimension of literature.  It was his understanding that you must constantly purify and refine your character, vision and craft, your understanding of the human condition and your generational relevance.  A voice of your times.  That it is the writers responsibility to be productive, significant and of the righteous.  At all times willing to grow.  To work hard.  To pay your dues without whimpering.  To aspire to work so powerful it can not be ignored.

There are moments in the life of a writer - fleeting moments – when youve done good pages or participated in a culturally significant moment that you aware of yourself as Historical.  If you pull it off, you and your works will live in the hearts and aspirations of generations to come.  To the extent that your Works are meaningful to those generations, to that extent are you Immortal.

The Longgame. 

Over the years John O’s literary reputation declined and he is no longer read.  His advice not to let politics overwhelm the craft was advice paid for in the coin of his own work. 

But folk who leave John O out of any exploration of African American literature just dont understand the game.  John Os influence transcends his work.  John Os efforts to institutionalize a black literary infrastructure and train generations of blackwriters in the longgame will make his influence unprecedented.  He left behind legions infused with a sense of responsibility for the tribal soul and destiny and the cultural skills to manifest it.

John O taught us to be cultural custodians, guide and guardian of the tribal soul and destiny, shield and spear

Babajohn tried to make sure we were not only powerful but righteous.  In my literary youth I aspired to be a Machiavellian thinker who would forge blackfolk into a conquering horde and fling them into battle.  Power was my field of study and people were just factors to be used.  This was reflected in my work. 

One day Babajohn pull me aside and said, "Art, you a brilliant writer but with a little compassion you could be profound." 

I didnt get it. "Brilliant" was all I heard.  It wasnt until many years later I realized he was trying to ensure that my artistic contribution to the tradition, my legacy as his student, would not be hard and cold but warm and loving - an old shaman trying to ensure the health of the tribal soul.

Babajohn considered literature a sacred calling.   Believed that as the voice of a culture that has since its inception felt itself under mortal siege, African American literature is fundamentally shamanistic and vitally concerned with communal health and empowerment.  Its most revered figures have all been culturally engaged, Langston, Zora, Ishmael, Amiri, Gayle, Toni, creating the visions without which the people will perish and serving in its mythic heart its age old griotic function of keeping the culture alive and viable.

There are times when I hate I ever read/met John Killens.  Hadnt been for Babajohn I dont think I would be a novelist.   Be some other kind of writer, some easier kind of writer.

Not really, I love being a novelist, I love being a writer, and on the real side I cannot fully express to you how proud I am to be one of John O. Killens legions. Knowing John O. like I did was a once in a generation  experience.  There will never be another like him, and I feel like I was totally blessed to know him, to have been trained by him, to be one of his crew, best damn literary crew ever was – and with everything I do I praise his name  - my mentor in struggle - Babajohn O Killens, the great griot master of Brooklyn.

John O. Killens died May 1987. He had been terminally sick for awhile, in and out of the hospital, one of those folks who just refuse to go, a fighter to the bitter end.  The last time I saw him I went out to Brooklyn, and the house full of folks on the deathwatch.  John on the second floor.  I go up to see him and Im shocked.  He laying there all thin and wasted, a pale reflection of who I knew him to be, skin and bones and spirit. 

We talk.  He knew I was thinking about going to L.A. and he told me to be careful out there, dont get lost out there he told me, dont let ever money rule the work.  Barely speak and still trying to provide guidance.

I assured him I would keep the faith.

Then he ask me to lift him up.  Put him in a chair that was sitting by the bed.  I carefully slide my arms behind his knees and his back and when I lift him I stumble, shocked how feather light he is.  I very carefully place him in the chair and arrange the blanket over him.  Call Amazing Grace, he say, thats what he call Ms Grace, Amazing.  I call her and she come upstairs and beam at him sitting there so proud.

Im sitting up, he told her.
I see you are, she say.
I like to know what's going on around me, he say.
I know you do, she say

Babajohn O Killens.  The Great Griot Master of Brooklyn. 

Gods Blessings on us all.

That is all.  This spell is done.

Comments

[BuffaloSoldier]

I WONDER WILL YOU SURVIVE IN THIS LAND BuffaloSoldier salutes Sarah Wright/this child is gonna live.
I always regretted I didn't attend the Killens workshop because I knew he was turning out writers that made a Killens. But I did meet the SoulDoctor at Frederick Douglass. We read aloud then. And he
read aloud from his work in progress DE MOJO BLUES Jethro had just handed his BAG OF TRICKS to the future HighJohn. And promptly got killed. (John The Baptist passes off The Power to Jesus?)That was a critical point in the novel and I thought a pivotal point in the evolution of the writer himself.
All of us at Frederick Douglass were of the Liberation Generation. Or Liberation Gen, as the Proud
Brother East used to call us. There was HIPHOP Gen, Gangster Rap Gen. But nobody exploded on the scene larger and more in charge than Liberation Gen. And Like Louie Armstrong said "I want to be in
that number" The doubts that I sometimes hear from the SoulDoctor concerning his new work is why
Sarah Wright/Ralph Ellison/Harper Lee didn't follow up. (Actully, SoulDoctor did follow up with
ANOTHER GOOD LOVING BLUES) But the distance between those works and this one appears to be causing
jitters. It's ten years, will it be worth the wait? Do I still have it? Am I fooling myself?
These questions will always follow Liberation Gen because we know how much is expected of us.
These are the worries of the sensitive, caring, sophisticated writer. I for one am glad the SoulDoctor is working through these understandable anxieties. It's inspiring because if he doesn't quit, what right do I have to consider quiting. I'm BuffaloSoldier and I approve this affirmation.

[arthur flowers]

hey man, thanks for reminding me whats important

the liberation generation, i like that

there are some folk putting out the strong works these days though

i dont keep up like i used to, used to be you could keep up with black lit

but not anymore, so much coming out you have to pick and choose

guess i been feeling a little stretched out lately, bes like that sometime

but you know how it is, aint nothing gon stop the party rock

a luta continua