Many poems have been written about Emmett Till, the young African-American brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955. The incident and trial to follow, in which his caucasian murderers were acquitted, in a mockery of justice all too common at the time, are credited with sparking the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s.
Among the first such poems (and surely the best) was written by a black French poet born in 1913 on the Caribbean island of Martinique. The controlling metaphor was the State of the Union Message delivered each January by the U.S. President. The poet who wrote "...On the State of the Union" was Aime Césaire.
Among the headline stories throughout the French speaking world, this weekend, is the death of Cesaire, on Thursday, at 94 years of age. According to Sylvain Rakotoarison, of the popular French-language blog Agora Vox, Cesaire passed away on Thursday at 11:20 AM, Paris time -- "Le 17 avril 2008 à 11 h 20 (heure de Paris)," -- after having been hospitalized for eight days for heart problems -- "hospitalisé depuis huit jours pour des problèmes de cœur". Césaire would have been 95 years old on June 26.
By the time Césaire wrote his poem on Till, he had already long been involved in the black struggle throughout the world, and, in particular, the Caribbean. The movement that he inspired, during the years prior to World War II, would highlight the virtues of "négritude". While he would later try to retire the movement, in favor of more radical visions it helped to make possible, he would be affectionately known as «la chantre de la négritude» -- "the singer of négritude" -- to the end of his life.
Césaire was also an active and respected playwright and politican during his long life. He served as the mayor of Fort-de-France, Martinique, the town in which he died, and served for many years as a deputy in the Martinican parliament. Recent differences between Césaire and French President Sarkozy did not prevent the conservative leader of France from eulogizing the poet as a great man and an historical figure.
A memorial service was held this afternoon, at 2:30 PM, Martinique time, at Pierre-Aliker Stadium, in Fort-de-France, during which Aime Césaire received a hero's send-off from a huge crowd which included the official representatives of dozens of countries. While the passing of the poet, and the subsequent upswell of emotion throughout the world, went largely unnoticed in the mainstream U. S. press, there can be no doubt that the viable African-American presidential candidacy of Barack Obama owes more than a little to Aime Césaire and the others who, like him, kept the torch of racial equality lit as it passed from relay to relay across the often treacherous 20th century.