Poem #4: White-Belly Justice: A New York Souvenir

James A. Emanuel’s ancestor acknowledgment is a central feature and a major source of grief in his poem “White-Belly Justice: A New York Souvenir.” The poem is based on Emanuel’s divorce from his wife and the atrocious acts that was taken by his ex-wife’s lawyer. This poem is exemplary of ancestor acknowledgment because it shows how Emanuel treasured the preservation of African-American history. Also, because of this experience, Emanuel left the United States for a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Warsaw the following year (1975). It was also one of the catalysts for Emanuel leaving the country permanently after the death of his son, James Jr. However, even before he leaves the U.S. permanently, Emanuel finds living in the U.S. nearly intolerable. He writes in a letter to Douglas Watson:

In the US, I always knew, after becoming an adult, that about 90 percent of my countrymen, as well as the federal, state, and local governments, were ready to deprive me of my rights as a citizen for the slightest, opportunist reason, or perhaps just for whimsical reasons. Also, there looms behind my stay in France the miasma of “the Dubroff case”--detailed in Snowflakes and Steel–which, try as I might, I cannot erase from my consciousness. And I should not be able to erase it, I now understand, somewhat in contrast to the conclusion of my poem “White-Belly Justice: a New York Souvenir.” I always believed, and I confirmed it in my life behind the Iron Curtain, that a man must stand up for what he believes, cost what it may. (Emanuel “Letter to Douglas Watson” )

In his letter, Emanuel expresses the bitterness he feels about the Dubroff case—Dubroff being his ex-wife’s lawyer. His bitterness is directly connected to the theft of his literary treasures. Their significance becomes evident through an understanding that “[h]uman prowess, when remembered, celebrated, and itemized […] constitutes ancestor acknowledgment” (Temple 85). Figures such as Langston Hughes, Mary McLeod Bethune, General Benjamin O. Davis, Robert Weaver, Truman Gibson, Arna Bontemps, Clarence Muse are celebrated for their prowess. And as custodian of the correspondences that were sent to him, he “remembered, celebrated, itemized, and filed these manuscripts in his cabinet before they were stolen, labeled “junk,” and never returned. Reading “White-Belly Justice” with attention to the lawyer’s dismissal of the ancestor—and by proxy authority—conveys the resentment the persona and Emanuel feel.

According to Emanuel’s system of documentation in which he documents the time, date, and place of his writings, on February 17, 1979—four years after his divorce, he begins an early draft of a poem titled, “Black Justice: A New York Souvenir” at “14, av, du Maine, Paris” (Emanuel “White-Justice”). The poem later becomes “White-Belly Justice: A New York Souvenir” and appears in his poetry collection Chisel in the Dark. In the first stanza of the poem, the persona remembers injustice in a court room. In a series of images, the persona reveals that there is injustice because the judge—the authoritative figure—is not free to adjudicate the law fairly. The judge is under the power of the lawyer, which creates imbalance in the court. The poem begins:

I remember Her Ugliness standing—

New York attorney-at-law—

and the lumpy toad in the Judge’s chair

…

flicking her toadness

fire-daggering his tender places

with Xeroxed edges of her brutal smile;

Ugliness blackmailing sinew through his lips

her arrogance muscling in, chocking his gavel          

 (Emanuel “White-Belly Justice” 3, 7 - 11) 

In this stanza, the persona remembers disorder in this courtroom. First, the lawyer is introduced before the judge and is referred to as “Her Ugliness,” which is similar to the title “Your Honor” that is given to judges. Second, the lawyer—Her Ugliness—exercises power over the judge. In fact, the persona reveals that the “judge” is a toad because the lawyer has made him one by “flicking her toadness” upon him (Emanuel “White-Belly Justice” 7). This is only the beginning of her influence, for the persona suggests that the lawyer blackmails the judge and controls his “lips” and “gavel”—that is to say his words and actions—in the courtroom. Though the persona does not state the reason he is in court, it is clear that disorder in the court has the potential to thwart the justice that the persona seeks. The court environment prepares the conditions for the rejection of ancestor acknowledgment.

In the second stanza, the persona depicts his direct experience with Ugliness’s malpractice. Emanuel portrays Ugliness in the likeness of a wicked witch who steals the persona’s prized possessions and holds them for ransom. Her two acts—stealing and ransoming—counter the persona’s case and justice in the court. The poem states:

…when Ugliness...

stunk open my file cabinet...

and broomsticked off to its she-lawyer cave

secreting venom on the stolen treasures

(holographs and letters, drafts and clippings,

handbills, originals once-in-a-lifetime rare)

linked with many names you love: …

pile the list however high,

she marked it “clutter,” “junk,” for the record,

our giants’ hill she squashed

in her Columbus Circle cave,

boxed and cornered                (“White-Belly Justice” 24 - 29, 45 - 49) 

Here, the persona shows that Ugliness is crafty. As if by magic, she steals documents of ancestor acknowledgment from the persona’s cabinet and takes them to her office in Columbus Circle. Though the persona makes it apparent that the documents are valuable, Ugliness marks them “clutter” and “junk” (46). The persona states that the “stolen treasures” are “first owned by many names you [the reader] love” such as: Langston Hughes, Mary McLeod Bethune, Clarence Muse, Arna Bontemps, General Benjamin O. Davis, Robert Weaver, and Truman Gibson (25 - 48). The persona affirms that the documents are also valuable to the reader of the poem, for the reader respects the contributions of these prominent African Americans (29). These names constitute a “giants’ hill” that is then “squashed” by Ugliness when she steals them and labels them “junk.” The value of these historical manuscripts are not properly appraised in this court (25, 46).

While Ugliness denies the value of the African-American-literary treasures in court under oath (“for the record”), outside of the courtroom the documents have value, which is made apparent by the ransom Ugliness seeks. This is another injustice. When Ugliness returns for ransom, she is “hunchbacked” and bold. The poem states:

our giants’ hill she squashed

in her Columbus Circle Cave,

boxed and cornered

hunchbacking to me for ransom…. 

It moves          without motion: her Ugliness,

faintly bleeding down her spectacles,

hoarsening His Honor’s lie

bloating the irony of my American “Day in Court”

the Day denied, NOT GRANTED—

Ugliness, breeding little likenesses

for THE EMPIRE STATE,

The Bench, the Bar.    (46 - 58) 

Losing the court case is an injustice for the persona and by extension the reader. Again, the court case is an injustice because of Ugliness’s control over the judge, for Ugliness “hoarsen[s] His Honor’s lie” (53). Justice is “NOT GRANTED” (55). With the court case closed, the persona escapes further injustices committed by Ugliness, but Ugliness continues to pursue the persona, “trying, trying, TRYING/ to be part of [his] life” (64 - 5). Ugliness is dependent on a host, and it needs another’s life “for survival” (68). Ugliness stole “treasures” to extort money from the persona. However, Ugliness was unsuccessful at the latter, and as a consequence, it refuses to let the persona get away.

Emanuel admits that his is own experience is “somewhat in contrast to the conclusion of … ‘White-Belly Justice: a New York Souvenir’” (Emanuel “Watson Two” 4). Emanuel does not escape the lawyer’s “ugliness,” for her ugliness remains a part of his life. Even behind the Iron Curtain, he is not able to release the memory of the injustice. The “foul memories” drives the creation of “White-Belly Justice” (Emanuel “Letter to Watson” 4). The memories are so foul because they overlook the significance of the ancestor. Indeed, the persona was correct; these materials that would have been of interest to readers had they been included in the James A. Emanuel papers, 1922 - 2018 at the Library of Congress.