Robert
Hill adds a great energy to his depiction of the UNIA’s parades. These public
spectacles would not have manifested as poignant a unified spirit without the
presence of Marcus Garvey. The author highlights the commanding, inscrutable,
if not at times conflicting, nature of the persona which Garvey portrayed in
parade as well as in photographs and in written word. In the latter half of the
article, Hill draws a fitting connection between Garvey’s “caricature” and the
aspirations of the Dada movement by affirming that Garvey had indeed a keen
insight into social satire. I find as a remarkable example his flippant
response to being called ‘spectacular.’ I believe he intentionally mentions the
adjective over and over again as a way to erode the word’s significance to the
state of banality. (199-200)
Similarly,
I find Garvey’s satirical flippancy and overall commanding air, even down to
his flamboyant, yet austere accessories, comparable to the description of
Richard Huelsenbeck’s “stage” persona in Goldberg: ‘When he enters, he keeps
his cane of Spanish reed in his hand and occasionally swishes it around. That
excites the audience. They think he is arrogant, and he certainly looks it.’
(58)
With
further reference to Garvey’s statement, Hill quite astutely deepens his
analysis of the ‘Commander-in-Chief’ by penetrating the surface of Garvey’s
calculated caricature to the underlying paradoxical nature of his personality.
“Garvey’s statement reveals his penchant for satire…. Garvey was clearly not
being naive, even if at times his mimicry seems a bit ingenuous, smacking less
of criticism than emulation. But in Garvey’s mimicry of monarchical and
aristocratic symbols, one can also detect a powerful element of social
striving. For Garvey was just as determined in his quest for social recognition
as any of the educated West Indian elite.” (200) Hill delineates this tendency
as “a twin set of competing imperatives” (201) while at the same time quoting
another commentator, who referred to Garvey as an “artistic juggler.” (202) But
I think it would be beneficial in celebrating Garvey’s outward audacity and
inner resolve by referring back to Gilroy’s examination of “double
consciousness” in his “Black Atlantic as a Counterculture of Modernity,” in
which he states, “Striving to be both European and black requires some specific
forms of double consciousness…. Where racist, nationalist, or ethnically
absolutist discourses orchestrate political relationships so that these
identities appear to be mutually exclusive, occupying the space between them or
trying to demonstrate their continuity has been viewed as a provocative and
even oppositional act of political insubordination.” (1)
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