SOURCE: "Stirring the Melting Pot," in Women's Review of Books, No. 7, April, 1993, pp. 6-7.

In the following review, Alexander surveys the range of concerns and discusses the style of address in Jordan's essay collection Technical Difficulties: African-American Notes on the State of the Union.

"I am one barbarian who will not apologize," June Jordan shouts [in Technical Difficulties: African-American Notes on the State of the Union]. (Because I can hear her voice's clarion call, I'm sure that she shouts these words, although I only read them on the printed page.) "Two weeks ago my aunt called me a Communist," she confides, acknowledging the outrage that her opinions have caused her kin. "Calling someone a Communist," she continues, "is an entirely respectable, and popular, middle-class way to call somebody a low-down dirty dog." Yes, Jordan often must have outraged her relatives because she is such an unapologetic "barbarian," so...