摘要：In his 2001poetry collection Execution Poems, George Elliot Clarke narrates the story of George and Rufus Hamilton, two black brothers hanged for the murder of a cab driver in 1949. In his re-narration of the events leading up to their execution, Clarke does not condemn the brothers for their crime. Instead, he illuminates the systematic violence inherent in the social structures that purposefully render the brothers as unintelligible within the social confines of the nation. By narrating the lives of Rufus and George, - two bodies deemed non-human and thus ungrievable by interpretative frameworks, - Clark seeks to present readers with their undeniable existence. This paper explores Clarke's depictions of the brothers' desire for recognition of their humanity within a white dominated community that sees them as Other. By applying the theories of Frantz Fanon and Judith Butler to Execution Poems, this paper traces the movements and actions of Rufus and George, as they turn away from objectivity towards subjectivity in their pursuit of a new humanity. Execution Poems forces its readers to recognize the brothers as subjects worthy of grief.
