the oppressiveness of defining race in one single identity. The search of finding the true “blackness” of Black people through art by the term creates obstacles in achieving a refocus and return to African culture. Smith compares the statement “The Black Aesthetic” to “Black Aesthetics”, the latter leaving multiple, open, descriptive possibilities. The Black Aesthetic, particularly Karenga’s definition, has also received additional critiques; Ishmael Reed, author of Neo-HooDoo Manifesto, argues for artistic freedom, ultimately against Karenga’s idea of the Black Aesthetic, which Reed finds limiting and something he can’t ever sympathize to. The example Reed brings up is if a Black artist wants to paint black guerrillas, that is okay, but if the Black artist “does so only deference to Ron Karenga, something’s wrong”. The focus of blackness in context of maleness was another critique raised with the Black Aesthetic. Pollard argues that the art made with the artistic and social values of the Black Aesthetic emphasizes on the male talent of blackness, and it’s uncertain whether the movement only includes women as an afterthought. As there begins a change in the Black population, Trey Ellis points out other flaws in his essay The New Black Aesthetic. Blackness in terms of cultural background can no longer be denied in order to appease or please white or black people. From mulattos to a "post-bourgeois movement driven by a second generation of middle class," blackness isn’t a singular identity as the phrase "The Black Aesthetic" forces it to be but rather multifaceted and vast. BAM also turned to the religious tradition of voodoo in defining black aesthetics. James Baldwin was critical of both the black church and Nation of Islam. He argued that Christianity had only been forced on black people to rationalize and justify slavery and colonization. Nation of Islam failed in its strong mission to separate itself and black people from white people, said Baldwin, especially looking at their culture of expensive suits and cars all the while demonizing white people. Voodoo then became an alternative to Christianity and Islam for BAM. The historical tradition of voodoo among enslaved Africans had been forgotten in favor of assimilation to the white, Christian identity. The turn to voodoo is therefore regardes as a pan-African reclaiming of the roots. The approximation to voodoo is maybe most clear in the poetry collection "Hoodoo Hollerin Bebop Ghosts" by Larry Neal and the novels "Neo-Hoo-Doo Manifesto"