The book Becoming so far is very Inspirational so far. I love the way she puts in detail everything that she can promptly remember from being a small child to turning into an adult. I love the way she tells the story about her parents and how she talks about how they invested in her and her brother to be the best and wanted nothing but the best for them. That inspires me to make sure my child gets the same love and affection from me and his father as Michelle and Craig di from theirs. Her and her family came up poor in a way and not with much, but they never seemed to let that bother them as long as the Michelle and Craig had everything they needed.

What really shook my heart in the book so far was the talk about her father and his disease. It mostly shook me was the fact that I could strongly relate to her in this part, given that my brother has the same disease. Just hearing thee process her dad went through with the disease and the strength she carried through it gives me strength to have for my brother. Reading through these chapters so far, I can see that Michelle Obama is a strong, intellectual, smart, and inspirational woman. She shows that through any challenged thrown at her she can maneuver out of it with no problem.

In Hughes essay he talks about discrimination in the beginning. African Americans are mostly discriminated daily because of our past and the facts that set the new standards in place, mostly white American still find a way to single us out. We are sometimes singled out by hate crimes, police brutality, and even racial slurs and remarks. But even though we are discriminated does not mean we have to necessarily do the same. Discrimination between the white and black communities are done statistically with the amount of income we may make which is more or less of the other ethnic group. Hughes states that we discriminate each other in many ways including income but when it comes to other ethnic group from the same areas almost its not looked at. Discrimination exists all over the world in European countries, Russian countries, etc. Hughes main point is that if one is discriminated it is not our place or the others place to commit the same actions.

Hughes also talks about the black culture and how we differ from other ethnic groups. Hughes discusses how for one our culture in sports is highly segregated. He gives some statistics about baseball and basketball. Whites make up most of the baseball population and black make up a small portion. While in basketball black make up about three fourths of the population and whites a small 18 percent. It has been said that baseball should be left for whites and that leaves blacks to any other sport than that. Culture between blacks and whites and extremely racism to this day. Hughes adds both of these ideas together to create the racism treadmill. As long as we continue to segregate cultural differences and cause all these disparities between racial groups than progress from the 20^th century and merely on pause. Hughes essay really pulled out points of racism that I personally skipped. Yes, racism exists in our society to this day whether it is public or behind doors. But its on both sides of the fence. We cannot complain of racism towards ourselves and use our reason for it as a defense mechanism. Racism on both parts is morally wrong. We have great historians from our past who shaped this world for ALL Americans of ANY color not just one in particular. We shame them by committing the same acts of the ones in the past. We are different in ethnic groups but it is no reason we should beat each other up for it.

Overall, the book really surprised me. All the poems told a story in a way to me. They used very vivid language and a different style of writing. The author seemed not shy to speak his mind in his book with certain stories he used in the book. But as I read, I became more and more intrigued with his poems and his setup with them. In each story, it told a story of colored people overall and the things we go through and deal with in our lives. He told related stories that some people have experienced. He talked about us “taking back “our” community in a vivid way.

The poems in this book that stood out the most to me were “Dear White America” when he ranted about us taking back our lands, our history, and making a new “name” for us in a way. I also liked “Litany with blood all over” which meant to me being judged for things that you can’t control or flaws that you have and being punished in a way for them. The other one that stood out was “Summer, somewhere” where he talked about our people dying and only being acknowledged for a small point in time.

Danez Smith’s poems overall spoke to me in a way. It showed that he had no reason to hold back the way he was feeling and to me, that’s a good thing in this world. Us as colored people have always had our voices ripped away, silenced, or taking for a joke. This shows that our minds go farther than what people think they do and that we are capable in making a big voice for ourselves.

I grew up in Lithonia, Ga, raised by my Great Grandparents. Growing up I was really into making jewelry, drawing, and writing plays and just writing period. Ive always had the passion of growing up and becoming a Lawyer and one day being able to write a book as well about my life. Ive always had a lot of ambition as a young one even when things got bad around a certain point of my life, I always had faith of some sort. I was always taught to keep some through any temptation.

I have two little sisters and an older brother. I also have a little sister on my daddy’s side but I don’t see much of her. My entire family (on my mother’s side) stays in Michigan. My daddy’s side stays in Ohio. Growing up, even though I was raised by my Great Grandparents, I’ve always been sort of a Daddy’s girl. Me and mother never got along and still don’t to this day. I just really plan to be the best mother to my child and give him/her everything I never got from my mother.

Speaking of my child, I am expecting one coming in August of this year! I am extremely excited about it and so is my boyfriend. I just so happened to find this out, on Christmas Day. Like I’ve already said, I plan to be the best mother i can be to my little one and give them everything they need in the world.