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.

Blog 3

Reading Mr Hughes article made me agree with him when he stated that America hasn’t made much progress on racism. Everyday on social media or on the news, we see something happening to a poor innocent black person. Its 2019 we are expected to move on past this racism stuff but, I think it’s getting worse minute of the day. We already have a racist white president, who has a whole racist group of people who glorify him with their MAGA hats on.

If people would just get past the color of people’s skins or where they come from, we could have mad way so much progress in the country by now. In the article, he states that white men earn more income than black males. I don’t think that is fair at all, because the black man you passed on might have been the next Bill Gates but instead of his skin color, he won’t get the same opportunity as the white guy. People need to wake up and stop with the discrimination. Imagine how many things could have been accomplished if people from different cultures and got together to share different ideas for different things.

People are afraid of progress, when they don’t understand something, the hate or discriminate instead of trying to understand. Yes, there are others who have changed and become more open now, but it could be better. The only time they see other people as beneficial is in sports or technology. Like you see a lot of black people in sports, but they can’t star in a movie without being in some sort of supporting role. We see a lot of Asians as being nerds but it’s hard for a black person to be seen as a genius. It’s really sad that we put people in groups without even getting to know them.

Before I even read/listened to the poems In “Don’t call us Dead” by Danez Smith, I honestly did not know what I was expecting, and I’m sure I’m not the only one in my class who thought the same. I can not say I am a fan of poems, especially ones that tend to not rhyme as much as I’m used to, but I did not dislike reading these by Mr. Smith. Danez Smith did not hold back on his emotions when he wrote these poems; you can hear the anger he has towards “White America” and how he feels like a victim of being stereotyped along with the black community. This kind of emotion he emits when your both reading and listening to his poems are the emotions that grab your attention and make you want to understand the meaning of what he says.

Danez Smith although being a black gay man, I could feel myself really relating to what he says at times when he does mention all the discrimination and injustice that people of color face. I also felt relieved to have known what movies he actually mentions in his poems as well. This feeling of relating to a book really helped keep me motivated to actually finish the book. I found myself really satisfied with how great the poems were and do not dislike anything from it!

Personally i found this book intriguing and very raw. I was taken aback by how vivid he was in his description of everything this book makes you think. I also love the fact that he was not afraid to tackle these more taboo topics. This book gives a sense of realness and honesty about the topics of sexuality, race, and how we address the topic of sex in general.

I was raised by very liberal parents so i was taught about sex and stds and stis at a very young age. I know that this is not the norm and it should be because if people were taught younger there wouldn’t be this taboo surrounding sexual safety. Now there are more and more people getting infected with these diseases when all they would need to do is be educated on how to protect themselves.

Lastly the subject of sexuality and race is tackled and it is good. There are people who are ignorant and mean and think that one race is better than the other. This author is passionate about the plight of the LGBTQ+ community and the plight of people of color.   

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.

Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith is a book of poetry that is raw, honest, and heavy. He writes about experiences that are taboos in America. Being black. Being gay. Being HIV positive. Being a man that won’t conform. He also speaks of the violence that has plagued black American communities by the hand of the blameless white counterparts.

I personally love how raw and crude his poetry is. Danez is clear that if his words don’t comfort you it’s not for you. He doesn’t sugar coat his experience. On the same page, his words convey pain the show joy and laughter. His poetry sings truth that I have never, can never experience. Yet his feelings pull you through a world that must be known. An experience that is loud from silence, true from the lie, and weighted in its validity to exist without shame.

Watching Danez read his poetry brings a whole new experience to his words on plain paper. I enjoyed the contrast between how I read the poetry in my head versus his performance art. His spoken word art brings new meaning to rhythmless reading in my mind. Spoken word is a powerful art to convey meaning, emotion, and to spread truth to others in the form of goosebumps. These are five Spoken Word Poets from different backgrounds and experiences!

Art has always been the only way for some to work through what their truth is. Poetry, painting, sculpting, dancing, drawing…They show us parts of us hidden even to ourselves.