Accommodating for lost time can be a struggle, however education is the perfect key to allow a human a better diagram for survival in this world. Mortal Man is full of the reality that is blinded to society, because they have been confused by the experience of the struggle. Comparing two poems written within the song titled Mortal Man by the rap artist/ poet, Kendrick Lamar, provides an opportunity to engage in the Burkean Parlor; discussing the experience of the struggle and the proper way to survive through it. There is credibility of the struggle without mistakes of not knowing how to deal with the initial interaction; mistakes do not always lead to success; it is just an excuse to repeat history. Kendrick Lamar’s work provides evidence …show more content…
Struggles come in all shapes and sizes; it identifies the strength of a person. Josh Ellis stated “Lamar seemed to [imply] that some of the responsibility for preventing killings…lay with black people themselves” as he speaks from personal experience after being in a gang (Eells 44). The white supremacy has struggled to keep restrictions on African Americans since the Jim Crow laws; they suppress by keeping them weak minded and killing them off. This may be considered a weak tactic, but it is no different than the “mistakes” of African American killing each other. But it does not take that experience to know that African Americans contribute to their own crisis. They are responsible for their own actions, which mostly result in revenge; not realizing that this do not make them equal, it just adds to the sad news of America. This country is based on wrong doings and consequences leaving the minority leaders to try and make a difference for generations to come. “But… I’m no mortal man, maybe I’m just another nigga” entering into the society where only judgement prevail to the cycle of life (Poem 1 22). Its takes knowledge in order to have courage to step outside the box and lead a movement toward change. “… I learned/…respect/ If I respect you, we unify and stop the enemy from killing us” (Poem 1 17 and …show more content…
According to Mays “[a]ny one poem may open itself to multiple responses and interpretations…” leading to the metaphor of the butterfly (Mays 847). “The caterpillar is a prisoner to the streets that conceived it” (Poem 2 1). Common sense is needed to read between the lines of such poems, but according to Mays “… some poems certainly do invite us to re-think our idea of what ‘making sense’ might mean” (Mays 846). Sometimes it takes to reevaluating a situation in order to gain the proper message intended to be received. Being uncertain or misunderstanding the concept of a message or even life itself, may lead to depression, causing one to feel the need to escape the pain. The best way to overcome the trail is to continue to search for clarity, because giving up can lead to mistakes which will again delay the progress of becoming successful. Later as the “wings begin to emerge, breaking the cycle of feeling stagnant/ Finally free…” (Poem 2 15 and 16). After gaining the understanding of the way life operates people tend to realize that the struggles were meant to gain appreciation; once they are free they will not take the gained knowledge for granted, but instead use it as wisdom. “It’s a fitting
Through every single obstacle a person went through no one gave up. Colored people did not lose hope in becoming equal to white people because they knew they were capable. What the author was trying to prove was exactly that. Although blacks were slaves and were always belittled by white they proved to be more than what the whites thought they were capable of. They stood up for themselves and they did it in several events that occurred in the book. For example, in the chapter a black teenager, James Crawford, was not slightly intimidated by a deputy registrar that attempted to sound intimidating. In the conversation the registrar made some menacing remarks to this young African American teenager saying he would put a bullet through the teenagers head. Not afraid at all, Crawford valiantly told him if it happened he would be dead, but people would come from all over the world. This young man was not afraid to stand up for himself and was not going to tolerate it in any way. Malcolm X was another inspiration to African Americans for the way he stood up for them. He had a strong connection with the people who were influenced by him. In late 1964, Malcolm X told a group of black students from Mississippi, “You’ll get freedom by letting your enemy know that you’ll do anything to get your freedom; then you’ll get it” (Zinn 461). This quote connected to how
King introduces two phases of the Negroes struggle: “the first began in the 1950’s when Negroes slammed the door shut on submission and subservice,” and “when Negroes assertively
Woodson talks about the problem and Lynch talks about where the problem is stemming from. The problems that Woodson talks about are education, religion and business which all stems from the system. The system is what kept the African Americans from advancing forward. The educational system is Eurocentric and does not offer any African history. The church is the only institution that belongs to the Black, yet it is used as propaganda to control the oppressed. Lastly, the business world has no place for Blacks because they were not educated on economic science which stems from the mis-education. However, these afflictions are not as prevalent in our current society. African Americans are able to attain equal education today. However, African American courses are only offered through colleges because the educational system is still Eurocentric. For religion and business, there has been a lot of improvement too. The church is no longer the only institution that the Black community owns and the first Black female millionaire is Sarah Breedlove Walker. Things has improved a lot since Willie Lynch and Woodson G. Carter’s time, but there are still some afflictions that exist today like racism in the South leading to police killings. There still exist many problems in the Black community, but the real question is how can individuals contribute to this
In the Wall Street Journal, leadership responsibility is generally deflected to the black communities themselves, evoking a “do it yourself” mentality. The implications of this line of thought are huge because they excuse Americans at large from confronting the inequalities they have created in society, designating the violence in the riots as a consequence of factors relevant only to poor black communities. In “Campaign 92” John Buchanan is quoted saying that he strongly apposes social programs and thinks that they actually hinder impoverished communities’ ability to improve their own situation. By downplaying the power of the government, opinions like this one take pressure off politicians to lead reform. Other articles such as “The Los Angeles Riots --- Who Speaks for Blacks?” show a subtle continuation of these themes, though through a more liberal lens. This particular article was written by Dorothy Gaiter who is, herself, a black woman and a leader in the black community. It argues that the violence and disorder in black communities comes from a lack of modern black leaders. She cites the increase of blacks in power from 1960s to 1990s and reasons that therefore there should be more responsibility for black leaders to control and pacify the violent outbursts in the communities. The article prominently features a chart measuring “Black Progress in the White
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
As mentioned earlier, different people treat unjust law cases differently since they are affected in other ways. Even among the Negroes the reactions varied. There were Negroes in the community that had “adjusted to segregation” because they were “so drained of self-respect and a sense of somebodiness”. Others were so oppressed by the injustices that reacted in violent ways. Mainly these people were in need of a leader that would explain to them why a nonviolent campaign would be more effective. Furthermore there were some “middle class Negroes who have become insensitive to the problems of the masses”. Then there were the white people that are in the oppressor’s side and did not care about the problems. Last, surprisingly enough, there were some exceptions to the rule. Some white people “may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture”. “But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom.”
For the past 400 year African Americans have suffered severe forms of oppression, hatred and racism. Even though America has made great strides to eliminate the practice of hatful ideologies and discrimination the residue of inhuman treatment still resides in our society. Racial violence and institutional racism is still in full effect and receiving media coverage like never before. Controversy has arisen due to lives of many African Americans being taken by law enforcement. The African American community has been in an uproar as they feel injustice has occurred being that many of those law enforcement officers have been acquitted of all charges. Birthed from this pain was a chapter-based national organization
African Americans faced an absence of justice on a daily basis. White supremacy has caused an unfairness towards the black lives, having no control or say over their own destiny. Malcolm X can stand by and relate to this life style having grown up and faced it all his life. Malcolm X (1963) states that the “position of wealth, power, and authority that these white Americans now hold…”(p. 2) is causing injustice between the two worlds. These white Americans have so much power and say over the blacks, because they have received all the help they need, which only led the blacks to become even more impoverished with no help. The white world had better education, the backing of the federal government, free of racial discrimination, and had more rights. The injustice of education caused blacks to lose their own right of receiving a good education. Once segregation was passed, they still faced the injustice of the school’s white students. The African Americans would either be harassed, tortured, ignored, or be sympathized by few white students. Going to school should not be this challenging and fearful for any student. Injustices need to be diminished from both worlds so that everyone has a fair chance to achieve the life they
(Buchanan, Blue Lives Matter) Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the board among political self-education and a social identity crisis, the Black Lives Matter group is pushing for a civil rights movement and is hell bent on shaking the political pillars and releasing this country from its current cycle of violence and silence. (Sidner-Simon, The Rise of Black Lives Matter: Trying to break the cycle of violence and silence) Amid other routes, this plan has the possibility to take flight and soar, but the more likely solution will be that like its predecessors, it will most likely founder due to a government well versed in uprisings, and will leave is as a nation beaten black and
However, we do have the Black Lives Matter Movement it does go against violence but it also plays a role in racism cause it mainly the color of your skin that have so many people murder, die, didn’t get justice for because we are African American which is not fair to us or what we stand for. Many disadvantages either with life or employment, education, safety it normal for African Americans to get out in the street and fight for what is right. In the passage “Racism is for Assholes Holt” stated that black and brown people built United States as a whole so for us to be treated less than what we deserve really disappointing, frustrating, make you feel less then yourself like your weak then most race when you accomplish major history events for this country. Just a few structures that African Americans invented and it feature in the article “6 Historic Structures In America Built By Slaves” not a very happy title the most historical ones is The White House, U.S. Capital Building. Now those are building for business for decisions being made in this country but no one will ever know because we don’t get credit for most work that has been in from many years
In a society where a racial divide is growing more and more prominent everyday, black lives are being put into the spotlight. White people have always had the upper hand in America, but exactly how much of an upper hand do they have? It has always been apparent, since the first developed human society, that with power comes opportunity. With the lack of power and opportunity in their own right, people of color miss out on options for betterment and equality. In a society where there are very few people of color in the top one percent of the economy, obviously the opportunities are going to be limited for the remaining ninety-nine percent. Lacking in opportunities, the remaining ninety-nine
African Americans endured great battles throughout their lives over an extensive period of time, which spanned from the time of slavery until the 1970s. White supremacy is one of the factors responsible for the inequality that African Americans faced in their lives. A community of Black people were all discriminated against simply because their skin was colored. As a result, the African American resisted White Supremacy through conducting civil disobedience, getting access to an education, even with the risk of being caught. Resistance ensured the African Americans their pride and dignity to remain determined, even if they did not manage to outnumber the Whites in the end.
Nearly three centuries ago, black men and women from Africa were brought to America and put into slavery. They were treated more cruelly in the United States than in any other country that had practiced slavery. African Americans didn’t gain their freedom until after the Civil War, nearly one-hundred years later. Even though African Americans were freed and the constitution was amended to guarantee racial equality, they were still not treated the same as whites and were thought of as second class citizens. One man had the right idea on how to change America, Martin Luther King Jr. had the best philosophy for advancing civil rights, he preached nonviolence to express the need for change in America and he united both African Americans and whites together to fight for economic and social equality.
The fight for equality has been fought for many years throughout American History and fought by multiple ethnicities. For African Americans this fight was not only fought to gain equal civil rights but also to allow a change at achieving the American dream. While the United States was faced with the Civil Rights Movements a silent storm brewed and from this storm emerged a social movement that shook the ground of the Civil Right Movement, giving way to a new movement that brought with it new powers and new fears. The phrase “Black power” coined during the Civil Right Movement for some was a slogan of empowerment, while other looked at it as a threat and attempted to quell this Black Power Movement.
We are left with a threat--a steel fist in a velvet glove of poetry--and it becomes a poem that we "have to" understand, whether we want to or not.