Do Now
Semantic Map about Modern-Day Racism On a semantic map, list everything you know about racism today. Draw bubbles off of the main circle. An example response bubble is provided to the right. Think about the following questions as you brainstorm: Does modern-day racism exist? What does it look like? What forms does it usually take? When does it usually reveal itself - in what social situations? |
Javon Johnson's Slam Poem:
Cuz He's Black
Cuz He's Black
"And how do I look my nephew in his apple face and tell him to be strong when we know black boys who are murdered every day simply for standing up for themselves."
The Effect of Literary Elements:
During-Reading Highlighting Watch and listen to Javon Johnson's slam poem, "Cuz He's Black," which he performed at the National Poetry Slam (NPS) 2013. The video is available above. Inspired by a conversation with his nephew, Johnson comments on the modern-day racism that unfortunately justifies his nephew's fear of the cops. Follow along on a print typescript of the poem. While you listen, use a highlighter to mark lines that you find particularly powerful or moving. Highlight at least 4 sentences. Reread your marked sentences and identify any literary elements within them. Think about imagery, rhetorical questions, similes, etc. Choose two of the four, and write a small explanation of how the literary elements contribute to the poignancy of the sentences. What do they add to the poem's message? |
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Four-Square Vocab Cards:
Racial Profiling Javon Johnson comments on "racial profiling" in his poem, but never lays out a formal definition. Make a vocabulary card for the political jargon in which you explore the word through sentence context and visualization. Follow the guidelines to the left to create your own Four-Square Vocabulary Cards. |
Literary Element
ALLUSION Allusion: a direct or indirect reference to a myth, popular culture (i.e. celebrities, TV show, movie), a historical event or person, another literary work, etc.
Johnson alludes to six African-American "martyrs" in his poem. Choose one of them and look at a newspaper cover headline to obtain a general idea of what happened to him. Then consider why Johnson chose to allude to that particular individual and his story. Several are available to the left. How does knowing what happened to that African-American add to the poem? What is the effect of the allusion? Think about context. Go back to the poem and read the lines surrounding the allusion. How does that particular allusion get Johnson's point across in those lines? What is Johnson saying?
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Extension & Bridge Activity:
Compare and Contrast "I Have a Dream" Speech & "Cuz He's Black" Poem You have 2 HW days to complete this assignment. It should be several paragraphs with a brief summary of each text.
1. CONTRAST: How is Javon Johnson's perspective of race in America different than Martin Luther King Jr.'s [hint: think in terms of which is more pessimistic and which is more optimistic]? Explain your answer by using text details from both the poem and the speech. 2. COMPARE: Martin Luther King, Jr. preached "civil disobedience" to combat injustice. Briefly define civil disobedience (hint: refer to paragraph 8 of his speech). Provide an example of such a tactic used by African-Americans. Using text details from the poem, how does Javon Johnson also promote King's idea of nonviolence in his advice to his nephew? |
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CUZ HE'S BLACK
Javon Johonson |
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So I'm driving down the street with
my 4-year-old nephew. He, knocking back a juice box, me, a Snapple, today y'all we are doing manly shit. I love watching the way his mind works. He asks a million questions. Uncle, why is the sky blue? Uncle, how do cars go? Uncle, why don't dogs talk? Uncle, uncle, uncle, he asks, uncle, uncle, uncle, he asks uncle uncle uncle as if his voice box is a warped record. I try my best to answer every question, I do. I say it's because the way the sun lights up the outer space. It's because engines make the wheels go. It's because their minds aren't quite like ours. I say Yes. No. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. I don't know. Who knows? Maybe. We laugh. He smiles at me, looks out the window, spots a cop car, drops his seat and says, "Oh man, Uncle, 5-0, we gotta hide." I'll be honest. I'm not happy with the way we raise our Black boys. Don't like the fact that he learned to hide from the cops before he knew how to read. Angrier that his survival depends more on his ability to deal with the "authorities" than it does his own literacy. "Get up," I yell at him. "In this car, in this family, we are not afraid of the law." I wonder if he can hear the uncertainty in my voice. Is today the day he learns that uncle is willing to lie to him, that I am more human than hero? We both know the truth is far more complex than do not hide. We both know too many Black boys who disappeared. Names lost. Know too many Trayvon Martins Oscar Grants |
and Abner Louimas, know too many
Sean Bells, and Amadou Diallos Know too well that we are the hard-boiled sons of Emmett Till. Still, we both know it's not about whether or not the shooter is racist, it's about how poor Black boys are treated as problems well before we are treated as people. Black boys in this country cannot afford to play cops and robbers if we're always considered the latter, don't have the luxury of playing war when we're already in one. Where I'm from, seeing cop cars drive down the street feels a lot like low-flying planes in New York City. Where I'm from, routine traffic stops are more like mine fields, any wrong move could very well mean your life. And how do I look my nephew in his apple face and tell him to be strong when we both know black boys are murdered every day, simply for standing up for themselves? I take him by the hand, I say be strong. I say be smart. Be kind, and polite. Know your laws. Be aware of how quickly your hands move to pocket for wallet or ID, be more aware of how quickly the officer's hand moves to holster, for gun. Be Black. Be a boy and have fun, because this world will force you to become a man much quicker than you need to. "Uncle," he asks, "what happens if the cop is really mean?" And, it scares me to know that he, like so many Black boys, is getting ready for a war I can't prepare him for. |