GEt Out
LifeIntegrated like my coffee black with a little cream
Thinking color the only difference was a dream As we travel to the estate, I become a part of a bigger scheme Bold and audacious to challenge police authority...wake me from this daydream The way I was ridicule, hypnotize falling victim to the tag team Throat closed up words trailing I can’t even scream as fear becomes a recurring theme Tears flowing down my face like a stream Weighing the level of hypocrisy on a balance beam Penetrated by the bigotry filled in their bloodstream The misguided attempt for unity trying to achieve the "American Dream" A devastating pipe dream that has become a reality within mainstream |
PlaceTrapped in a sophisticated mental state The inebriated Black man sealed fate. In a state that does not appreciate the buried bodies that built their home plate Captivated by the metaphoric sunken place Except this is no metaphor but a physical representation of the black race Further sunk in place Because we are seen as a disgrace As the protectors in blue kill leaving a trace But the case... Seems to be erase as the bodies replace Those buried under the footrace Jordan Peele, the director and writer of Get Out sheds light to the life of African Americans specifically African American males. Peele realistically captivates the struggle of being Black in America. The exorbitant of white privilege is predominant and omnipresent. Forcibly asked to present identification by a law enforcement official is an everyday occurrence. The aspect of racial profiling inebriates African American that systematically sets them up as a suspect. The exploitation of African culture and dangers of cultural appropriation tries to further erase African Americans from history. Peele provided the audience with a brief synopsis and a bird’s eye view of what African Americans have to endure in white America. |
Beloved
captivityAs I flee trying to get free
There is something holding me I search trying to find my husband, Halle Only to be tied and trapped back in captivity I lie there arms outstretched as they take from me Wailing like a banshee As they continued their assault and thievery The weight and burden I birthed a tree My scars so deep I am a victim to my own grief Feeling the loneliness from a love so brief Forced to slit the throat of my baby to be relief |
ReunitedTrapped in the house Was quiet as a church mouse Living without my spouse Held hostage by a baby spirit I was in a jailhouse Abandoned by my brothers as they fled Neglected by my mother was the food she fed Beloved, my sister from the dead Everlasting lifeless as I lie in that bed Paul D next chance for love But the guilt was eaten me alive I couldn’t be happy knowing what I did Reunited with my daughter I found my salvation Permanently paralyzed by the results of my actions I don’t deserved to be love |
FreedomBeloved is a detailed account of an abused mother being a victim to “cause and effect.” Seethe, mother escaped from the plantation sending her kids ahead of her while she searched for her husband, in the process she kidnapped tied down and rape while she was pregnant, who would then be called Denver. During the sexual assault her perpetrators took something so valuable that surpasses the purity of women. Each taking turns drank the nourishment in which she’d feeds her kids from Seethe’s milk. Milk, The first intimate affection a mother can give her child. It is this connection that builds the foundation within the mother and child. Her affection and ability to adequately bond with her child was stolen. Denver will soon be a victim to Seethe’s inability to love. When the master came to take her children, his property, back she did the only thing that she thought was best. She took her baby’s life instead of her having endure the tragedy of slavery. As a result, the spirit of the baby began hunting the house and family. materializing into human form, she had to learn how to live since she presumed life from her infant stage. Denver suffered the most from the effects which resulted in her finally leaving the house and coming into her own.
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The Good House
UnderstandingTrying to wrap my head around the story, I am lost and a bit confused about some of the details in the narrative. I wished that the story behind Dominique sudden “illness” was more established instead of an open interpretation from the audience.
My take: Angela seems to have this dysfunctional relationship with her son, who seems to be disconnected and distant towards his Mom, but in reality, he might just be afraid. Corey not really able to explain his feelings to his Mom is causing this rift in their relationship. Is it to spite her or is it simply he doesn’t want to hear the unnecessary rhetoric from his Mom? |
Identity Corey is growing up in two different worlds. One dictated by rules and regulations while the other is carefree and free-spirited. Corey is divided and confused. The freedom and liberty he has with his dad are probably why he wants to live with him. Corey had to adjust to structure with his mom might potentially be why he hates being around her.
In a sense, Corey has “multiple personalities.” He acts one way around his mom, another with his dad, and one way with his friend. I think Angela pushes Corey so hard because of the neglected feeling from her own mother. Angela having the lack of love from her mother is doing everything she can to give Corey the type of love that he needs, but Corey does not have the foresight to understand his mother’s overbearing affection. |
Acceptance Corey suicide was skeptical and seemed out of place. He gives a long-lost gift to his mom and then commits suicide did not sit well, but understandable since the scene transitioned to the use of magic/voodoo. Corey being able to pick up on his Grandmother’s gift from only being around her for three years was interesting. The fact that Angela was naive to her gift was a bit peculiar. Corey able to acknowledge and accept his “power” had the ability to connect on a mystical level that Angela either, or, and all: failed, denied, and neglected to accept. Corey learned magic though secretively without his mother and Angela struggled to wrapped her mind around the thought.
Angela neglecting her true lineage was erasing an integral part of herself. It was that special piece that allowed her Gramma Marie to stand above everyone else and to be well-liked and respected. She had to get out of her head and accept that there is more, especially in a spiritual sense. The world is way more dynamic and complex when one incorporates a spiritual higher being into the equation. Angela needed to free herself from fear and reservations that was holding her back. In the end, once Angela Touissant freed herself only then was she able to believe in magic and her true identity. Secrets we keep, Lies we tell. |
Tales From the hood
Tales are not tales when you’re telling the truth...
Tales they tell are not tales, but truth Seeing the innocent life robbed from our youth Snatching our babies sentencing them to death like a fragile baby tooth As they seek to collect bodies like its a tollbooth Reaching high isn’t good enough when your race is deemed “The Sacrifice” Sliding through the beltway as if we, livestock are up for for grabs being picked off at the roll of dice Because its something that entice you leaving us to to flee like mice do It is a cycle that keeps spinning A washer that’s never ending ...perpetuated violence is the dirt we’re rinsing As they walk away from another death is their salvational cleansing Seeing more blood shed white master still grinning The death of a Black person takes us back to the beginning Taken on boats our “stock” was thinning Trapped in the inning bullets left imprinting white America just keeps winning |
Thinking the police is my savior is a joke…Passing the message “Stay Woke”
On a deeper meaning it say, “Beware of white folk” Surrounded by a herd of pigs on the ground I choke Protected under the racial law they’re shielded behind their masked cloaks Like the privilege they invoked Our rights revoked Drowning by the breaststroke Being shot dead though unprovoked Sentenced to execution before the stroke On a daily their lives are getting smoked Increased numbers of Black death is no practical joke Because of my melanin I lose my innocence before my counterpart Because of my race I am given harsher sentences for the same crime Because of my skin I am presumed a threat Because of my color I face prejudicial accusations Past becomes the present... Present becomes the future.. As time merge it becomes a continuum Age gets younger as the accusations gets deadlier 1955 to 2018 times change and history stays the same Emmett Till to Jeremiah Harvey seconds from meeting the same unfortunate tragic fate Being Black in America the results are tragic Past historical revelations are symbolic Taken measures ever so drastic Remembering to shine the light on the powers of our Black Magic |
KIndred
What if, in order, to understand your present you return to the past to see how that life would cause you to be as you are now? And what if that past involves slavery? Do you think the life that you live would be the same now if you knew first-hand what happened in the 1800s? Raped, beaten, and murdered this was the life expectancy of several million in slavery. Slavery, at a time where humans were seen as three-fifths of a person if they were another race that was deemed superior, was subjected to nothing less than brutality and cruelty. Kindred, a novel by Octavia Butler, captivates the ubiquitous brutalities and violence that African American experienced during the period where they were subjugated to attacks, hangings, and, whippings. Throughout the literature, Butler illustrates the significance of this horror through depictions of corruption, power, and race.
Settled in Baltimore, Maryland between the years 1815 and 1840s, Kindred brought the historical background of African American to life that presented the audience with real-life realism. Butler descriptively wrote Kindred in a way that gave her words life. Her work went beyond telling a story of a character's ability to travel back and forth through time experiencing the treacherous dangers of slavery for African Americans. She told the narrative of an African American experience. She created an alternate world that allowed and offered first-hand experience of slavery from the perspective of the twentieth century. Butler provided the audience with an eyeglass view of the antebellum South. Through the darkness of the tale, the audience was able to get a glimpse of slaves’ lifestyle. At the beginning of the story, the audience can see Dana being pulled somewhere to rescue a boy, who the reader later learns is Rufus Weylin. “[...] Somehow, my travels crossed times as well as distance. Another fact: The boy was the focus of my travel — perhaps the cause of them. (24). It is not clear at that point, but something is drawing Dana to Rufus. Piecing the clues together, Dana learns that Rufus is, in fact, her ancestor and in order for her to come into existence she must save Rufus from his accident-prone self. Early on in the story, Dana is seen to be correcting and educating Rufus. Rufus is a white male that is being molded by the violence and hatred in his surroundings. “The boy already knew more about revenge than I did. What kind of man was he going to grow up into?” (25-6). Dana was making the observation that Rufus was transforming and becoming something that would soon be dangerously deadly and feared. Rufus is living in an atmosphere where being whipped in a commonality. The world he lives in is violent and crude implicating that Rufus demeanor is a reflection of his environment. Raised and neglected in the time of slavery, he was on his way to becoming a violent master. |
Characters were everything in the story. Butler use of characterization helped the progression of the story. Each backstory of the characters and their purpose allowed for the history of slaves to be conveyed in a way that gave this fictional tale real authenticity. Dana, the protagonist, and narrator in the story provided a different to the story. Dana would be characterized as an African American modern-woman from the twentieth century who was the complete opposite of Africans in the south. An educated woman, who happened to be of African descent was a viable threat to whites. Dana was from a different time period than slaves, had freedom, independence, and rights. Slaves had none of those. In the south, slaves had no right to education. Education was a way to keep slaves ignorant. The true reality was that slave owners were afraid of educating slave because then they would be too smart and have thoughts of revolting. In their eyes, a smart slave would know that they are more powerful than the slave master and then would formulate plans to overthrow their owners. With so many being looked at as inferior, inept, and incompetent the narrative of African Americans is faulty and skewed. In fact, the education of African American was non-existent and strictly prohibited. Laws were passed that forbade the education of slaves; furthermore, though no actual limitation of reading or drawing was established, the act of teaching slaves was illegal.
Octavia Butler, Kindred, shed light on this “underprivileged, penurious” African American community. Dana, a symbol of hopes and new life, carried the story of her ancestral history. The present-day time frame allows the reader the connect with the story in an era. The person reading the book will get a first-person point of view. The audience is able to go on a roller coaster ride with Dana. From the beginning of the story, as Dana grows and becomes enlightened the audience is able to do the same. Dana back and forth time travel made her more aware of her past and shaped her future. The author wrote Dana in a way that shows her strength and courage throughout the plot-line. The life that you live, is a life that you must first know the where and from. |
Eve's Bayou
All I wanted was the affection I deserved
From a man whose love was on reserved
That pushed me to the curb
Seeing how he curved my mom while I observed
False promises and lies he served
His afflictions and affairs no longer preserved
I wasn’t enough
My dad just wasn’t tough
One regrettable kiss made him rough
Resorted to tactics that forced my bluff
I just had to get him back
It was payback for that smack
That lead to an attack
Leaving me to discover my foresight in a flashback
From a man whose love was on reserved
That pushed me to the curb
Seeing how he curved my mom while I observed
False promises and lies he served
His afflictions and affairs no longer preserved
I wasn’t enough
My dad just wasn’t tough
One regrettable kiss made him rough
Resorted to tactics that forced my bluff
I just had to get him back
It was payback for that smack
That lead to an attack
Leaving me to discover my foresight in a flashback
Eve’s Bayou, is a film that takes the audience on a journey. The family appearing to be “perfect” and loving when around company, but once they are behind closed doors it is another situation. The father has an overly affectionate relationship with his oldest daughter that will force the audience to interpret the climatic scene two ways. The youngest and protagonist of the film has a longing for her father’s love that does not seem reciprocated in the way he shows his love towards her sister. After Eve discovers her father having sexual relations with a woman, her world that she known has been shook. Her father trying to keep his secret hidden takes Eve on excursion that offers him an alibi for his sexual escapades. Eve told her sister and without second guessing she covers for her father’s behavior. Meeting with her aunt who thought she was cursed, embarked on indulgence of voodooism. Cicely, the older sister, seeing her dad visibly tries to fix the situation. From what is seen and how the event is told from the perspective of Louis and Cicely the audience must explicate what happen. This was the last straw for Eve who went to the voodoo woman to put a curse on her father. That “curse” proves to be effective when Louis turns up dead, but one will have to consider was it the curse or the notification to the mistresses husband about Louis whereabouts that put everything in motion. The film explores a daughter’s unconditional love for her father, a wife unraveling from her husband’s infidelity, and a child trying to protect those she loves.