Monday 10/28/24

 Today we read and analyzed a poem called "Incident" by Countee Cullen. It describes a situation of what we can assume to be a very young black boy in Baltimore who recounts an incident in the same city, in which another young white boy called him the n-word. In the poem the narrator (black boy) describes it as the only thing he remembers in Baltimore after staying there from May to December. I learned a few messages to take away from this poem including that words have power, and that memories can be tainted by hurtful things. I thought it was interesting to think about where the white boy learned to use the n-word, in that he most likely learned it from a family member or friend, given there was no internet or cell phones at the time. After analyzing the poem, we made a list that we personally found the most offensive, and continued writing our own version of the poem, where the white kid calls the black kid something else. I'm feeling conflicted about what to do for Halloween.