Initially

board

place them in these stigmas and

the

n

n

quicker

also

cry

ignoring

countless efforts of

”.

She received dirty looks and victim blaming from the doctor and the nurses.

exclaiming

essentially

under

occurrence

”.

little serious.

deserved

factors

health care

c

One may wonder if other factors affect this statistic but even

“In

horrific

Which leads to another pressing concern, of doctors not believing Black pain.

Yvonne Thomas tried telling her doctor that she was experiencing side effects with this method and they did not believe her.[10] They told her that other things in her life were causing those side effects and proceeded to leave the implant in.

refuse

is

enforcing

with saving money in tax dollars.

where

on welfare because.

fitting

One of my most prevalent issues in the Black community that is not discussed as often as it should be is the reproductive justice of Black women.

my

Because

unpatriotic

The poem, however, is not just about taxi rides, it presents a much larger issue of biases keeping black people down.

It is similar to how Kaepernick is expected to stand for a flag instead of kneeling in acknowledgement of how the United States has historically treated black people and all the lives that have been lost because of it.

experience

and he is expected to praise it because the “Good Lord” built it.

C

’.

’,

This speaks to Tressie McMillan Cottom’s comments about legitimacy through education, how she is not respected until she proves herself to be an academic.

            Smith’s next thoughts in the fourth and fifth stanzas are about his appearance, how he was told the manner in which he will be treated is down to everything except his skin color. He thinks of himself in 5th grade, “Mrs. Capperson holding / all the boys in for recess to tell us if we don’t / get tattoos, grow out our hair, pierce our ears, / or sag our pants everything will be all right” (Smith). The message conveyed here is that black people can be treated the same as everybody else as long as they are careful with their appearance. It implies it has nothing to do with their skin tone. Yet in the fifth stanza, once the fifth cab has passed Smith, he knows “everything is not all right” (Smith). He realizes that, he has already taken his hood down and his hat off, what else left is there for him to do? Smith has followed Mrs. Capperson’s advice, but at this point he realizes she was wrong. He realizes that it is solely because he is a black man, that no one will serve him.

you need to bare the elements and attend to your perception

this is a race thing

pun

The fact that people are willing to pay for rides, yet many cab drivers dismiss them because they are black, proves they are making assumptions about people and emphasizes how strong those biases must be to exclude whole demographics from their customer base.

Black people being refused rides by cab drivers is in fact a recognized issue.

in fact

and while there is no shame in being a cab driver, it is not as distinguished as having or getting a Ph.D.

using

instead

Because

”,

There is nothing about Smith that would give anyone a probable cause to believe he is unworthy of a cab ride

today

entire

While this should

and

veterans. These benefits did not extend to Black soldiers who were not included in the bill

and gains

The Civil Rights Movement was a momentous step. However, policies such as urban renewal, the Fair Housing Act, and the Interstate Highway Act all worked cohesively to dismantle and gains from such activism, allowing the quiet re-segregation of American today.  

act

There is no instance where this is clearer than with 8-mile road in Detroit

such benefits had no such

The Federal Housing Administration is an organization founded in 1934

The efforts of the New Deal in the 1930s were aimed at getting

American

spawns back

blame

from school districts undoing implementation and shuffling student bodies by neighborhood into these new schools.

Similarly, re-segregation is increasing. In 2016 a study showed that new schools account for a large (38%) share of currently segregated schools. Nearly 40% of the education re-segregation originates from school districts undoing implementation and shuffling student bodies by neighborhood into these new schools. It is also important to note that schools are simply projections of the housing districts and neighborhoods in which they serve. Decades of discriminatory education policy is partially to blame but schools exhibit a first-hand account into the segregation of the housing market, a segregation which never ended and never was formally addressed.  

a large (38%) share of currently segregated schools

In 2016

in just three years,

and

It experienced a whole new education reform under Mayor Blumberg in the past decade. Much of this reform centered around the development of new charter schools.

In the following year

encompasses

In 2013

”.

schools 

sixty years later.

also based on false pretenses surrounding the economic status of Black children and the safety of their own

Desegregation of schooling was a shining moment of change in the United States, reversing decades old policies of segregated and unequal education. For one, desegregation of schools was widely disapproved by Blacks and Whites in the United States. Black parents were concerned about sending their students to white schools for safety reasons. Most Black students ended up in White schools as districts closed or heavily converted black schools. Similarly, social treatment and mostly white teachers proved to be concerns (Cobb 2014). White Families shared concerns based on racism but also based on false pretenses surrounding the economic status of Black children and the safety of their own. Such fears became apparent as private, primarily Christian, schools started to pop up all over the south where white children could seek refuge in their own exclusive environments (Cobb, 2014). Poor implementation allowed for the quiet reversal of these policies in schools sixty years later. 

The route in which the daughter had to be driven,

The history of segregation and institutionalized discrimination in this country have left an impact which continues to, despite new generations, target Black populations.

The first major case following Plessy vs. Ferguson was in Rhode Island in 1952 (Cobb, 2014).

continues to, despite new generations,

era. 

direct

The United States is becoming more and more segregated

*NOTE: i think i was supposed to write about a social issue more than the actual poem itself… not sure if i was on the right track here….. whoops!

Smith depicts racism and violence, particularly against young black men, through many different literary devices and poetic techniques, and, as briefly mentioned previously, the use of a second-person cicada narrator to tell a painful, truthful, and ultimately implicative and moving story.

According to author Clint Smith himself, he wrote these poems in an effort to redesign “the talk”—a talk given by parents to their black children about navigating a world that is oftentimes set against them—to introduce new questions and new pieces of advice.

“what the cicada said to the black boy” is not Smith’s only poem in which an object or animal speaks to an unnamed black youth.

“what the cicada said to the black boy” is not Smith’s only poem in which an object or animal speaks to an unnamed black youth. Another poem found in his collection Counting Descent is “what the ocean said to the black boy.” The two poems both employ a specific stanza pattern—and eventual breakage of that pattern—and both are written in all-lowercase. And as stated previously, both feature a unique narrator asking impossible questions and offering up advice to a young black boy. However, there is far more guilt found in “what the ocean said to the black boy” than in “what the cicada said to the black boy.” When the cicada speaks to the boy, he understands the boy’s situation, but when the ocean speaks to the boy, he is guilty, describing how “they use me to put you out”. These poems serve to show the many different ways in which black people interact with the world—and vice versa. There’s no one simple and easy explanation for the systematic and institutionalized violence, pain, and racism found in the country, and while there may be similarities in how different communities interact with and view the world around them, the differences in those interactions often result in the most powerful realizations, such as the power of mislabeling and misunderstanding seen in the closing lines of “what the ocean said to the black boy”. 

By bringing the reader fully into the poem, Smith is asking of him or her—in what parts of your own life are you marginalized or made to feel lesser? How have you contributed to the “they” persona in the poem? Do you fully understand the impossible choices that young black men must make to protect themselves?

also

two very different ways of dealing with the institutionalized racism and violence found in society,

and the fact that the cicada has been through some of the same tribulations as the black boy gives his advice at the end credibility.

At first, one might believe that the boy will be rendered something good because of the positive connotation of the word “multiplicity” in this context, but the sudden and shocking “of mistakes” reminds the reader how the boy is viewed from the outside of the world and also sets up the landscape of the rest of the piece.

also serves to shock the reader

America

Although “but you” may seem small, it is only the second mention of the character on the other side of the page, and the first time that character is mentioned after a relatively lengthy description of the life of the cicada.

always clearly uncomfortable,

”.

bound and stuck nature of the black boy to whom he is speaking.

In addition to the use of punctuation, the all-lowercase format of the poem seeks to forego the traditional style and structure of poetry to create a mood and atmosphere that splinters typical poetic order. Not only does the use of all-lowercase reflect quiet rebellion against characteristically white grammar rules, but it also gives the poem a freedom from certain poetic mandates, emphasizing the ‘free’ nature of the cicada versus the bound and stuck nature of the black boy to whom he is speaking. The cicada has learned how to save itself, the cicada has wings and can fly, the cicada can write in all-lowercase; meanwhile, the black boy cannot escape and still has to conform to the white and traditional rules of society.

and, in addition,

However, the reasons for these atrocities are largely unknown,

race-involved

It also emphasizes the unknown nature of much of the current Black Lives Matter and other race-involved movements

The jarring, sudden use of the question mark serves to shock the reader, to fully integrate him or her into the story being told.

Throughout the piece, the only times Smith ends his sentences with punctuation is when he ends sentences with question marks. In fact, the entire piece lacks punctuation in any form except for question marks.

is

through a plethora of different literary devices and poetic techniques, and, as briefly mentioned previously, the use of a second-person cicada narrator to tell a gut-wrenching yet ultimately beautiful and incredibly important story.

Told through the point-of-view of a cicada, which at first seems random, eventually becomes clear not only because of the idea of being able to ‘fly’ as an escape, but also because of their intensely long hibernation periods followed by only several weeks of life.

, as briefly mentioned previously,

cycle.

Later in the commercial the scene from the T.V. show is seen again, but this time the audience does not react to the man squeezing the woman in a joyful manner. Instead they sit in silence while they watch and the look of disgust on the faces of the audience reflects how society should view such acts.

 Actions such as these were common in entertainment for years because the sexualization of women was and still is a reliable way to draw in male viewers. In more recent years the traditional ties to misogyny and female exploitation have been all but erased from modern television and film. 

ng tv.

acceptable. 

Gillette Commercial

Men have a responsibility to not only to be vocal in their communities, but to also practice being a positive member of that community. There must be open dialogue between men and women so that we can ensure women are being heard, and that they know they are valued members of society. Men must be willing to go the extra mile and to speak with their daughters and let them know that toxic masculinity does exist and that they should never be afraid to be who they are. If older generations of men can carry the torch and lead us away from the toxic behaviors and ideologies of times past, then the next generation of men will definitely follow. Before long, toxic masculinity will be a thing of the past, but it will take the full effort of everyone to end this horrid cycle.

must

The strongest buildings known to man have crumbled from the smallest of cracks, and the same applies to toxic masculinity.

.

If you ask a man what job a woman would be good at, rarely would you get a response that highlights the fact that women can do any job.

empathy,

The words that were her own, and the ideas she chose to share with her cohorts have been deemed insufficient.

,

every single word that she could have said in that time.

has derogatory connotations that exemplify the impact of toxic masculinity.

ugly head

”,

In the ad we also see a boardroom setting with a woman towards the head of the table, but yet a man stands over her.

it has also affected more women than it has men.

nstills the notion that touching women sexually without consent is harmless. 

This action is laughed at by the crowd and the young men on the couch watch as though they are used to seeing this type of disrespect on a regular basis in their lives. A

tv

The effect of toxic masculinity on women has never occurred to me until I saw this ad campaign.

crippled

Questions like these must be brought to the light, if we ever hope to end the vicious cycle that is toxic masculinity.

disregard of empathy for the young boys

In one instance we see two boys wrestling in a back yard, one father simply says, “boys will be boys”.  The phrase “boys will be boys” was used to justify the actions of the boys, suggesting that violence and a physical nature are acceptable. 

tv

stigma

Countless

If characters touched a woman inappropriately there would not be repercussions to follow.

The entertainment industry would portray male characters as rough, rugged men who only got in fights and had sex with a new woman weekly.

would

 hasn’t

Imagine if every man on Earth only focused on these aspects of manhood… It isn’t that hard to imagine sadly.

few aspects of manhood

objective and narrow looking glass that legitimizes a man’s behavior

can be defined

Toxic masculinity has many forms, and I will shed a light on these as well as how they appear in today’s society.

I

infected

has plagued men since the beginning of time

has gained relevance in last decade.

 Ironically, the actions that cause that response are never in fact gay and the person who does it isn’t in fact gay. 

Those three words are often said by most heterosexual men in America numerous times in their lives

.

The world tries to make everything in labor forces look nice, clean and organized.

Michele Obama

achieve

in many ways

(like displayed in the interactive video “Shirt on Your Back”)

hat

Situations like this are so obvious, but no one does anything about it

increased

, and

world

he

like.

(Harwell, 2017).

We as Americans

I

2016

Minorites

don’t

.

You could say that

our

issues and problems

and

You

It is very easy to see of you watch TV or keep up with the news to see that most high-end corporation CEO’s are usually male

is.

.

A study found that