Zion’s AP Blog

My poem is about being a black teen male in America. My inspiration for the poem is the Black Lives Matter movement. The theme of my poem is to be careful when encountering the law because they are looking for a reason.   My color, my negro spirit, and my culture seems to be a target for these ruthless cops We shouldn’t have to fear for our life every siren heard Or flashy blue and red lights seen Is the grass really greener on the other side? Is our nation really advocating black pride? Or more like blue on black crime? Looking at the news at night time Hearing about another life lost Dang, what was the reason this time? My heart goes out to my mom who fear losing her first born Or her innocent black son as I should say These people don’t care about us, it’s clear as day Our mind can never be full It’s our everlasting tool That we could use to make the man who lacks pride feel like a fool

Do you sometimes question a man you know, or your own manhood? Most people think manhood is being STRONG, BOLD, PROTECTIVE, EMOTIONLESS, etc. Today, as we were discussing the topic in class, Mr. Rease mentioned something that made sense. He stated, “ there are men who aren’t strong. Does that make them not a man?” I began to think, & as I was thinking about what makes a man, a man. I came up with the conclusion that just because you show emotions and you’re not physically strong, it doesn’t make you less of a man. 

 Days like this I look forward to. It was smooth & interesting. I enjoyed 4th period today, as we listened & read the poem, We Real Cool. I believe those young boys were lost & they didn’t have much guidance. I’m glad my parents lead me in the right direction, so I wouldn’t be going down that same path. Since I’m a obedient, educated, positive, successful African American male, I am Real Cool!

 Today in class we discussed Crisis Rhetoric. You're probably wondering, what in the rhetoric is that? Well it is consisted of 5 points. Those points include urgency(something needs to happen now!), crisis as reality(showing that the crisis is effective), dramatic characters(good v. bad), policy as morality(the right thing to do), and lastly, rhetorically generative(making someone out to be evil). We watched a video clip of former President Trump's speech on building the wall. Overall, he used a lot of Crisis Rhetoric in his speech.