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Analysis Of The Poem ' Skittles For Trayvon '

Decent Essays

“Skittles for Trayvon: A Diminishing Suite in Verse” According to Alternet.org, “If racism isn’t a factor in opportunity and economic security, then why the overwhelming evidence to the contrary?” Lillian Bertram received the NEA creative writing poetry in 2014. She has also had a grant from the U.S. Embassy for writing a residency. This poem that she displays, describes the killing of Trayvon Martin in a mythical way. She uses examples of how the Volcano people or Separated from the Water people. The Volcano people are considered the African-Americans and Water people are Caucasians. Lillian gives examples in a mythical way how this country is segregated by the color of your skin. In this time period when the murder of Trayvon Martin …show more content…

This piece of evidence relates back to the thesis were it talks about Trayvon Martin wearing a hoodie and being stereotyped since he was a different ethnicity. If the singing boy was not one of the volcano people wearing a hoodie and was a part of the water people, he would not have choked out because he was perceived as a ghost. “Racial Profiling is a longstanding and deeply troubling national problem despite claims that the United States has entered a “post-racial era” according to aclu.org. Although U.S. has moved past the civil rights era there are still improvements to be done about stereotypes of black people. As provided in the quote, progress has not made its way because of the bigotry of some people in this society. As seen in the mythical poem like “Signing Boy”, white people are always making preconceptions of what black people are like before they even say anything or do anything. This issue has haunted America for the longest but it seems like it creeps back up steadily dividing people apart. There is only so much black people can take from being stereotyped everywhere they live in this country.
In Lines 12-13 “The water people were harvesters and the volcano people sowed in ash.” Segregation has always been a big part of how people in America separate themselves by social

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