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e xtending beyond the te xt
extending beyond the text
5
Read the following poem by Danez Smith, and explain what Smith suggests about the way
that some people view African American males.

alternate names for black boys
Danez Smith
Changing the World
1. smoke above the burning bush
2. archnemesis of summer night
3. first son of soil
4. coal awaiting spark & wind
5. guilty until proven dead
6. oil heavy starlight
7. monster until proven ghost
8. gone
9. phoenix who forgets to un-ash
10. going, going, gone
11. gods of shovels & black veils
12. what once passed for kindling
13. fireworks at dawn
14. brilliant, shadow hued coral
15. (I thought to leave this blank but who am I to name us nothing?)

16. prayer who learned to bite & sprint
17. a mother’s joy & clutched breath
Which of these names might Mckesson agree with, based on what you have read in this piece?
How is the tone of this poem similar to or different from Mckesson’s tone?

accept these options, we run, we fight, we push Bullies don’t just happen, they are enabled.
back, because it seems like these are the only There were bystanders who lived on my
things we can do. In a world of incessant battles grandmother’s block who chose to do nothing
and their accompanying exhaustion, survival every single day. I think those people simply
can become the overriding theme in how we thought of bullying as another feature of
think about living, and fear something that we childhood, a condition of growing up — just
unconsciously accept. “kids being kids” or “boys being boys.” They
And sometimes, even as we challenge the 10 didn’t suppose that simple child’s play could
bully, we come to accept him as just a part of have any lasting negative consequences, and
our world. thus did not consider themselves responsible for

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Copyright © Bedford/St. Martin’s. Uncorrected proofs have been used in this sample chapter.
Distributed by BFW Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.

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