Racism Today by Steven Taylor

From blackwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Racism Today by Steven Taylor is an example topic of racism. The poem used a regular sonnet and rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEF. This poem can be interpreted that the speaker was trying to expose racism in the United States or the speaker has no right to accuse the government officials and people of the community being racist. They cannot deny that people are filled with hatred within the country. [1]

Poetry

Racism Today

Steven Taylor

The racist cloaks his loathing thoughts

behind deceiving eyes

Those men who once wore hoods and robes

Today wear shirts and ties

Their methods changed but yet and still,

Their mission is the same

Today they lynch with politics,

the racist's favorite game

Divide and conquer is their plan

to keep minorities

From seeing that the forest lies

just shortly past the trees

Racism lurks within the press,

courthouses, banks and schools

Black folks convinced that all is well

have certainly been fooled

A racist underground exists,

a chilling fact indeed

They seek to kill, steal and destroy,

We can't let them succeed [2]

Author

Steven Taylor is a father of three daughters. He had joined as a US Navy Air Traffic Controller for 9 years, 3 years as an FAA Air Traffic Controller.

Writing poetry is part of his hobby and interest. Taylor's favorite quote :

'A poet is a poet because he understands;

because he is born with a divine kinship

with all things, ... and he is a poet in direct ratio

to his power of sympathy' Alice Ruth Moore [3]

Racism Issue

The imagery used in the poem, “Those men once wore hoods and robes // Today wear shirts and ties, says some people these days traded the KKK hoods in a modern way to hurt the colored community, it can be lawyers, doctors, cops, or even neighbors. Many said that racism is dead nowadays, but people who lived in the 50’s and 60’s are still alive, back when segregation was prominent. The poet states, “Their methods changed but yet and still, their mission is the same, today we lynch with politics, the racists favorite game.” Showing that some of the people that feel this way about other races are from the government and those who run the country. He feels as if there is no way of escaping hate.

“Racism lurks within the press”, pointing the news and media seems to make the situation worse, make other races look bad. When someone is in trouble, they will show the mugshot if the person were black. While if a white person shoots up a school, they show pictures with their family and friends. Majority of the time, black people always labeled as having a mental illness, which made them commit crime. [4]

References