Readings for 2/24/09

The readings for February 24th were very ordinary after reading Their Eyes Were Watching GOD. A Black Man Talks of Reaping is a poem about a man that is a former slave that seems bitter because of the work he has performed through the years of his life but yet does not have any spoils from it. He is especially bitter because his children is feeding off of the fruits of his labor. Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem is a lighter poem that is describing Alain Locke's "New Negro" that has shed his subservience and bent posture for that of walking upright, proud, angry at the past inflictions to his race, and bound and determined to carve for himself a niche in this new world. Plum Bun is about a fair skinned child that becomes a woman that is ashamed of her black heritage and decides to call herself white in the world so she can enjoy the same privileges that they do. A lesson is learned and she realizes that she should not deny her heritage. People like Angela from Plum Bun saddens me because they exist even today. They are not proud of where they come from, they try to assimilate white people and desperately wish they were one of them when they come from this marvelous race of African Americans. I could never deny my race. I am ashamed at some of the things that we are doing today but that is the same with all races. All races have some members that are not making the most of their lives that only want to prey on the weak.