Incident

I chose Incident by Countee Cullen. This poem gave me chills after reading. The shortness and straight forward words make you feel for this child. This poor young child went on a trip to a new place with such happiness that was so quickly taken away because someone was ignorant. The racist word that is used goes through me like a knife. It is so hard to believe that one word could be so hurtful to one person. One word can have so many different meanings to different cultures. This child’s experience of visiting Baltimore will be burned in his memory as the day that someone discriminated against him. I have felt discriminated against in certain situations because I am white but I cannot imagine what other races have to go through each day because of the color of their skin. I would hope that our world would be able to deal with the fact that we are all different in this world and that is what makes life lyrical.