Speaker
The poem is a first-person narrative by a young black boy. He is a typical urban kid who does all the normal, everyday stuff millions of others do like attending school, playing basketball with his friends, skateboarding and enjoying the camaraderie of the adults who congregate in the local barbershop. Until, that its, a tragedy occurs in his neighborhood that forces him to question what exactly qualifies as normality within his particular segment of society.
The Victim
The tragedy that sparks this epiphany toward contemplation is the latest in the never-ending series of “officer involved shootings” of black people. In this particular case, the victim is a young black female who is presented primarily as a face on Black Lives Matter posters.
The Newscaster
The narrator learns of the shooting of the girl while inside a crowded barbershop. All those inside the barbershop are black and stand motionless as they stare blankly at the flat screen set high up for all to see. What is notable but easily enough to overlook is that the anchor reporting the news is a white male. The implicit message of the drawing illustrating this scene is easily enough interpreted because it springs so painfully from the truth: young black females very rarely make news covered by white male anchors unless they are famous athletes or involved in a crime.
The Protestors and The Cops
The primary appearance by the police in the book is meaningfully menacing in juxtaposition to those protesting their violent actions. On the page to the right, but starting at the very edges of the page on the left is a repetition of the narrator in various poses of anger as the verse captures his sense of frustration. The top third of the page on the left is split into two panels, one showing those protesting against the cops and the other being the Black Lives Matter poster with the picture of victim. The bottom two-thirds of the page is mostly a single panel showing more protestors squaring off against the police. The perspective is from behind the police so that reader can see the faces of the protestors and recognize they are cross-section of racial diversity. The police, by contrast, are only seen from behind and from the waist up, as identical black silhouettes brandishing their batons.
