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omnipoetics:riot [2025/04/24 00:35] – hollyomnipoetics:riot [2025/04/24 01:01] (current) – [Works Cited] heather
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-<WRAP center round info 60%> +====== Riot by Gwendolyn Brooks ======
-//The Serpent and the Fire// (pp. 441-442) \\ +
-</WRAP>+
  
-====== "Riot" by Gwendolyn Brooks ====== 
  
  
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 At face value, "Riot" is about racism and the racial tension of America. To take it deeper than that, this poem can be used to highlight the cognitive dissonance between the privileged and unprivileged where the latter class has to be loud, has to scream to be heard, to get attention- which is compounded by the racial framework. The usage of John Cabot as a sort of main character is to show that even when the narrative is about Black people, a white man still controls the framing.  At face value, "Riot" is about racism and the racial tension of America. To take it deeper than that, this poem can be used to highlight the cognitive dissonance between the privileged and unprivileged where the latter class has to be loud, has to scream to be heard, to get attention- which is compounded by the racial framework. The usage of John Cabot as a sort of main character is to show that even when the narrative is about Black people, a white man still controls the framing. 
  
-At the end when John Cabot prays to God to be merciful to the Negros that were approaching him, that was going to hurt him, there is irony in the fact that God does not act as if John Cabot is in the right, instead siding with the very Negros John Cabot seems so afraid of in the poem. This is ironic because of the fact that colonizers used the rhetoric that God wanted them to take over the lands from the so-called “savages” that lived on them. +At the end when John Cabot prays to God to be merciful to the Negros that were approaching him, that were going to hurt him, there is irony in the fact that God does not act as if John Cabot is in the right, instead siding with the very Negros John Cabot seems so afraid of in the poem. This is ironic because of the fact that colonizers used the rhetoric that God wanted them to take over the lands from the so-called “savages” that lived on them. 
  
  
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 This poem was published in the 20th century during the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. More importantly, it was published in 1969 right after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination as a response to how the Black community reacted.  This poem was published in the 20th century during the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. More importantly, it was published in 1969 right after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination as a response to how the Black community reacted. 
  
-At the beginning of the poem, there is an epigraph from MLK himself: “A riot is the language of the unheard.”  This line comes from his speech “The Other America” which he gave at Stanford University. In the speech King condemned the act of rioting, believing nonviolence was the answer to gaining equality. He also made a point to connect rioting with the poor Black Americans were being directly affected by the worsening economy and equality gap, which he also condemned; if it wasn’t a problem then there would be no riots. He connected these two points with the above-mentioned quote going further to say: “What is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened…” +At the beginning of the poem, there is an epigraph from MLK himself: “A riot is the language of the unheard” ("The MLK Speech") This line comes from his speech “The Other America” which he gave at Stanford University ("The MLK Speech"). In the speech King condemned the act of rioting, believing nonviolence was the answer to gaining equality. He also made a point to connect rioting with the poor Black Americans were being directly affected by the worsening economy and equality gap, which he also condemned; if it wasn’t a problem then there would be no riots. He connected these two points with the above-mentioned quote going further to say: “What is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened…”
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-===== Themes ===== +
  
  
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 Gonzalez, Diana, Samantha Lazcano, and Esha Dani. "Gwendolyn Brooks: Tragedies That Led to the Black Consciousness." //Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy//, 10 May 2019, https://chicagodefender.com/?s=. Gonzalez, Diana, Samantha Lazcano, and Esha Dani. "Gwendolyn Brooks: Tragedies That Led to the Black Consciousness." //Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy//, 10 May 2019, https://chicagodefender.com/?s=.
 +
 +"The MLK Speech." //Grosse Pointe Historical Society//, https://www.gphistorical.org/mlk/mlkspeech/#:~:text=And%20I%20must%20say%20tonight,justice%20have%20not%20been%20met.
  
 “Themes and Variations: New Looks at Gwendolyn Brooks.” //Poetry Foundation//, 30 May 2017, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/142290/themes-and-variations. “Themes and Variations: New Looks at Gwendolyn Brooks.” //Poetry Foundation//, 30 May 2017, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/142290/themes-and-variations.
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   - [[https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/online/gwendolyn-brooks/riot-0|themorgan.com]]   - [[https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/online/gwendolyn-brooks/riot-0|themorgan.com]]
   - [[https://theweek.com/speedreads/917022/riot-language-unheard-martin-luther-king-jr-explained-53-years-ago|The Week]]   - [[https://theweek.com/speedreads/917022/riot-language-unheard-martin-luther-king-jr-explained-53-years-ago|The Week]]
-  - [[https://www.gphistorical.org/mlk/mlkspeech/#:~:text=And%20I%20must%20say%20tonight,justice%20have%20not%20been%20met.|Martin Luther King Speech]]+ 
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 +{{tag>English USA Poetry Race_Culture_Identity}}
  
  

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