"Knock Knock"

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Knock+Knock+Def+poetry&aq=f

This spoken word artist sends a very powerful message to Black men about our position in the world. Many Black men tend to be misguided by the variations of messages we receive in the media. The swagger that we are suppose to posses through hip-hop. The Whiteness that we’re suppose to posses in the business and educational fields. How a man is suppose to be tender and caring towards their woman and their children. The reality is that many of these messages tend to conflict with one another, so men are forced to be one or the other. For young Black men, there are only a couple of professions in which one can practice all of these qualities. Those are drug dealers or rappers. Both of which are made popular through violence and hypermasuclinity, and can gain more street credibility by serving jail time. In this passage he says, “I write these words and try to heal and father myself, and I dream of a father who says the words my father who did not…” I believe this is one of the biggest burdens we struggle with as Black men. We have been conditioned to believe that there are so few Black fathers, that even a good Black father (and there are many) is seen as subpar. Furthermore, with so few variations of representations we see in the mainstream, we are forced to choose the images that are available. Instead, we should be choosing for ourselves which image we want to portray. There are limitations to drug dealing, there are limitations to being a rapper, there are limitations to being an athlete, yet many of us are drawn to those outlets to try to prove ourselves to a society who cares very little about us. Instead we should be creating our own representations of our images. We should be forcing everyone else to accept us for who we are, and not place judgments on us from what they’ve seen from other people. This is not only for Black men, but for ALL men, and women. I believe this video should be a reflection of the image that we all should have of ourselves. Strong enough to knock and be heard, but also humble enough to let other people’s knocks to be heard as well