I met a man of many colors
And a tear was upon his cheek.
"Old man" I ask, "why do you cry
With such an agonizing weep?"
"Oh child" this man he says to me,
"My heart is broken in so many ways
That I believe this day to end
Will find me out stretched and far within
The encompassing earth of sin."
I sat down beside this man
And asked him "do not cry.
For what you think is so bad
That life will pass you by?"
He looks at me with such sad eyes.
And weeps ever more.
He holds his hands out to me
And alas, I do see
The anguish of his heart.
For his hands were different colors
One is red and the other white,
A leg he unclothed for me
Was as yellow as could be
And his other leg as black as night.
"I am the father of the world.
In case you do not know.
And my children have grown apart
And fight among themselves.
For when they do not get along
My arms and legs and hands and feet
Destroys the very life of me.
My hands of red and white
Will not feed this face of night.
And my legs of black and yellow,
Will not stand beneath this body
And support my heart and soul.
For they argue far too much,
And now I have grown old.
So here I sit in this haven
Of unwelcomeness.
And when this day ends,
A father I will not be.
For my children of many nations
Have forgotten how to accompany me.
LneStarLdy
This poem dictates the suffering of the father of all races. Due to the conflict between all races, their "father", who could symbolize God, sees all of his children attack and kill each other. The war raging between different races is often caused simply because they are different. The war between races has gone on since the races first encountered each other. People fear anything that is different and seek to dispose of any such thing. The man of many colors is torn apart by watching his children fight each other.
The children ignore their similar origin and instead rage war against each other. Despite all their similarities single traits are punished. Without further analyzing others it can not be assumed that they are dangerous. By striking first against race, a circle of hate and violence is sometimes created. When the circle is created it is often never-ending, which means racial war and persecution will be perpetual in these cases. Until this war is ended earth can never have peace.
Diary:
The amount of racial discrimination in society today is disturbing. It tears communities apart and ruins racial equality. By reducing discrimination conflict and sorrow are reduced greatly. It is detrimental that this discrimination is rooted out, however long that will take. By doing so many problems can be solved. However, the cycle of discrimination and violence is often perpetual, meaning ending this "race war" is harder than it may appear.
Essentional Question:
Although the American Dream does not apply to Native Americans they did have a dream of their own. The Native Americans dreamed mostly of peace
4 comments:
I agree completely with the fact that the father is the man of all races and has self conflict within the races amongst the world. This is very true today. The only thing that I find a little strange is the way you find the race wars to everlasting. Yes we will always have problems with race but over time race issues have depleted dramatically so there is always the possibility that race issues could eventually be eliminated. The only reason I would say I agree with this is because our country is so corrupt nowadays that we seem to have many, many different issues. Not only is there a problem with race, but war, drugs, crime, etc. as well. Oh and by the way, I really enjoyed this poem and think that it was a great pick for Native American Literature.
Thank you for your input as well and thank you for your consideration. One thing that I did notice was that I made it seem like it was just to create landmarks and things like that, which may have been your reason for stating that in your comment, but, I kind of meant that they use creation stories like that for everything. Like the moon and the sun have their own Native American creation story. But I understand your comment completely and I might change the way I worded my page under the Native American part to make it seem more in general for creation stories.
Nathan
Where is the diary entry? While your reflection is good, you need a diary entry to reflect the native american's point of view in response to the white man's arrival on their land.
Is Curtis your only group member? He makes insightful comments - nice.
Grade: 85
Ms. Mic
I think you interpreted the poem very well, iy was similar to how I saw it. I ma a little confused about your diary entry. Are you speaking for your self or are you speaking in character? Either way it was a good entry.
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