Javon Johnson
The poems I chose to discuss are “A Letter to My Unborn Daughter” and “Cuz He’s Black” by Javon Johnson. Both poems deal with three major topics: racism, sexism, and double standards. Javon Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Performance and Communication Studies at San Francisco State University and received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in Performance Studies. Javon began writing his slam poetry in 2001 and won the Los Angeles Slam Nationals in 2003, being one of the few poets to make finals three years in a row afterwards. After a brief hiatus, Johnson returned to writing poetry and since then he has been on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, BET’s Lyric Café, TVOne’s Verses & Flow, and co-wrote a documentary about the Japanese American Basketball leagues called “Crossover”.
“A Letter to My Unborn Daughter” deals mainly with double standards and sexism in the fifth stanza talking to his daughter about how it is okay to be sexually free and how “…insecure men who are too afraid of women owning their own bodies.”, which points to the double standard of it being socially acceptable for guys to fornicate with as mickle an amount of girls as possible while girls get …show more content…
The world does not see each human as one would see 1=1. My parents have told me to be careful of how I carry myself around cops. “Carry my ID,” they say. Always be conscientious of my actions. They say, “If you ever have a problem with anyone at school or anywhere else, contact us.” as well. Which is cool, but I always ask myself, “What am I going to do when that moment actually comes?”, “What if the cop I run into is racist and unlawfully criminalizes me?”, and “If I were to get shot, would I survive?” I am not afraid to die, but I care about my wasted potential. As quickly as a spark, it can either dissipate or flame the world with
The poems I chose to discuss are “A Letter to My Unborn Daughter” and “Cuz He’s Black” by Javon Johnson. Both poems deal with three major topics: racism, sexism, and double standards. Javon Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Performance and Communication Studies at San Francisco State University and received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in Performance Studies. Javon began writing his slam poetry in 2001 and won the Los Angeles Slam Nationals in 2003, being one of the few poets to make finals three years in a row afterwards. After a brief hiatus, Johnson returned to writing poetry and since then he has been on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, BET’s Lyric Café, TVOne’s Verses & Flow, and co-wrote a documentary about the Japanese American Basketball leagues called “Crossover”.
“A Letter to My Unborn Daughter” deals mainly with double standards and sexism in the fifth stanza talking to his daughter about how it is okay to be sexually free and how “…insecure men who are too afraid of women owning their own bodies.”, which points to the double standard of it being socially acceptable for guys to fornicate with as mickle an amount of girls as possible while girls get …show more content…
The world does not see each human as one would see 1=1. My parents have told me to be careful of how I carry myself around cops. “Carry my ID,” they say. Always be conscientious of my actions. They say, “If you ever have a problem with anyone at school or anywhere else, contact us.” as well. Which is cool, but I always ask myself, “What am I going to do when that moment actually comes?”, “What if the cop I run into is racist and unlawfully criminalizes me?”, and “If I were to get shot, would I survive?” I am not afraid to die, but I care about my wasted potential. As quickly as a spark, it can either dissipate or flame the world with