Ode To The Only Black Kid Class Summary

In the poem Ode to the only Black Kid Class, the author who is Clint Smith, uses many forms of literary terms. Speaking of the author, Clint Smith is an African American writer, teacher, and Ph.D. Candidate at Harvard University. He also won the Poetry Slam Competition. In the poem Smith uses literary terms such as metaphors, similes, and allusion to question or challenge the racial divisions. Smith uses allusion by referring the only black kid in class to the famous case which was Brown vs Board of Education. Also the author uses allusion by telling the only black kid in the class that society expects him to know everything about what the blacks did in the past. Smith does this by saying the names of specific civil rights activist who really made an impact to society such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X. Due to this, the Black Kid in the class feels like there is a bar of expectation where he needs to know everything about his history. Almost isolating him since he is the only person who is expected to know this information because he is the only black kid in the class. Secondly, he uses a simile in the poem. He uses simile by describing the classroom …show more content…
Collaborating with the next line, Smith ties both lines together by stating the only black kid in class is only used for sports and the basic stereotypes for blacks. When the author writes, “You are invisible until you turn on the Friday night lights”, he means you are completely forgotten and cannot be seen till the only black kid in class is “used” for the football game. This line relates to the racial theme because a presumed stereotype for African American people stated in the poem is that he is an athlete even before they saw him do anything just because of his skin