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Chapter: 10
Passage (Q.P.P.)!:”Saturday night came and I sent word to the boss that I was sick. 🤬 was upstairs. Granny and Aunt Addie were at church. My brother, My brother was sleeping. My mother sat in her rocking chair, humming to herself. I packed my suitcase and went to her. “Mama, I’m going away,” I whispered.“Oh no,” she protested.“I’ve got to, mama. I can’t live this way.”“You’re not running away from something you’ve done?”“I’ll send for you, mama. I’ll be alright.”“Take care of yourself. And send for me quickly. I’m not happy here,” she said.“I’m sorry for all these long years, mama. But I could not have helped it.” I kissed her and she cried.“Be quiet, mama. I’m all right.I went out to the back and walked a quarter of a mile to the railroad tracks. It began to rain as I tramped down the crossties toward town. I reached the station soaked to the skin. I bought my ticket, then went hurriedly to the corner of the block in which the movie house stood. Yes, the boss was there, taking tickets himself. I returned to the station and waited for my train, my eyes watching the crowd. An hour later I was sitting in a Jim Crow coach, speeding northward, making the first lap of my journey to a land where I could live with a little less fear. Slowly the burden I had carried for many months lifted somewhat. My cheeks itched and when I scratched them I found tears. In that moment I understood the crime carried it’s own punishment. Well, it’s my life, I told myself. I’ll see what I can make of it…”

Song: A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke
Song Lyrics:
“I was born by the river in a little tentOh and just like the river I've been running ev'r sinceIt's been a long time, a long time comingBut I know a change gonna come, oh yes it willIt's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die'Cause I don't know what's up there, beyond the skyIt's been a long, a long time comingBut I know a change gonna come, oh yes it willI go to the movie and I go downtownSomebody keep tellin' me don't hang aroundIt's been a long, a long time comingBut I know a change gonna come, oh yes it willThen I go to my brotherAnd I say brother help me pleaseBut he winds up knockin' meBack down on my knees, ohThere have been times that I thought I couldn't last for longBut now I think I'm able to carry onIt's been a long, a long time comingBut I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will."
Connection:
In this passage, Richard talks about his depart from home and the journey that lies ahead. He decides to go out on his own because he's tired of the South. The song talks about change and how better things lie ahead. This relates to Richard becasue he has hopes for better things to come as he embarks on his own.

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Chapter: Richard

Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “He came to me and put his hands under my arms and lifted me from the floor, as though I were a bundle of feathers.

“You’re too light for our work,” he said

“But maybe I could do something there,” I said.

“That’s the problem,” he said soberly. “ The work’s heavy and dangerous” (171).

Song Lyrics:

Skinny boy, skinny boy

Where your muscles at?

Used to walk to work

Eight hours, take the bus back

Ain't no time to stop

Ain't no time for vacation

Y'all all want my spot

'Cause you know that I am A1

All these pretty girls

They come running to our place so

I could do without

I could move without

I could do myself

I get in a rut

I feel depressed

I bang on my chest

I say f*ck 'em all 'til I'm dead

Queer-Brockhampton

Connection: The connection between the song and the passage is they are both talking about how the character is lacking muscles or strength of a typical male. Also Richard works a lot.

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Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “An hour later I was sitting in a Jim Crow coach, speeding northward, making the first lap of my journey to a land where I could live with a little less fear. Slowly the burden I had carried for scratched them I found tears. In that moment I understood the pain that accompanied crime and I hoped that I would never have to feel it again. I never did feel it again, for I never stole again. (207)

Song Lyrics: Anxiety, tossing turning in your sleep

Even if you run away,

you still see them in your dreams

It's so dark tonight,

but you'll survive

Connection: These connect to each other because Richard is feeling the anxiety and pain from escaping Jackson and will always have the memories from what life was during his childhood. This song talks about how you will always have the anxiety even when you go to sleep and try to escape it, but you will survive through it.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3GReUEA2DI

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Chapter: Chapter 10

Passage (Q.P.P.)!:

“My feelings became divided;in spite of myself I would dream of a locked cupboard in a nearby neighbor’s house where a gun was kept. If I stole it, how much would it bring? When the yearning to leave would become strong in me, I could not keep out of my mind the image of a storehouse at a nearby Negro college that held huge cans of preserved fruits. Yet fear kept me from making any move; the idea of stealing floated tentatively in me. My inability to adjust myself to the white world had already shattered a part of the structure of my personality and had broken down the inner barriers to crime; the only thing that now stood in the way lack of immediate opportunity, a final push of circumstance. And that came”(201).

Song Lyrics:

That must fight, and 🤬, and 🤬 each other

But once again, all he ever wanted to do

Was spread a message

Of equality, for every man, woman, and child

Regardless of race, religion

Color, creed, and sexual orientation

Now imagine this child growing up

And seeing the craziest *&%#

Being a part of the craziest *&#%

Running around with the wrong people

Running around with guns and knives and fighting and stealing and

All this, because he didn’t know, he didn’t know!

But he knew deep down in his heart that it wasn’t right

And he knew that he needed to get away from it

Now I want you to also imagine, that at 17 years old

This child, okay, leaves home and gets two jobs to support himself

Connection:

In the passage, Richard is describing how two parts of his brain are fighting against each other. Part of him believes that if he will ever be able to make it in a “white man’s world” is by stealing. Throughout his time searching for jobs and working he has discovered that many other of his fellow colored friends steal as a way of secretly protesting the ways that white people treat them. Richard wanted nothing more than to earn enough money to move to the North but he found he wasn’t making money fast enough. However another part of him knew deep down that stealing was morally wrong. In the end he compromised with himself by only stealing enough to get him to Memphis and then never steal again. The song is from the perspective a young man who grew seeing these things as well. He say racism as he was growing up struggling in the world.

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Passage:
"This was the first time in my life that I had ever consciously entertained the idea of violating the laws of the land." (199).

Song Lyrics:
Soon there'll be candles
And prayers that are said I know
Let them not weep
Let them know that I'm glad to go

Death is no dream

Connection:
This song relates to Black Boy because of the fear and the hard times Richard and his family experiences while living in the south.

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Passage (Q.P.P.)!:
“My life now depended upon my finding work, and I was so anxious that I accepted the first offer, a job as a porter in a clothing store selling cheap goods to Negroes on credit… The boss, his son, and the clerk treated the Negroes with open contempt, pushing, kicking, or slapping them. No matter how often I witnessed it, I could not get used to it. How can they accept it? I asked myself. I kept on edge, trying to stifle my feelings and never quite succeeding, a prey to guilt and fear because I felt that the boss suspected that I resented what I saw,” (179).

Song Lyrics: “When you try your best but you don't succeed When you get what you want but not what you need When you feel so tired but you can't sleep Stuck in reverse” Fix you by Coldplay

Connection: This song relates to the passage because Richard doesn’t succeed at keeping his emotions hidden from his boss. This also relates to the passage because Richard takes the job because he wants one but he needs a job where he won’t be abused.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK3TROzVRiE

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Passage:

“‘Mamma, im going away.’ I whispered.

‘Oh, no,’ She protested

‘I’ve got to, mamma. I can’t live this way.’

‘You’re not running away from something you’ve done?’

‘I’ll send for you, mama. I’ll be all right” (206).

Song Lyrics:

This the intro to my sitcom, "Travis and the Hooligans"

Blazin' up and roastin' everyone from where the loser sit

I'm boostin' s***, I'm switchin' tags, and now my momma

pissed

Tell me that I'm stealin, but I'm hustlin' mom don't even trip

Yeah, I'm just tired of the stressin'

I do it for the kids who eat hot Cheetoh's for breakfast

Connection:

Richard started stressing and getting anxious to get out of the south so he can go North and he does that by stealing things and trading them for money so he can leave and his mom is sad that he’s leaving but once Richard gets there he feels better because he found someone that's friendly and helpful.

Link:

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Travis Thompson - The Underdog feat. MistaDC

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Chapter:

10

”He was white, and I could never do to him, what he and his kind done to me”(203).
Song Lyrics:

This for my people

Tryna stay alive and just stay peaceful

So hard to survive a world so lethal

Connection:This connects because in the song he talks about how black people want to be peaceful, but it's hard to be peaceful when trying to stay alive.
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsG8H0JLMb4

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Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “I can’t live this way”(206).

Song Lyrics: Sick of waking up in darkness when the sky is always painted blue. There is a method to my madness it is clear that you don't have a clue.

Connection: This relates to Richard because it talks about how he is waiting and wanting for someone to help and how he is seeking to fit in and be helpful.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RG8hAvGW3c

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Chapter: 5
Passage (Q.P.P.)!:
“Well, I told myself , if granny died , I would leave home” (134).
Song Lyrics:
it seemed likethis would become my realityBefore I left, I promisedyou as I held youI said I would build ahouse and wait for youYou should’ve just aged butwhy did you age so beautifully?

Connection: I can connect this song to black boy because it talks about going through hard times.

Link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arbv96Tz4hk

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Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “I had heard that whites regarded Negroes as animals in sex matters and his words made me angry.

‘I heard a n****r can stick his pr***k in the ground and spin around on it like a top,’ he said chuckling”(188).

Song Lyrics from Kendrick Lamar’s The Blacker the Berry:

I'm African-American, I'm African

I'm black as the moon, heritage of a small village

Pardon my residence

Came from the bottom of mankind

My hair is nappy, my d***k is big, my nose is round and wide

You hate me don't you?

You hate my people, your plan is to terminate my culture

You're f***kin' evil I want you to recognize that I'm a proud monkey

You vandalize my perception but can't take style from me

And this is more than confession

I mean I might press the button just so you know my discretion

I'm guardin' my feelings, I know that you feel it

You sabotage my community, makin' a killin'

Connection: In the quote, Richard becomes angry because of  the racist stereotypes his co-workers Reynolds and Pease reference in their passive aggressive insults. Richard has to conceal his anger and put a smile on. Kendrick Lamar on the other hand in the song, specifically in this passage, illustrates the anger and describes the feelings Richard felt in this moment. In the quotes,”My hair is nappy, my d****k is big my nose is round and wide,” and “I want you to recognize that I’m a proud monkey” Kendrick Lamar is accepting all of the stereotypes that Reynolds and Pease most likely used to depict black people in their minds to show that their racist words don’t hurt. With quotes like,”You sabotage my community making a killing” and “..Your plan is to terminate my culture”  he confronts and defends himself and his black culture ---two things that would have gotten him killed if he was in Richard’s position. Instead of smiling out of fear like Richard does, he tells the truth and yells back at the injustice. Comparing the freedom that Kendrick has, we can more clearly see the corner of silence and submission that Richard is backed into by oppression and white supremacy.

Link: https://youtu.be/7TMPn1MQUVY

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Chapter: 9  Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “I had heard that whites regarded Negroes as animals in sex matters and his words made me angry. ‘I heard a n***** can stick his pr*** in the ground and spin around on it like a top,’ he said chuckling”(188). 

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Chapter: 9  Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “I had heard that whites regarded Negroes as animals in sex matters and his words made me angry. ‘I heard a n***** can stick his pr*** in the ground and spin around on it like a top,’ he said chuckling”(188). 

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Song Lyrics from Kendrick Lamar’s The Blacker the Berry:

I'm African-American, I'm African

I'm black as the moon, heritage of a small village

Pardon my residence

Came from the bottom of mankind

My hair is nappy, my d*** is big, my nose is round and wide

You hate me don't you?

You hate my people, your plan is to terminate my culture

You're f!#**#!' evil I want you to recognize that I'm a proud monkey

You vandalize my perception but can't take style from me

And this is more than confession

I mean I might press the button just so you know my discretion

I'm guardin' my feelings, I know that you feel it

You sabotage my community, makin' a killin'

Connection: In the quote, Richard becomes angry because of  the racist stereotypes his co-workers Reynolds and Pease reference in their passive aggressive insults. Richard has to conceal his anger and put a smile on. Kendrick Lamar on the other hand in the song, specifically in this passage, illustrates the anger and describes the feelings Richard felt in this moment. In the quotes,”My hair is nappy, my d**** is big my nose is round and wide,” and “I want you to recognize that I’m a proud monkey” Kendrick Lamar is accepting all of the stereotypes that Reynolds and Pease most likely used to depict black people in their minds to show that their racist words don’t hurt. With quotes like,”You sabotage my community making a killing” and “..Your plan is to terminate my culture”  he confronts and defends himself and his black culture ---two things that would have gotten him killed if he was in Richard’s position. Instead of smiling out of fear like Richard does, he tells the truth and yells back at the injustice.

Link:

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Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “Take care of yourself. And send for me quickly. I'm not happy here,” She said.” (206).

Song Lyrics: It's been a long day without you, my friend

And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again

We've come a long way from where we began

Oh I'll tell you all about it when I see you again

When I see you again

Connection: This song relates to the passage because in the song see you again, The singer is singing about seeing his friend again because his friend died. It's a little different because Richards mother didn't die but he was moving away and his mom told him to come back for her when he can.

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Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “I was living in a culture and not a civilization and I could learn how that culture worked only by living with it” (196).

Song Lyrics:

We the youth

We the people of this country

We got a voice too

We will be seen, and we will be heard

Connection:  Don’t really have a voice in their community because of where their from, and because who they are.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0i3BJvjLUQ

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Passage (Q.P.P.):
“My sustained expectation of violence had exhausted me. My preoccupation with curbing my impulses, my speech, my movements, my manner, my expressions had increased my anxiety. I became forgetful, concentrating too much upon trivial tasks. The men began to yell at me and that made it worse. One day I dropped a jug of orange syrup in the middle of the floor. The boss was furious. He caught my arm and jerked me into the back of the drug-store. His face was livid. I expected him to hit me. I was braced to defend myself.”

Song Lyrics: “Immigrants We Get The Job Done- Hamilton Remix”

"It's a hard line when you're an import

Baby boy, it's hard times

When you ain't sent for

Racists feed the belly of the beast

With they pitchforks, rich chores

Done by the people that get ignored...

I been scoping ya dudes, ya'll ain't been working like I do

I'll outwork you, it hurts you

You claim I'm stealing jobs though…

Buckingham Palace or Capitol Hill

Blood of my ancestors had that all built

It's the ink you print on your dollar bill, oil you spill

Thin red lines on the flag you hoist when you 🤬

But still we just say "look how far I come"

Hindustan, Pakistan, to London

To a galaxy far from their ignorance…

Nosotros les sembramos el árbol y ellos se comen la frutas

Somos los que cruzaron

Aquí vinimos a buscar el oro que nos robaron

Tenemos mas trucos que la policía secreta

Metimos la casa completa en una maleta.."

Connection:
The connection is that in Black Boy, Richard is beat down by everyone. His family and yeah sure, being beat by family might be bad, but being beat because you are black, or gay, or a girl, or anything, that is a MILLION TIMES harder. He experiences true fear, because some white guys felt like he wasn't worthy of care or a job or to be treated the same. He just needs money and they are threatened because he wants to do the “work of a white man”. WORK HAS NO COLOR/GENDER/SEXUALITY!  MONEY IS NOT RACIST, SEXIST, HOMOPHOBIC etc! The people in power, the white man in charge, is racist. In the song, they are talking about having to work a lot and having people being racist and cruel. How these people worked/work their BUTTS off and get NOTHING. Where is the humanity? Where is love, kindness, basic decency? Oh, wait, this is America. Where only the rich get basic human rights. Where the line in the Pledge Of Allegiance says  “ Justice for all”. WTH? There is no justice. There is NOTHING for people who aren't beautiful in the eyes of power and money. Richard is TERRIFIED. He has to learn so YOUNG what it means to be not good enough ever.

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“ We were now large enough for the white boys to fear us and both of us, the white boys and the black boys, began to play our traditional racial roles as though we were being guided by instinct. All the frightful descriptions we had heard about each other , all the violent expressions of hate and hostility that had seeped into us from our surroundings, came now to the surface to guide our actions” (83.)

Song Lyrics: F*ck the police! Comin straight from the underground

A young n*gga got it bad ‘cause i’m brown

And not the other color, so police think

They have the authority to 🤬 a minority

F*ck that sh*t , ‘cause I ain’t the one

For a punk motherf*cker with a badge and a gun

To be beating on, and thrown in jail

We can go toe-to toe in the middle of a cell

F*ckin’ with me’ cause i'm a teenager

With a little bit of gold and a paper

Searchin’ my car, looking’ for the produce

Thinkin every ni**a is selling’ narcotics

You’d rather see me in the pen

Than me and Lorenzo rollin’ in a benz-o

Beat a police out of shape

And when im finished, bring the yellow tape

To tape of the scene of the slaughter

Still getting swole off bread and water

I don’t know if they fags or what

Search a ni**a down and grabbing his nuts

And on the other hand, without a gun, they cant get none

But don’t let it be a black and a white one

‘Cause they’ll slam ya down to the street top

Black police showing out for the white cop

Ice Cube will swarm

On an motherf*cker in a blue uniform

Connection: This quote connects to the song because it shows how back then and even now, as black men and woman grow

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Chapter:9
Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “I walked down Capitol Street feeling that the sidewalk was unreal, that I was unreal, yet expecting somebody to demand to know what right I had to be on the streets.”

Song Lyrics: “Nobody likes me
That's what I tell myself I live alone in my own 🤬 I want to be the person you want me to be
That I know that I'll never be” Mediocre At Best - Sorority Noise

Connection: In the passage Richard feels lost and likes he’s not “real” he doesn’t feel human and he feels terrible about himself, despite the fact that he doesn’t feel “real” he still feels like someone is going to question his right to be walking down the street because all his life he’s felt as if he never did anything right due to the people around him constantly dehumanizing him and putting him down.

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Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “I can’t live this way”(206).

Song Lyrics: Sick of waking up in darkness when the sky is always painted blue. There is a method to my madness it is clear that you don't have a clue.

Connection: This relates to Richard because it talks about how he is waiting and wanting for someone to help and how he is seeking to fit in and be helpful.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RG8hAvGW3c

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Passage : “The words were barely out of my mouth before i felt something hard and cold smash me between eyes” (180).
Song Lyrics:I hurt myself todayTo see if I still feelI focus on the painThe only thing that's real

Connection: when Richard gets beaten or attacked he gets reminded of his place in this world and and when the song say “I focus on the pain” he remembers all the times hes been hit and every time he's fought. “The only thing that's real” he remembers what life is like and that he can't just say whatever he wants to whoever he wants

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“ ‘I had hoped for a lot from this job,’ I said. ‘I wanted to go to school, to college . . .’

‘I know,’ he said. ‘But what are you going  to do now?’

My eyes traveled over the officer, but I was not seeing.

‘I’m going away,’ I said” (192).

Song Lyrics: "Empty" Olivia O'Brien

I can't handle these pressures

All I can say is this stress hurts

Things are supposed to get better

I just need to put myself first

I'm always trying my hardest . . .

My body's shakin'

My head is achin'

It feels like my heart is breakin

Connection:

This song relates to the quote because this perfectly sums up what Richard is feeling and how it’s affecting him.

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Chapter:

10

”He was white, and I could never do to him, what he and his kind done to me”(203).
Song Lyrics:

This for my people

Tryna stay alive and just stay peaceful

So hard to survive a world so lethal

Connection:This connects because in the song he talks about how black people want to be peaceful, but it's hard to be peaceful when trying to stay alive.
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsG8H0JLMb4

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Chap 10 Passage:
A new anxiety was created in me by the desire to leave quickly.I had now seen in close quarters the haughty white men who made the law;I had seen how they acted,how they regarded black people,how they regarded me;and I no longer felt bound by the laws which white and black were supposed to obey in common.I was outdie the laws those laws:the white peopel told me so.

Song Lyric:
I feel like a chip on my shoulder
I feel like Im losin my focus
I feel like Im losin my patience
I feel like my thoughts in basment
Feel-Kendrick Lamar https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-feel-lyrics

Connection:These song lyrics connect to RIchard in Chapters 9-10 because Richard is losing his patience on how long he can stay in the south and tolerate the discrimination he is taking.Hes thoughts are seemingly overlooked and disregarded like there in a basement and when he resortds to stealing and breaking laws he feels bad as he lost focus of hes goal.

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Chapter: 9

Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “I was learning rapidly how to watch white people, to observe their every move, every fleeting expression, how to interpret what was said and what was left unsaid”(181).

Song Lyrics: “Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, I’ll be watching you” By The Police

Connection: Richard has been watching the white and black people who get along well, and starts to mimic that to get better jobs and pay.

Link:

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The Police - Every breath you take lyrics

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Chapter: 8, 9, 10
Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “Summer again. The old problem of hunting for a job” (170).“My life now depended upon finding work, and I accepted the first offer” (179).“Don’t come back. You won’t do” (179).

Song Lyrics:

Cause that's just the way of the world. It never ends till the end, then you start again
That's just the way of the world
That's just the way of the world

Somewhere in the world, they think they're working for themselves
They get up everyday to go to work for someone else
And somebody works for them and, so, they think they got it made
But they're all just working to get paid the very same
And so, they keep on twiddlin' them thumbs

Connection: This song relates to the quote from Black Boy, because the lyrics show the futility of work, and how hard it can be to find your place in society, and what role people want you to play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXTP4eMoe-I

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One morning, while I was polishing brass out front, the boss and his son drove up in their car. A frightened black woman sat between them. They got out and half dragged and have kicked the woman into the store. White people passes and looked on without expression. A white policeman watched from the corner, twirling his night stick; but he made no move. I heard shrill screams coming out, bleeding, crying, holding her stomach, her clothing torn. When she reached the sidewalk, the policeman met her, grabbed her, accused her of being drunk, called a patrol wagon and carted her away.

Song Lyrics:Where's the love when a child gets murdered

Or a cop gets knocked down

Black lives not now

Everybody matter to me

All races, y'all don't like what I'm sayin'? Haterade, tall cases

Everybody hate somebody

Guess we all racist

Black Eyed Peas do a song about love and y'all hate this

All these protests with different colored faces

We was all born with a heart

Why we gotta chase it?

And every time I look around

Every time I look up, every time I look down

No one's on a common ground

(Where's the love)

And if you never speak truth then you never know how love sounds

(Where's the love)

And if you never know love then you never know God, wow

(Where's the love)

Where's the love y'all? I don't, I don't know

Where's the truth y'all? I don't know

People killin' people dyin'

Children hurtin', I hear them cryin'

Could you practice what you preach?

Would you turn the other cheek?

Father, Father, Father help us

Send some guidance from above

'Cause people got me, got me questioning

(Where's the love)

(Where's the love)

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Chapter: 9                     Passage: “Do you want to get killed?” (183)

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Chapter: 9                     Passage: “Do you want to get killed?” (183)

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Song Lyrics:

“I'm terrified that she'll wind up dead in his hands”

Never Again By Nickelback

Connection: Both “Black Black Boy” & “Never Again” talk about living in fear of being killed by physical abuse. Richard lives in fear of being killed by white people and Nickle back lives in fear of her father abusing/killing her.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbFh1gyuVjM

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Black Boy: Chapter 10 Passage: “An hour later I was sitting in a Jim Crow coach, speeding northward, making the first lap of my journey to a land where I could live with a little less fear. Slowly the burden I had carried for many months lifted somewhat”(207).                                                               Song Lyrics: (Finally Free by Niall Horan)                  Standing here on my own. Yeah, the first step's the hardest. When you're walking into the unknown. It's been dark, and it's been cold. Had my head in the clouds. Never knowing what lies down below…When you're right here beside me. There's nothing else I need. Yeah, your eyes keep me reminded. That nothing's out of reach. When you're with me. It feels like I'm finally free. (Woo, woo)Feels like I'm finally free                             Connection:This song connects to the passage because when Richard was on the coach and was riding further and further from his home, his old life. He gained a sense of freedom, less fear and less burdens. He gained his freedom from being alone.   Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyC0r0K2Cs4

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Black Boy: Chapter 10 Passage: “An hour later I was sitting in a Jim Crow coach, speeding northward, making the first lap of my journey to a land where I could live with a little less fear. Slowly the burden I had carried for many months lifted somewhat”(207).                                                               Song Lyrics: (Finally Free by Niall Horan)                  Standing here on my own. Yeah, the first step's the hardest. When you're walking into the unknown. It's been dark, and it's been cold. Had my head in the clouds. Never knowing what lies down below…When you're right here beside me. There's nothing else I need. Yeah, your eyes keep me reminded. That nothing's out of reach. When you're with me. It feels like I'm finally free. (Woo, woo)Feels like I'm finally free                             Connection:This song connects to the passage because when Richard was on the coach and was riding further and further from his home, his old life. He gained a sense of freedom, less fear and less burdens. He gained his freedom from being alone.   Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyC0r0K2Cs4

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“ An hour later I was sitting in a Jim Crow coach, speeding northward, making the first lap of my journey to a land where I could live with a little less fear. Slowly the burden I had carried for many months lifted somewhat. My cheeks itched and when I scratched them I found tears. In that moment I understood the pain that accompanied crime and I hoped that I would never have to feel it again"(207).

Chester See- A Life Of Regrets

Time left scars on my soul
Dreams that I chased have all gone away
Now I sit alone
My past follows me close
So much I have planned that never began I'll never know

For years I'd been waiting for someone to take me
Tell me it'll all be alright
Now I'm just waiting around to die

Life starting to fade
My memory recalls, tears starts to fall
From the memories not made
And love, I knew little of
But deep in my eyes are memories I hide, it's just not enough

For years I'd been waiting for someone to take me
Tell me it'll all be alright
Now I'm just waiting around to die

For years I'd been waiting for someone to take me
Tell me it'll all be alright
Now I'm just waiting around
Now I'm just waiting around
Now I'm just waiting around
To die

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3NhFHygC7c

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Passage: 
“🤬 you think you’re white don’t you?”
“No Sir.”
“Your acting mighty like it,” he said.
Pease shook his fist in my face.
“This is a white man’s work around here,” he said

Song lyrics:
I hate rich !&*$&!, god damn it
Cause I ain't never had a lot, damn it
Who you had to 🤬? Who you had to rob?
Who you had to &*#!  just to make it to the top, damn it?
Or maybe that's daddy money, escalator, no ladder money
Escalade, new Caddy money
Worst fear going broke cause I'm bad with money
Crooked smile !&*$&!, momma never had the money, damn

Connection:
These lyrics connect to Richard because he just wants to learn how to trade but what happens is that Mr. Pease goes up to him and tells him it not a right for his to learn things that whites are able to do. Another reason why this connects is because Richard never had a lot of money so he is working for money and while working he is threatened. 

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Passage:

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Chapter: 9Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “ One morning, while...bills,"he said.” (179-180).Song Lyrics:Four WomenNina SimoneMy skin is blackMy arms are longMy hair is woollyMy back is strongStrong enough to take the paininflicted again and againWhat do they call meMy name is AUNT SARAHMy name is Aunt SarahMy skin is yellowMy hair is longBetween two worldsI do belongMy father was rich and whiteHe forced my mother late one nightWhat do they call meMy name is SAFFRONIAMy name is SaffroniaMy skin is tanMy hair is fineMy hips invite youmy mouth like wineWhose little girl am I?Anyone who has money to buyWhat do they call meMy name is SWEET THINGMy name is Sweet ThingMy skin is brownmy manner is toughI'll 🤬 the first mother I seemy life has been too roughI'm awfully bitter these daysbecause my parents were slavesWhat do they call meMy name is PEACHESConnection: At first I found that the passage I showed was about the racial inequality that is shown throughout the book but when I took time to analyze it I also realized that it showed the mistreatment of women that is still present in some places today. I chose this song because I feel like it shows the brutal way women were treated during Richards time. The women in Black Boy seemed insignificant but was really a symbol of the cruel way you were treated if you were a black women. The song I chose is about how a black women was brought up and the hate she has to endure throughout her life because of the racial segregation of blacks and whites. I thought the song was an example of the oppressive things that woman had to go through and an insight to what the woman in Black Boy might have went through.

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Chapter: 9Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “ One morning, while...bills,"he said.” (179-180).Song Lyrics:Four WomenNina SimoneMy skin is blackMy arms are longMy hair is woollyMy back is strongStrong enough to take the paininflicted again and againWhat do they call meMy name is AUNT SARAHMy name is Aunt SarahMy skin is yellowMy hair is longBetween two worldsI do belongMy father was rich and whiteHe forced my mother late one nightWhat do they call meMy name is SAFFRONIAMy name is SaffroniaMy skin is tanMy hair is fineMy hips invite youmy mouth like wineWhose little girl am I?Anyone who has money to buyWhat do they call meMy name is SWEET THINGMy name is Sweet ThingMy skin is brownmy manner is toughI'll 🤬 the first mother I seemy life has been too roughI'm awfully bitter these daysbecause my parents were slavesWhat do they call meMy name is PEACHESConnection: At first I found that the passage I showed was about the racial inequality that is shown throughout the book but when I took time to analyze it I also realized that it showed the mistreatment of women that is still present in some places today. I chose this song because I feel like it shows the brutal way women were treated during Richards time. The women in Black Boy seemed insignificant but was really a symbol of the cruel way you were treated if you were a black women. The song I chose is about how a black women was brought up and the hate she has to endure throughout her life because of the racial segregation of blacks and whites. I thought the song was an example of the oppressive things that woman had to go through and an insight to what the woman in Black Boy might have went through.

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Rivers Nuzum

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“I held a series of petty short jobs for short periods, quitting some to work elsewhere, being driven off others because of my attitude, my speech, the look in my eyes. I was no nearer than ever to my goal of saving enough money to leave. At times I doubted i could ever do it.”(182)

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"Wanna drink boy?" a white man called"...Aw leave the bastard alone. He's got enough" (180 & 181)

Skin head, dead head

Everybody gone bad

Situation, aggravation

Everybody allegation

In the suite, on the news

Everybody dog food

Bang bang, shot dead

Everybody's gone mad

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about us

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about us

Beat me, hate me

You can never break me

Will me, thrill me

You can never 🤬 me

Jew me, sue me

Everybody do me

Kick me, 🤬 me

Don't you black or white me

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about us

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about us

Tell me what has become of my life

I have a wife and two children who love me

I am the victim of police brutality, no

I'm tired of being the victim of hate

You're raping me of my pride

Oh, for God's sake

I look to heaven to fulfill its prophecy...

Set me free

Skin head, dead head

Everybody gone bad

Trepidation, speculation

Everybody allegation

In the suite, on the news

Everybody dog food

Black man, blackmail

Throw the brother in jail

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about us

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about us

Tell me what has become of my rights

Am I invisible because you ignore me?

Your proclamation promised me free liberty, no

I'm tired of being the victim of shame

They're throwing me in a class with a bad name

I can't believe this is the land from which I came

You know I really do hate to say it

The government don't wanna see

But if Roosevelt was living

He wouldn't let this be, no, no

Skin head, dead head

Everybody gone bad

Situation, speculation

Everybody litigation

Beat me, bash me

You can never trash me

Hit me, kick me

You can never get me

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about us

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about us

Some things in life they just don't wanna see

But if Martin Luther was living

He wouldn't let this be, no, no

Skin head, dead head

Everybody's gone bad

Situation, segregation

Everybody allegation

In the suite, on the news

Everybody dog food

Kick me, 🤬 me

Don't you wrong or right me

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about us

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about us

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about us

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about

All I wanna say is that

They don't really care about us

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“I went out the back way and walked a quarter of a mile to the railroad tracks. It began to rain as I tramped down the crossties and toward town. I reached the station soaked to the skin. I bought my ticket, then went hurriedly across to the corner of the block in which the move house stood. Yes, the boss was there, taking tickets himself. I returned to the station and waited for the train, with eyes watching the crowd.

“An hour later I was sitting in a Jim Crow coach, speeding northward, making the first lap of my journey to a land where I could live with a little less fear. Slowly the burden I had carried for many months lifted somewhat. My cheeks itched and when I scratched them I found tears. In that moment I understood the pain that accompanied crime and I hoped that I would never have to feel it again. I never did feel it again, for I never stole again; and what kept me from it was the knowledge that, for me crime carried its own punishment.

“Well, it’s my life, I told myself. I’ll see now what I can make of it…”(207).

Song Lyrics:

Fall Back - Shadow of Whales

Look at me

What do you see?

There are no eyes on this face

I never thought

That I would be

Ending up in this place

It started here

A little there

Oh how it turned into this

I wanted out

Help me please

I want to go

I need rest

Fall back tonight

Hold me inside

Maybe sometimes

I'll be just fine

Working hard

To build it up

I lay it down

I'm so tired

I'm wearing out

This heart of mine

Burning out

I'm on fire

If I back away

From everything

I know I will

Run and hide

I want you now

To say goodbye

Before I fall, [fall echoed]

Fall back tonight

Hold me inside

Maybe sometimes

I'll be just fine

Fall back tonight

Tell me I tried

Maybe sometimes

I'll be just fine

Fall back tonight

Hold me inside

Maybe sometimes

I'll be just fine

Fall back tonight

Connection: In this passage of the story, Richard is realising exactly what has happened, and how he’s finally achieved his goal of leaving, but at a cost. Richard had to break some rules he never thought he would have to in order to leave for the North, and he is exhausted from working hard and making money. In the song, we find a similar lines, such as “I never thought that I would be ending up in this place.”, All the things leading up to Richard finally leaving happened so quickly, he didn’t expect all of it to happen like that. In the line “It started here, a little there, oh how it turned, into this” is very reminiscent to Richard looking back on his stealing and deceit and how it escalated. In the next line, “I wanted out, Help me please, I want to go, I need rest” it’s very similar to Richard just wanting to leave it all behind and find a new life that’s less stressful and hard to live in. Verse 2 is very comparable to the how Richard feels before he leaves.

“Working hard

To build it up

I lay it down

I'm so tired

I'm wearing out

This heart of mine

Burning out

I'm on fire

If I back away

From everything

I know I will

Run and hide

I want you now

To say goodbye

Before I fall, [fall echoed]”

As we can see, the lyrics are much like Richard becoming mentally and physically exhausted, but knowing if he backs away, he’ll fail his goals. Finally, the entire song in itself talks a lot about traveling somewhere to get away from troubles, which is what Richard is trying to do, as he heads to the North.

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Chapter: 9
‘’Reynolds came over and stood… I told him what had happened’’(189-190)

Song Lyrics
And whether the blood be highland, lowland or no
And whether the skin be white or black as a sloe
Of kith and of kin where one be as right be as wrong
As long as our hearts be true to the lilt of a song.

Connection:
People will be racist and rude for no reason and they will act differently around people because of their race. The boss isn’t racist and doesn’t learn till after he hires Richard that his workers are and will refuse to work or teach him.

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Makem and Clancy, Get Drunk, Ar Fol La Lo

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Chapter: 5

Passage: “I walked home slowly, asking myself what on earth was the matter with me, why it was I never seemed to do things as people expected them to be done. Every word and gesture I made seemed to provoke hostility. I had never been able to talk to others, and I had to guess at their meanings and motives” (143).

Song Lyrics:

Ever live a life that's real?

Full of zest, but no appeal?

Ever want to cry so much...

You want to die?

Ever feel that you've been had?

Had so much that you turn mad?

Ever been so depressed that

those you turn to, you bring distress?

Ever sit in tormenting silence

That turns so loud, you start to scream?

Ever take control of a dream

And play all the parts and set all the scenes?

Ever do nothing and gain nothing from it?

Ever feel stupid and then know that you really are?

Ever think you're smart and then find out you aren't?

Ever play the fool and then find out you're worse?

Ever look at a flower and hate it?

Ever see a couple kissing and get sickened by it?

Ever wish the human race didn't exist

And then realize you're one too?

Connection:

This song connects to the passage because it talks about how you feel like you’re doing things wrong and the feeling of frustration. For example, when it says, “Those you turn to, you bring distress” in the lyrics really connects to Richard’s situation with his family, because he feels like he is just making things worse and can’t do things as they want him or expect him to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxaGx2t2VBM

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Passage (Q.P.P.)!: “You black sonofab*tch! You called me Pease, then! He spat, rising and slapping me till I bent sideways over a bench. Reynolds was on top of me demanding:

“Didn’t you call him Pease? If you say you didn’t, I’ll rip your gut string loose with this f-k-g bar, you black granny dodger! You can’t call a white man a liar and get away with it!” (190)

Song Lyrics: (Gang Related-Logic)

¨Yeah, livin' life like this
Gotta paint a picture when I write like this
Tales from my hood, not a sight like this
Where they up to no good on a night like this
And they 🤬 motherf**kers just cause
Type of Sh*t I see and probably wonder what it was
I was in the crib, just sitting on the rug
Basedheads coming through looking for the plug
Now, born and raised in my area
Beautiful by day, by night its hysteria
f**k around and bury ya tonight
Ridin' with my homies on sight
Momma tell me to come in at night
Now I really gotta go, but they never know
Living life to the fullest, I got to blow
Po-po finna bust in the door, we got blow in the crib
In the kitchen over there next to the baby with the bib
God d*mn, what it feel like, middle of the night
Waking up, scared for my life
Never had the heat, just a knife
When the gat go blat (GunShots) like that
Guarantee you it’s a wrap, finna put you on your back
Like that
Just breathe, while their mama grieve
Bullet to the dome like an Aleve
Got to leave for the premises, to 🤬 my nemesis
No, no, uh, uh
Just stop, stop, stop
‘fore they even call the cops
Do it for the money and the b*tches and the 🤬 and the props
Tell me why another body even got to drop
Get shot off top for some Sh*t that was gang related¨

Connection: I chose this song because the rapper is telling the stories of his life being brought up in a more crime-ridden area. He talks about the dangers and the struggles of his life growing up as a child, and I feel like this connects to Richard’s life because he faces dangers and threats of death from the white people of his time, such as his co-workers as he works for the Yankey.

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Passage (Q.P.P.)!:
“No,” he said quickly, feeling guilty now. Someone--a white man--went into the store and we paused in our talk. “You know, D****, you may think I’m an 🤬, but I’m not. I hate these white people, hate ‘em with all my heart. But I can’t show it; if I did, they’d 🤬 me.” He paused and looked around to see if there were any white people within hearing distance. “Onced I heard an old drunk 🤬 say:

All these white folks dressed so fine

Their a**-holes smell just like mine…”

Song Lyrics:

[Beacon Light]

Black hand

White hand

Black man plows white man's white land

White cotton in the white fields

Black slaves with their black backs peeled

The past kills the black feet in the black night

Running fast from the black dogs with a black bite

But should I act white?

Cause what I've heard is only

Black is darkness and white is good

It's like the light right, right

Black Bible, white pages, black ink

Used wrong by the white racists, blacks think

But white mans, white plans are white washed

That's why they built these white walls

I'm praying that they might

Fall

I guess we're color blind

I guess we're color blind

Blinded in our sin

To all the ways of our Creator

For He made us in his image

But we all some image haters

I guess we're color blind

I guess we're color blind

Just black, just white

Mixed together all grey

We were never meant to be this way

All I see

Are shades of grey

This rain pours down

My window pane

All I see

Are shades of grey

This rain pours down

My window, window pane

Looking through this window all I ever see is pain

I guess I'll call it window pain

A white widow looking out a white window

Bit by a black widow

Ironically that's widow pain

A little poison with a little rain

A little boy was killed, his skin was stained

At least that's what they thought

And so he hangs

I once heard a white Christian man

Point the finger in his hand

At black skin and say it was the mark of Cain

Dang, so twisted

But I heard the same and yet the opposite

From a black Christian

So I guess we're all the mark of Cain

Since we 🤬 each other we're clearly disabled, slain

I got some black family that don't even know it yet

My white family never seems to grab a hold of it

But my true kin is every tone, every color

Painted red

All my sisters and my brothers

But

[Pre-hook]

[Hook]

Break these chains (Break these chains, break these chains) (x2)

Break these chains Lord

Oh please

(Break these chains, break these chains)

Break these chains

We need You to break these chains

It's obvious we're all enslaved

On the bottom of the see we pray

That You save us with amazing grace

We need You to break these chains

Jesus

Connection:
Richard feels like he is trapped in the south and that he will have to work as a slave for white people and the reason why he doesn't want to stay. He feels that if he leaves it will get better but even if he does leave it will still be the same trouble because he can't escape racist people they will always be everywhere in the north and in the south.

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Paid to obey
Forced to be silent
Human garbage
To be destroyed
Human Garbage By Napalm Death
Although they lived in America where in theory there existed equality of opportunity, they knew unerringly what to aspire to and what not to aspire to.
This relate to Black boy because the black community was forced to not have rights or speak wrong about the society. To whites blacks were less then trash, who's lives did not matter, most being unjustly killed.

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“An hour later I was sitting in a Jim Crow coach, speeding northward, making the first lap of my journey to a land where I could live with a little less fear. Slowly the burden I had carried for scratched them I found tears. In that moment I understood the pain that accompanied crime and I hoped that I would never have to feel it again. I never did feel it again, for I never stole again; and what kept me from it was the knowledge that, for me, crime carried its own punishment” (207).

Lyrics:
Anxiety, tossing turning in your sleep

Even if you run away,

you still see them in your dreams

It's so dark tonight,

but you'll survive

Connection: These lyrics connect to the passage, because Richard runs away from the life he has learned to live, but hated to do, which always gave him anxiety to do anything. It also connects to when Richard thinks about his life on the ride to the North. “Even if you run away, you still see them in your dreams,” But even if he runs away from his life and his past, it will still haunt him as his life goes on.  But the “you’ll survive” goes to the hope that he’s heading to a safer place where he can live, with less fear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3GReUEA2DI

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QUOTES:
“I rode off, feeling that they might shoot at me, feeling that the pavement might disappear. It was like living in a dream., the reality of which might change at any moment.” (182).

“An hour later I was sitting in a Jim Crow coach, speeding northward, making the first lap of my journey… Slowly the burden I had carried for many months lifted somewhat… In that moment I understood the pain that accompanied crime and I hope that I would never have to feel it again.” (207).

LYRICS:
LOGIC - TAKE IT BACK
He went through
He saw narcotics in the household
Violence, murderers, drug dealers
He was kidnapped, there was crazy sh*t that happened to this kid
And he persevered while the whole world said
What they said?
Said, said, said "you wouldn’t be sh*t!"
You ain’t gon' be nothin', nothin', nothin', nothin'
And I, and he, he said f*ck that, I’mma persevere
And that’s why the message is always peace, love and positivity
See, he always saw things from two sides
He always saw things from two sides
He always knew that the message
Everybody, was born equal
Regardless of race, religion
Color, creed, and sexual orientation
He knew that because he saw that
Because he was stripped
And torn down by his black brothers and sisters
That were uneducated and that did not know
And he was stripped

…

Running around with the wrong people

Running around with guns and knives and fighting and stealing and

All this, because he didn’t know, he didn’t know!

But he knew deep down in his heart that it wasn’t right. And he knew that he needed to get away from it

Now I want you to also imagine, that at 17 years old

This child, okay, leaves home and gets two jobs to support himself

Two jobs that he works in the morning and the evenings

And then he would then come home to about 8 or 9 hours of sleep

CONNECTION:

This connects because it shows how Richard kept going and kept working so he could leave the south. People from all races told him he couldn’t do anything and he would just be another black boy. Richard also saw his fellow black people steal stuff from white people and even though he could have left earlier if he had stole he had mixed feelings, he felt that it was wrong to steal. Richard had saw everything from his family members being killed off by white people to him almost getting killed by them himself. Richard works 2 jobs and he is constantly being fired just for being him and not fitting in the stereotypical black people that white people perceived.

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“I rode off, feeling that they might shoot at me, feeling that the pavement might dissapear. It was like living in  a dream, the reality of which might change any moment. Each day in the store I watched the brutality with growing hate, yet trying to keep my feelings from registering in my face. When the boss looked at me I avoided his eyes… ‘Do you want to get killed?’ He asked me,  ‘🤬 no!’ ‘Then, for goodness sake, learn to live in the south!”(182).

Song: Southern trees bear strange fruit. Blood on the leaves and blood at the root. Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze. Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant south

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth. Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh. Then the sudden smell of burning flesh. Here is fruit for the crows to pluck. For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck. For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop. Here is a strange and bitter crop

Connection: This song by Jazz singer Billie Holiday was created about the brutality of the American south. Although the song is mainly about lynching, Richard has similar feelings as he is at the end of a gun and watches people beaten and nearly killed. Richard grow contempt for whites supremacy. Richard is continual told to fit in or he may be the next to be targeted and killed.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Web007rzSOI

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“Didn't you call him Pease? If you say you didnt, I'll rip your gut string loose with this ___ bar you _____! You can't call a white man a liar and get away with it! ” (pg. 190)

Southern trees bear strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant south

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop

Here is a strange and bitter crop

This song is about how blacks were mistreated by whites. Richard witnesses blacks and is mistreated by whites. The blacks area forced into this, because of their poverty and the racism of whites.

Strange Fruit Lyrics Billie Holiday - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c52ElU5tQNo

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AS it says in the song
"When I'm working, yes I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's working hard for you
And when the money, comes in for the work I do
I'll pass almost every penny on to you"
And I find that it relates to the quote in Black boy "I would have to tide me over in Memphis until I could find a job, work and head north" (206) Ch. 10

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I would walk 500 miles - The Proclaimers

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 “ An hour later I was sitting in a Jim Crow coach, speeding northward, making the first lap of my journey to a land where I could live with a little less fear. Slowly the burden I had carried for many months lifted somewhat. My cheeks itched and when I scratched them I found tears. In that moment I understood the pain that accompanied crime and I hoped that I would never have to feel it again"(207). 

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 “ An hour later I was sitting in a Jim Crow coach, speeding northward, making the first lap of my journey to a land where I could live with a little less fear. Slowly the burden I had carried for many months lifted somewhat. My cheeks itched and when I scratched them I found tears. In that moment I understood the pain that accompanied crime and I hoped that I would never have to feel it again"(207). 

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Song: how much does a dollar cost

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“No,” he said quickly, feeling guilty now. Someone--a white man--went into the store and we paused in our talk. “You know, D****, you may think I’m an 🤬, but I’m not. I hate these white people, hate ‘em with all my heart. But I can’t show it; if I did, they’d 🤬 me.” He paused and looked around to see if there were any white people within hearing distance. “Onced I heard an old drunk 🤬 say:

All these white folks dressed so fine

Their a**-holes smell just like mine…” (p.185)

[Beacon Light]

Black hand

White hand

Black man plows white man's white land

White cotton in the white fields

Black slaves with their black backs peeled

The past kills the black feet in the black night

Running fast from the black dogs with a black bite

But should I act white?

Cause what I've heard is only

Black is darkness and white is good

It's like the light right, right

Black Bible, white pages, black ink

Used wrong by the white racists, blacks think

But white mans, white plans are white washed

That's why they built these white walls

I'm praying that they might

Fall

I guess we're color blind

I guess we're color blind

Blinded in our sin

To all the ways of our Creator

For He made us in his image

But we all some image haters

I guess we're color blind

I guess we're color blind

Just black, just white

Mixed together all grey

We were never meant to be this way

All I see

Are shades of grey

This rain pours down

My window pane

All I see

Are shades of grey

This rain pours down

My window, window pane

Looking through this window all I ever see is pain

I guess I'll call it window pain

A white widow looking out a white window

Bit by a black widow

Ironically that's widow pain

A little poison with a little rain

A little boy was killed, his skin was stained

At least that's what they thought

And so he hangs

I once heard a white Christian man

Point the finger in his hand

At black skin and say it was the mark of Cain

Dang, so twisted

But I heard the same and yet the opposite

From a black Christian

So I guess we're all the mark of Cain

Since we 🤬 each other we're clearly disabled, slain

I got some black family that don't even know it yet

My white family never seems to grab a hold of it

But my true kin is every tone, every color

Painted red

All my sisters and my brothers

But

[Pre-hook]

[Hook]

Break these chains (Break these chains, break these chains) (x2)

Break these chains Lord

Oh please

(Break these chains, break these chains)

Break these chains

We need You to break these chains

It's obvious we're all enslaved

On the bottom of the see we pray

That You save us with amazing grace

We need You to break these chains

Jesus

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Chapter: 9
Passage (Q.P.P.)!:“I stared ahead of me and did not answer. He waved the men inside. The stenographer looked at me with wide eyes and I felt drenched in shame, naked to my soul. The whole being felt violated, and I knew that my own fear had helped to violate it. I was breathing hard struggling to master my feelings” (192).
Song Lyrics:Working on the edge
Losing my self-respect

For a man who presides over meThe principles of his creed
Punch in, punch out

Eight hours, five daysSweat, pain and agony
On Friday I'll get paid
This ain't no picnicThis ain't no picnicThis ain't no picnicThis ain't no picnic
Hey mister don't look down on me
For what I believe
I got my bills and the rent
I should be content
But our land isn't free
So I'll work my youth away
In the place of a machine
I refuse to be a slave
This ain't no picnic
This ain't no picnic
This ain't no picnic
This ain't no picnic
Connection: The song is about a man working in a racist environment and that was just what Richard was going through in chapter 9 of Black Boy. In the song it says “Working on the edge Losing my self-respect”  Richard felt “drenched in shame” when he didn’t tell his boss what had happened between him and his coworkers. “So I’ll work my youth away in the place of a machine I refuse to be a slave” this part connects to Richard because he worked really hard at his job but he refused to give in to his racist coworkers.

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Chapter: 9
Passage (Q.P.P.)!:  “... Aint you learned no better sense’n that yet?”asked the man who hit me “Aint you learned to say sir to a white man yet?”
Song Lyrics: Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrongMy own beliefs are in my songThe butcher, the banker, the drummer and thenMakes no difference what group I'm inI am everyday people, yeah yeahThere is a blue one who can't accept the green oneFor living with a fat one trying to be a skinny oneAnd different strokes for different folksAnd so on and so on and scooby dooby dooOh sha sha we got to live togetherI am no better and neither are youWe are the same whatever we doYou love me you hate me you know me and thenYou can't figure out the bag I'm inI am everyday people, yeah yeahThere is a long hair that doesn't like the short hairFor bein' such a rich one that will not help the poor oneAnd different…

Connection: The connections I made was when the song talks about different colors dont like another color and I made the connection to when Richard was with the white kids and they acted like they were going to help him but they changed all of a sudden when he forgets to call one of them sir by his skin color. They said that he is lucky that he said it to them instead of another white man and threatened him that he would have been dead by now.
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmooIolK0mY

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Passage: “The shop was always crowded with black men and women pawing over cheap suits and dresses. And they paid whatever price the white man asked. The boss, his son and the clerk treated Negroes with open contempt, pushing, kicking, or slapping them. No matter how often I witnessed it, I could not get used to it. How can they accept? I asked myself. I kept on edge, trying to stifle my feelings and never quite succeeding, a prey to guilt and fear because I felt that the boss suspected that I resented the law.” (179).

Song Lyrics:

Southern trees bear strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant south

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop

Here is a strange and bitter crop

Connection: In chapters 9/10 Richard faces struggles because of his race. The song “strange fruit” is about how black people have been ill-treated by whites. Richard witnesses Black people being mistreated by the white store owners. The black people can only go here because of how cheap it is which causes the white to take advantage of their poverty and race. Richard tries to hide how he feels about this but has a very difficult time doing so.

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"”Saturday night came and the boss gave me my money and snapped:”Don’t come back. You won’t do.”(196)
AVERY MISHLER

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Chapter:10Passage (Q.P.P.)!:”Yes, sir, I said placatingly. It was my fault”Song Lyrics:As life goes on I'm starting to learn more and more about responsibilityI realize everything I do is affecting the people around meSo I want to take this time out to apologize for things I have doneAnd things that have not occurred yetAnd the things they don't want to take responsibility forI'm sorry for the times I left you homeI was on the road and you were aloneI'm sorry for the times that I had to goI'm sorry for the fact that I did not knowThat you were sitting home just wishing weCould go back to when it was just you and meI'm sorry for the times I would neglectI'm sorry for the times I disrespectI'm sorry for the wrong things that I've doneI'm sorry I'm not always there for my sonsI'm sorry for the fact that I'm not awareThat you…Connection:When Richard dropped a jug of orange syrup he has to apologize even for stuff that he doesn’t do he has to say sorry since his boss is a white man they have to say that everything bad that happens is a black man’s fault because that is the way their society has been set up.This connects to the song since in the song he says sorry for stuff he did and for stuff he hasn’t done and that everything is his fault.

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Chapter:10Passage (Q.P.P.)!:”Yes, sir, I said placatingly. It was my fault”Song Lyrics:As life goes on I'm starting to learn more and more about responsibilityI realize everything I do is affecting the people around meSo I want to take this time out to apologize for things I have doneAnd things that have not occurred yetAnd the things they don't want to take responsibility forI'm sorry for the times I left you homeI was on the road and you were aloneI'm sorry for the times that I had to goI'm sorry for the fact that I did not knowThat you were sitting home just wishing weCould go back to when it was just you and meI'm sorry for the times I would neglectI'm sorry for the times I disrespectI'm sorry for the wrong things that I've doneI'm sorry I'm not always there for my sonsI'm sorry for the fact that I'm not awareThat you…Connection:When Richard dropped a jug of orange syrup he has to apologize even for stuff that he doesn’t do he has to say sorry since his boss is a white man they have to say that everything bad that happens is a black man’s fault because that is the way their society has been set up.This connects to the song since in the song he says sorry for stuff he did and for stuff he hasn’t done and that everything is his fault.

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Akon - Sorry, Blame It On Me (Official Music Video)

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“Late one saturday  night i made some deliveries in a white neighborhood. I was pedaling my bicycle back to the store as fast as i could when a police car, swerving towards me, jammed me into the curbing. “Get down, … , and put up your hands!” they ordered. I did. They climbed out of the car, guns drawn, faces set, and advanced slowly.”(181).
Hands up by Daye Jack "Living with my head down
Hands up
No no don't shoot don't shoot
No no don't shoot
Living with my head down
Hands up
No no don't shoot don't shoot
No no don't shoot"
Connection: The songs talking about police officers aiming guns at innocent black people and in the story Richard is just biking back to his job when a police officer threatens him with a gun because he was black in a white neighborhood

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"One morning, While I was polishing brass out front, the boss and his son drove up in their car. A frightened black woman sat between them. They got out and half dragged and half kicked the woman into the store. White people passed and looked on without expression. A white policeman watched from the corner, twirling his night stick; but he made no move. I watched out of the corner of my eyes, but i never slackened the strokes of my chamois upon the brass. After a moment or two i heard shrill screams coming from the rear room of the store; later the woman stumbled out, bleeding, crying, holding her stomach, her clothing torn. When she reached the sidewalk, the policeman met her, grabbed her, accused her of being drunk, called a patrol wagon and had her carted away"(179).

Bad boys by the inner circle
Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

Nobody naw give you no break
Police naw give you no break
Soldier naw give you no break
Not even you idren naw give you no break
Hehe

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

Connection
The police didn't give the lady a break when she was beat up because she was black. They didn't like black people so that's why the cop did nothing when he saw her being dragged because they didn't see black people as people. This is exactly why Richard wants to get north so he can be treated equally and not get beat up right in front of cops or get in trouble for riding his bike in a white neighborhood.

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"I was building up in me a dream which the entire educational system of the South had been rigged to stifle.  I was feeling the very think that the state of Mississippi had spend millions of dollars to make sure that I would never feel; I was becoming aware of the think that the Jim Crow laws had been drafted and passed to keep out of my consciousness; I was acting on impulses that southern senators in the nation's capital had striven to keep out of Negro life; I was beginning to dream the dreams that the state had said were wrong, that the schools had said were taboo.

Had I been articulate about my ultimate aspirations, no doubt someone would have told me what I was bargaining for; but nobody seemed to know, and least of all did I.  My classmates felt that I was doing something that was vaguely wrong, but they did not know how to express it.  As the outside world grew more meaning ful, I became more concerned, tense; and my classmates and my teachers would say 'Why do you ask so many questions?' Or 'Keep quiet!'" (169)

Strange Arithmetic by The Coup
History has taught me some strange arithmetic
Using swords, prison bars, and pistol grips
English is the art of bombing towns
While assuring that you really only blessed the ground
Science is that honorable, useful study
Where you contort the molecules and then you make that money
In mathematics, dead children don't get added
But they count the cost of bullets comin out the automatic

Hook:
Teacher
My hands up
Please, don't make me a victim
Teachers
Stand up
You need to tell us how to 🤬 this system

Economics is the symphony of hunger and theft
Mortar shells often echo out the cashing of checks
In Geography class, it's borders, mountains and rivers
But they will never show the line between the takers and givers
Algebra is that unique occasion
In which a school can say that there should be a balanced equation
And then Statistics is the tool of the complicit
To say everybody's with it and that you're the only critic

Hook

Social Studies, the goliath to tackle
Which turns into a sermon on simplicity of shackles
Physics is to school you on the science of force? Cept for how to break the 🤬 out the ghetto, of course
Home Ec can teach you how to make a few sauces
And accept low pay from your Walmart bosses
If your school won't show you how to fight for what's needed
Then they're training you to go through life and get cheated

Hook

Connection:
The passage and the song are both about education and how it can be unequal, especially for people of color.  Education can be dangerous in the eyes of oppressors.  If people are educated and ask questions then the status quo can be disrupted.  People are constantly trying to stop Richard from asking questions.  His inquisitiveness endangers himself and the power structure of the Jim Crow south.  The song is about how, although school may teach some subjects, what people really need to learn is how to fight for justice.  Due to the strict and violent Jim Crow laws, Richard isn't able to fight for justice - it doesn't even seem possible- he is just fighting for a basic education. Today, people might receive a basic education, but that's just the problem - it's basic.

Link to Song:

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The Coup - Strange Arithmetic (Live on KEXP)