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.

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.

All these white folks dressed so fine

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

[Beacon Light]

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

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

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.

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

“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

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. 

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

All these white folks dressed so fine

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

[Beacon Light]

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

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.

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. 

“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.

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

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

“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

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)

 

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

‘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. 

“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. 

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

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

"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.

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

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. 

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

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

“‘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

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:

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.

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: 

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). 

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
 

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. 

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

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 

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.