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    The X Is Black

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    aekulak
    The poem describes an American flag catching fire, leaving behind a burning black "X" in the empty space where the flag used to be. This black "X" represents Black Americans and the history of slavery that has been erased from the official narrative. The burning of the flag is a symbolic rejection of American democracy and values like liberty, which have never fully included Black people experiencing the continued effects of slavery and oppression even after it was abolished. The black "X" that remains signifies the true history and experience of Black Americans living inside a system that continues to fail them.

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    The X Is Black

    Uploaded by

    aekulak
    3K views2 pages
    The poem describes an American flag catching fire, leaving behind a burning black "X" in the empty space where the flag used to be. This black "X" represents Black Americans and the history of slavery that has been erased from the official narrative. The burning of the flag is a symbolic rejection of American democracy and values like liberty, which have never fully included Black people experiencing the continued effects of slavery and oppression even after it was abolished. The black "X" that remains signifies the true history and experience of Black Americans living inside a system that continues to fail them.

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    The poem describes an American flag catching fire, leaving behind a burning black "X" in the empty space where the flag used to be. This black "X" represents Black Americans and the history of slavery that has been erased from the official narrative. The burning of the flag is a symbolic rejection of American democracy and values like liberty, which have never fully included Black people experiencing the continued effects of slavery and oppression even after it was abolished. The black "X" that remains signifies the true history and experience of Black Americans living inside a system that continues to fail them.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    3K views2 pages

    The X Is Black

    Uploaded by

    aekulak
    The poem describes an American flag catching fire, leaving behind a burning black "X" in the empty space where the flag used to be. This black "X" represents Black Americans and the history of slavery that has been erased from the official narrative. The burning of the flag is a symbolic rejection of American democracy and values like liberty, which have never fully included Black people experiencing the continued effects of slavery and oppression even after it was abolished. The black "X" that remains signifies the true history and experience of Black Americans living inside a system that continues to fail them.

    Copyright:

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    “The X Is Black (Spike Lie)”

    Amiri Baraka
    If the flag catch
    fire, & an X
    burn in, that X is Black
    &leaves an empty space. It
    is that place
    where we live
    the Afro American
    Nation.

    If the flag
    catch afire
    & an X burn in
    the only stripes is
    on our back
    the only star
    blown free
    In the northern sky
    no red but our
    blood, no white
    but slavers and Klux in robes
    no blue
    but our songs
    If the flag catch fire
    & an X
    burn in

    that X is black
    &the space that is left
    is our history
    now a mystery

    we only live
    where the flag
    is not
    where the air is funky
    the music
    hot
    Inside the hole
    in the American soul
    that space, that place
    empty of democracy
    we live
    inside the burned boundaries
    of a wasted symbol
    X humans, X slaves, unknown, incorrect
    crossed out, multiplying the wealth of others

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