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Analysis Of If We Must Die By Claude Mckay

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“If We Must Die” The poem, If We Must Die by Claude McKay, still resonates today nearly 100 years later. Claude McKay’s writings encompassed race relations, fury over injustice and a call to action during the Harlem Renaissance. This poem was a response to the Red Summer of 1919 when black communities in the country were subjected to intense violence and hate crimes. This period -“The Great Migration” was supposed to be a time for new opportunities as blacks relocated from the Jim Crow South to the North. Currently, America is experiencing its first African-American president, which is a major achievement for people of color. However, during a time where blacks should reap prosperity; overt racism and political commentary rooted in hatred …show more content…

History has a way of repeating itself, still in America people of color are subjected to similar action. Law enforcement with “apparent authority” has killed un-armed people of color across the nation; killing them in inglorious ways such as illegal chokeholds, bullets aimed at their backs, and killing a man point blank in front of his child and spouse. The speaker says “If we must die let us nobly die” warranting blacks to stand against their oppressor, look them in the eye and stand firm. Today, people across the nation have stood with African-Americans against injustices; protesting in the streets... disrupting traffic, and expressing outrage. These actions have created national conversations against institutionalized racism. Organizations such as Blacks Lives Matter, brings issues to the forefront creating dialogues why black lives are equally as …show more content…

Supporters of the National Anthem call him unpatriotic and seek to slander his name; in spite of this fellow athletes have joined his protest. His brave stance proves to millions of people he is not afraid no matter the consequences. Lastly, lines 13 and 14 reads “Like men we’ll face the murderous cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!” The speaker has riled up his allies, odds against them however they’re ready to fight. The injustices people of color still face today has sparked a national outcry, we are fighting back and demanding change. Clifford Joseph Harris Jr.-an American rapper released a social album titled “US or ELSE”, his song “We Will Not” contains the following

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Black lives matter. The contemporary movement started in 2013 campaigns against the brutality, prejudice, and racism experienced by the African American community in America. The activist group works to unite African Americans in one common message: they will be heard and they will not be invisible. However, this idea of invisibility has been prevalent in African-American history since the Middle Passage. African Americans have continually felt forcibly unnoticed in society, played with as toys for entertainment and productivity purposes only.

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Great Presidents recognize value of colored people but haven’t seen them as citizens yet while they fought for the rights of their masters. Society has not yet rewarded African Americans for their contribution to to the freedom of the United States. Green is storytelling history pointing out that Blacks have contributed a great amount to the country hoping to get the freedoms that they originally fought for in the Revolutionary

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It has often been said that “that this is a greatest period for people of all races to live in.” Yet with change in society over time , there has a been a divide over the truth about that statement. In dialogue about race issues within the United States, one controversial issue has been about systemic racism towards people of colour, in particular, black americans. On one hand, Ralph Ellison, a recent predecessor to our present time argues that no matter what the future holds, people will judge others based on their association, their image, which will. In relation, a modern black activist group, Black Lives Matter, argues that even though change has come to America race relations, black people are still endangered by the system.

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His voice becomes a rallying cry for the acknowledgment of systemic racism and the need for societal

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“’Can You Be BLACK and Look at This’: Reading the Rodney King Video(s)” by Elizabeth Alexander is a powerful analysis into the deep rooted sense of community felt by people who identify as Black, with specific regards to the videotaped police beating of Rodney King; and also examines the deep rooted White stereotypes surrounding people of color in America, more notably in the judicial system. This essay details the unity and solidarity seen in the times, not only surrounding the Rodney King videos, but also surrounding other notable stories about Black violence, such as the murder of Emmett Till, and the stories of Fredrick Douglass, to name a few. It describes in detail the horrible acts committed on Black bodies, and references numerous movements

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McKay, Claude, “Enslaved” https://poemanalysis.com/claude-mckay/enslaved/, 23 April, 2024. McKay uses this poem to talk about racism and how African Americans are judged by people because of stereotypes and that they are different. This poem sheds the light on racism, and how African Americans are treated on a normal daily basis. McKay, Claude, “If We Must Die” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44694/if-we-must-die, 23 April, 2024. McKay uses this poem to explain that he wants to die in a way that is honorable and respected.

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“Over the last 500 years people of different race, especially African Americans, have encountered a pattern of state sanctioned violence and civil and human rights abuse. To enforce capitalist exploitation and racial oppression the government and its police, courts, prisons, and military have beaten, framed, murdered and executed private persons, and brutally repressed struggles for freedom, justice, and self-determination. (Sundiata,1)”. Because of this African Americans began to fight back against the beating of their race with riots. The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and more recently the Black Life Matters movement have placed emphasis on shedding light on how people are being treated and what can be done to get rectify everything that is wrong with how our government and police

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Every human being is born into this world with one guaranteed fact: that the life they were just given will one day end. Another guaranteed fact is that it will not be easy, and we will face struggles every day. Claude Mckay’s poem, “If We Must Die,” expresses the idea that since we are all going to die one day, we should go down fighting for what we believe is right. Mckay uses figurative language and literary devices to convey the oppression African American’s faced in the early 20th century.

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One remaining question is what does tomorrow hold? ZZ Packer used this book as a way to bring light to such a dark topic. While America is not where we used to be, we still have a lot of progress to make in the near future. “Revisiting the Rhetoric of Racism” by Mark Lawrence McPhail suggests that African-Americans have longed for a sense of identity that has long been denied by people of the white race. McPhail said that scholars have been working to understand racial rhetoric by examining the “social construction of identity and difference,” (McPhail 43).

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In the poem, “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay, talks about dying like a man. Just like in the movie, “A Lesson Before Dying”, Miss Emma sends Mr. Grant to help out Jefferson and teach him how to die like a man instead of a hog like his lawyer said in front of the jury. If he were to die a hog, he’d be giving into the what the white’s believed in, and instead dying like a man will defy them ‘till the very last minute he dies. “Though far outnumbered let us show us brave, and for their thousand blows deal one deathblow!”, the author at this point is talking about fighting for what they believe or what they do, no matter what white or other men say. Giving up is like just letting yourself die, if that’s the case, why are you still alive then.

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Keisha Blain in “Violence in Minneapolis is rooted in the history of racist policing in America” elaborates upon the governmental condonement of police brutality on black Americans and its effects. Like redlining, state-sanctioned violence from police officers against the African American community has shaped the history of U.S. cities. Police failed to punish white residents, inflicting harm on their black counterparts, and as a result, many black people were lynched, and their killers were never brought to justice. Police are far more likely to arrest and fatally shoot black people in comparison to those who are white, and they rarely receive any reprimand for their actions. The death rate of Black Americans at the hands of police today, is almost the same as what it once was during the lynchings a century ago (Blain, 2020).

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Black organizations promote racial equality in a variety of ways. Professor small states that black people would be “far worse off than they are at the present time” had it not been for the resiliency of activists. Black organizations date as far back as slavery and have been helping to promote equality all the way up to present day. At the time of slavery, Black organizations led revolts, organized meetings and other types of community engagement to champion black humanity and end racist restrictions. These organizations started as churches and religious groups during the 1860’s which evolved into what we have today.

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From Ferguson to Tulsa to Baton Rouge, there have been countless cases of police brutality towards African-American men, women, and children. Murderers never receiving their justice, given paid time off and being cleared of charges. Families living in fear, left torn apart at the hands of people who took an oath to serve and protect. We see people of all races standing together in protest of something we know to be wrong, advocating for much needed social change.

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According to “The Washington Post”, Last year 963 African Americans were shot and killed by police. Ever since the 1960s Africans has been fighting for equality; in the Eric Garner case and Michael Brown, it demonstrated how White police officers abuse and misuse their power towards African Americans. Since the increase of police brutality communities has had marches, rallies, and even the Black Lives Matters movements as a response to show that Polices’ abuse of power is unacceptable. The Black Lives Matter movement was created after radical discrimination it is a political movement to inform and protect Black Lives. (Wesley Lowery.

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they also encourage equality among black individuals who are portrayed as outcasts through mainstream media and are a subject of much discrimination by individuals of different classes and races. While I do agree that black lives do matter and this group set is for a good cause. they also have the right to protect the African American community, however, it is imperative to set a good example and not encourage more violence through unethical protests that further cause havoc and further creates a false image of the African-American community. While I also Agree with Heather MacDonald’s article, which informs about the potential dangers of

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