My Piece on her Piece called "How to Survive Being a Black Girl"

This week's theme is black girls. This video was posted on December 2, 2014 by the Button Poetry channel on Youtube. Button poetry is a channel/organization that has a system to promote and make money for spoken word artists. They have a very diverse base of artists but they have great messages and it allows them to reach a larger audience. This specific artist has a large voice and a great message that I absolutely love. She talks about ten things that black girls may encounter in every day life and how to overcome them, The main piece that stuck with me through this piece was the idea of not being considered "black enough" because I have ran into that same thing. I have had people tell me I'm not black enough to be with them or hang out with them and I appreciated the fact that she spoke to that issue because it is a very big one that a lot of black girls face. The last line was too perfect in my opinion and was a perfect way to end the poem, "always remember that when you are a black girl, every day that you exist in your body without apologizing-- is activism".

My Piece on her Piece called "10 Learned Behaviors of a Black Girl"

I have decided this week my theme is black girls. This piece is by Andie Berry, a college student at the time at least. This video was published March 22, 2014 by the WashUSlam page on Youtube. She performed this poem in the first round of WU-Slam's 14th annual poetry slam for college unions. This particular one was in Boulder, Colorado. I feel for this poem a lot because..well...I'm a black girl and I write just like she does so I can understand what she's saying. She talks about how black girls need to learn to take articulate as a compliment because people don't believe we can be. I know growing up I always got the "you talk white" line because people expected me to not be able to speak only because I was black. Also, something I can definitely relate to that makes me so angry is the idea of people always saying "smile you look so angry". She says that even if she stitched a permanent smile on her face people would still ask if she was angry or what's wrong all the time which I can relate to because even when I smile people find something wrong to ask about. Her tenth thing is that girls should apologize when writing poems abut race which I find interesting because I know when I write race poems I always feel bad about them or like I need to apologize for being real when in actuality I don't. I love this poem because I can relate to it a lot.

My Piece on their Piece called "Ambiguous"

This theme is the idea of being bi-racial, or looking bi-racial. These two girls are named Becca Khalil and Nayo Jones and they were part of a movement called "Black in America: Who is Black?" in 2012. I will probably use more videos from people in the movement later down the line. These girls talk about getting the question of "what are you?" when people meet them. I can relate to their reaction of wanting to say human so much because I get that question a lot. I feel like they really portray the ignorance of some people and how they try to figure out what race or races some people are. They talked about the idea of people saying "that's it?" when they found out what race they are which I can also relate to. I like how they describe the different features they have and how it's hard for other people to figure out their race, even though it isn't for them to figure out. "I am more than my race, I am more than my color, so the next time you feel tempted to ask...don't", I absolutely love this line and can identify with it a lot. This has got to be my new favorite video and spoken word piece.

My Piece on her Piece called "Bi-Racial Hair"

This theme is the idea of being bi-racial, in this case specifically black and white. This artist is Zora Howard from the group The Strivers Row which I spoke about before. She became a part of The Strivers Row when she was a student at Yale, this video was prior to that. This video talks about her hair as a result of her being bi-racial and the struggles she has had because of it. I can relate because, even though I am not bi-racial like she is, I have different types of hair on my head. I can relate when she talks about having smooth edges and naps in other places because my hair is just like that. I found this piece so amusing and entertaining because I could say "I feel you girl" to a lot of the things she was saying. I know bi-racial girls who haven't embraced their hair and find it hard to so I love the fact that she is so confident about it. She also is extremely real with how her hair got the way it is and I love it.