Response for this week

So I just finished reading the PDFs for this week.
Though each one was thought-provoking and relate-able  in some way, the one that really resonated with me, personally, was the Parker piece, For the white person who wants to know how to be my friend.
I really enjoyed this piece for the subtle transfer and balance of power and perspective that happens from beginning to end. This happens through the capitalization changes that are present within the poem. The first few lines look like this:


If you notice here, the relationship between the words i'm and Black. In context, Parker  (in my opinion) is saying that, if you are white, in order to have a friendship that crosses racial and social boundaries, you must first reject the immediate social implications of being Black. These social implications and stereotypes mask and dilute the character of the individual by promoting appearance-based judgement. It makes sense, then, that i'm is not capitalized and Black is capitalized, emphasizing the nature of this perspective.

Secondly, according to Parker, if you are white, you have to be conscious enough of race and culture to avoid stereotyping or racial bias. The same format is presented here to highlight race, rather than illustrate how race masks individuality.

By the end of the poem, the personal pronoun "I" is capitalized.

I am biracial. My father is African-American, and my mom is Italian and Swiss. I deal with the boundaries and contradictions of political correctness often because I do not "appear" to be mixed. I have fair skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes, though I have the distinctive features of both my father and mother (except their skin tones). I try to deal with Parker's concepts through the artwork that I create in my Sculpture major. Often, the argument of whether or not emphasizing political correctness further promotes racial division arises as race is such a sensitive subject. Some of that is also discussed in this poem, though it appears that Parker is also conflicted.