Dear Tyler,
I really enjoyed your analysis and your question really got me thinking. I think that it is possible to diminish racism and poverty but we will never be able to weed out all racism because it is to deeply root in our nation’s culture and history. The song “Changes” by Tupac Shakur talks about how the police interact with minorities and how they mistreat them. He says in one line, “cops give a damn about a negro” and a feel like even though this nation has made so much social progress, there is still a lot of brutality and mistreatment of minorities by the police. Most times the police aren’t held accountable for their actions because they some slick excuse that clears them of any responsibility like saying that they feared for their life even though they might be 6’3 and a hundred eighty pounds and they tase a twelve-year-old approaching them. I feel like Tupac did a really good job of giving people a look inside the lives of minorities living in poverty.

do you think its more than just racism?

Tyler,

I really enjoyed your poem on memory. I thought that your social commentary about how we put so much value in the physical things that we will simply lose, but how we will truly value our memories, was very deep. I loved your use of anaphora in the poem and I really enjoyed the lines in which you talked about your first times doing something.

I hope that you will continue to write poetry, Tyler! Maybe you could try writing an acrostic–I love those.

Gwen