This is my speech that I did. I'm not sure if this is the right version. It was based on the song ‘Black or White’ by Michael Jackson and the poem ‘White Things’ by Anne Spencer.
Using poems and songs are an effective way to get messages across as a vehicle for social protest. To support this statement, I will use the poem ‘White Things’ by Anne Spencer and the song ‘Black or White’ by Michael Jackson and they are both based on racism. Both of the poetries are based on the same subject how everyone should be treated the same not the ‘White’ over the ‘Blacks’. The song and the poem stress the equality rather than superiority.
The subject of the poem and the song are very alike. They are both about racism, Black vs. White. While the poem is about motives of freedom and questioning God, the song is about how everyone should be accepted whether they are Black or White. It is also about equality and it does not matter if you’re Black or White. The poem does not limit its reference in the first stanza to the dominance of white over black, it also includes red man among the ‘colourful things’, therefore, begins to develop more specific implications for American civilization.
One of the basic statements of the poem comes in the second line: "Black men are most men, but the white are free." The first stanza proposes through images of natural scenery that white men have raised a human hierarchy based on whiteness. Though at the end of the poem, it states that even though they are different on the outside, "the skull of a black man is white, not dull", which suggests the likeness of men. The white man has defied God and damned the majority of His creations. In his obsession with whiteness the white man is essence has demanded: "Man-maker, make white"; that is, that white things be the only things of worth in this world.
The song starts off as saying ‘yes, we’re one and the same’ stating that it does not matter as everyone ARE the same. In the fourth stanza, it says ‘they print my message in the Saturday Sun. I had to tell them I ain’t second to none.’ This meant he wanted to tell the public of what he thought about the racism. This leads to the next stanza ‘And I told them about equality and it’s true’ he HAD to tell them about equality and how race did not matter and he was not going to keep quiet about it. The rest of the song than repeats the phrase, ‘it don’t matter if you’re black or white’, to really get the message across to the audience and emphasise the moral of the song.
The purpose of both of the poetry is about how it does not matter on your race. The poem is about how the black want to be free from racism and the white are killing blacks because of their race. For the song, it is trying to convey the message that everyone should be treated equally and people should accept everyone for who they are, not based on their race.
The poet sounds very sad and disgusted of the way white people treat the blacks. They are angry that the Blacks were slaughtered just because of their colour. The poem follows a structural scheme. It moves from a quiet, positive tone to one of defiance and determination, climaxing in a powerful statement of its theme. "White Things" closely interweaves natural scenery with motifs of freedom and human frailties, even with religious overtones. The lyrics by itself sound very boring and just repetitive but with the music, it is very catchy so it is able to get the message across easily. The whole mood becomes different with music added to the lyrics. About half way through the song, the mood has an angry side to it. This is because he is fed up with people being so racist. This is shown by when Michael Jackson sings, ‘I am tired of this stuff, I am tired of this business…’ He is also determined to get the message across through his song.
The poet uses a rhyming scheme by using the end of certain words sounds such as ‘ight’ and uses stanzas. It also uses metaphors such as ‘white things are rare things’. It uses imagery of colors such as white, black, green, gold and red. The song writer uses repetition as well which helps it become catchy and uses rhyming of typical sounds such as white, right, tonight. Also, after listening to the melody, it becomes catchy as the chords are being repeated. Repetition and rhyming are very useful when writing poems and songs because the sound becomes ‘carved’ into the head which is effective especially for songs as people tend to sing along with songs if they know the lyrics to it. This is important for protesting as it becomes ‘stuck’ in the other’s heads.
The summary for both the poem and the song are the same. The poem is trying to convey that God does not see people from the outside but from who they really are on the inside, so why do white people have to go to the extent of killing blacks and why is race so important? Similarly, the song is trying to make people wary that no one should care if you are black or white because everyone is equal and no one is better than anyone else. It is trying to say that people should accept everyone for who they are.
So as people can now see, just by writing a poem or a song, it is easy to get a message across. A poem or a song has a lot of thought into it and it is not just a group of words that link to each other. There is a special message in it and this poem and song was based on racism and how white people should not look down on the blacks. Poems and songs are an effective way to get messages across as unlike just normal protesting and incoherent shouting that some do, it is far more effective to use a poem or a song to get the message, especially across the media. It is important to be able to say what you believe is right and not hide behind the crowd and do nothing about it. This is why protest poems and songs exist, to get your thoughts across to others and it is very important and useful.
Okay… I know it is pretty old now but I still haven’t finished reading this book yet.
