Reader: Amy Sanders

Respondent: Karen Daniel

“The Battle Over and Over Again”

by Safiya Henderson-Holmes, UA 242-244

Biographical Information:

Safiya Henderson Holmes was born on December 30, 1950, and she lived in the Bronx. She earned a B.S. degree in Physiotherapy, and worked at Harlem Hospital as a physical therapist. Her undeniable love for literature led her to go back to school and get an MFA in creative writing at the City College of New York. She was a poet, writer, and performer, but she will always be known best for her passionate and deep poetry. She has taught at many different colleges, including the last college she taught at, which was Syracuse University. There she was an assistant professor of poetry and creative writing. She had a great love for writing poetry and touching people with her words, and she continued writing until her Cancer prohibited her from doing so. She died of cancer on April 8, 2001.

Objectives:

5a. To discover the power of poetry and fiction to help “others” hear the minority voice and vicariously share the minority experience.

3a. African American alternative narrative: “The Dream” Factors in setbacks, the need to rise again, and a quest for group dignity.

4. To register the minority dilemma of assimilation or resistance.

Read Poem

Interpretation:

This poem is about the struggles that African Americans have in trying to assimilate with the dominant culture. In this poem the mother has already gone through many hardships because of her race, and she was hoping that her daughter would not have the same experience. She says, “i thought of all the great ones / who had died to prevent such a day / the fannie lous, malcolms, / name calling dragons that they slayed. The mother remembers how many great African American leaders fought to end racism and suffering, and she thought that it would change things. However, she is saddened to find that her child is crying because of racism, and wishes she was white. The “battle” that Henderson is referring to is the battle to end racism that the African Americans have been fighting for sometime. The battle will never stop as long as there is still one ignorant “name calling dragon” left.

Past Interpretation:

Dianna Bassett says, “I think that although the mother’s fears about racial discrimination are legitimate, in the eyes of a small child, the issue is more basic.  She is concerned with the color of her skin compared to the color of her friend rather than with the stereotypes usually associated with culture in relation to color.”

Literary Term:

Connotation- an association that comes along with a particular word. Connotations relate not to a word's actual meaning,  but rather to the ideas or qualities that are implied by that word.

Example- “name calling dragons” – the people are not actually dragons but possess all the negative qualities that are associated with dragons (mean, deadly, evil).

Questions:

1. What do you consider the “battle” to be, and is there a way to end it?

2. In this poem, the little girl asks, “why didn’t god make me white,” and is also “picking away her dark brown skin.” Is it true that the only way for the minority culture to fully assimilate is to change their skin color to that of the dominant culture?

3. What is happening at the end of the poem when the little girl says the boy gets mad all the time, and his face grows red and becomes uglier than hers? What does the mother realize?