'Dreaming Black Boy'
Beryl Clarke, Contributor

Imagine that you find yourself on the moon. Research and hard work have made it possible for you, an 'earthling' to live there, and you have been a resident for the past five years. You go into a market and, as is customary, you are ignored. You have to literally beg for the attention you need to buy food. The situation is terrible but you have to bear it. After all, where else could you find such a highly paid job? You comfort yourself with the thought that soon you will be back home among your own people and able to buy your dream house.

The poem Dreaming Black Boy by James Berry encourages one to consider the feelings of an outsider. Just put yourself in the above scenario and think of how you would react in such a situation. The difference between this and that of the boy in the poem is that you would have been facing temporary difficulties while he remains trapped. Please read the poem now. Are you able to tell me what is going on in it? If you cannot, then read again and again, if necessary.

I wish my teacher's eyes wouldn't
go past me today. Wish he'd know
it's okay to hug me when I kick
a goal. Wish I myself wouldn't
hold back when an answer comes.
I'm no woodchopper now
like all ancestors.

I wish I could be educated
to the best of tune up, and earn
good money and not sink to lick
boots. I wish I go could go on every
crisscross way of the globe
and no persons or powers or
hotel keepers would make it a waste.

I wish life wouldn't spend me out
opposing. Wish same way creation
would have me stand it would
have me stretch, and hold
high, my voice Paul
Robeson's, my inside eye
a sun. Nobody wants to
say hello to nasty answers.

I wish torch throwers of night would burn lights for decent times. Wish plotters in pyjamas would pray for themselves. Wish people wouldn't
talk as if I dropped from Mars.
I wish only boys were scared
behind bravados, for I could suffer.
I could suffer a big big lot.
I wish nobody would want to earn
the terrible burden I can suffer.

Fortunately for us we can easily understand the situation. It starts out in the classroom, moves to the playing field and then into the wider world. The basic idea shared here is of a boy who is in a class of white students. He is black and is made uncomfortable by the treatment he receives from his teacher, obviously white too, who ignores him, never asking him to answer a question. The student is fearful and has no self-esteem, so even when he knows the answer to a question, he does not respond.

On the playing field, there is no change in the teacher's attitude. The warmth and appreciation the boy deserves does not come his way although he scores goals. It is not surprising that he wonders whether the teacher knows that he could give him a hug, and this suggests that there is a gulf between the races. His very painful situation is compounded by the fact that he does not see any escape for him. He realises that even when he becomes an adult he will be restricted by racism because of the colour of his skin.

Let us contemplate! Today, as students you probably daydream or perhaps think about the car you will drive, the fashionable clothes you will wear and the distinctions and honours you will earn, not about acceptance, your ability to travel, to rise socially nor to evade the Ku Klux Klan. You face problems, of course, but not to the level in which your potential is stifled as that of the persona in the poem.

The first stanza sets the background; the second begins to tell of the hopes that are outlined in the rest of the poem. What does he wish for? Check the statements below and decide which are true and which are false.

1. The boy would like to get the best education possible.

2. He wants to be able to get a job that pays well.

3. Cleaning shoes is the job that he wants.

4. He would like to be able to travel the world.

5. The persona would not like to waste his time sitting in a hotel.

6. He wants to be able to achieve like Paul Robeson.

7. He wishes to receive civil answers when he speaks to white people.

8. The boy wants those who attack black people to realise that what they are doing is wrong.

9. Although he is from Mars, he does not wish others to know.

10. He understands that adults are afraid too, even though they pretend to be brave.

What do you think the following means?

1. I'm no woodchopper now like all ancestors.

2. And not sink to lick boots.

3. I wish life wouldn't spend me out opposing

4. Wish same way creation would have me stand it would have me stretch, and hold high, my voice Paul Robeson's, my inside eye a sun.

5. I wish nobody would want to earn the terrible burden I can suffer.

God bless!

Beryl Clarke is an independent contributor. Send questions and comments to kerry-ann.hepburn@gleanerjm.com