POEM RESPONSE:

           I just read a poem called “Incident” by Countee Cullen. After reading the word “nigger” in the poem, I realized that that very word is a symbol for racism. As this poem shows, racism isn’t affected by age, and it can hurt someone a whole lot. Racism is terrible, and it is shown in the poem through the word nigger.

            Racism doesn’t stop for age because in the poem, the speaker was a victim to an 8 year old! “Now I was eight and very small/ and he was no whit better” that indicates that the racist person was only 8 years old. That is awful. Racism is bad enough, but is especially bad when a young person is behind it. The kid went on to say: “Nigger.” This is where the symbol comes in. Just saying that word makes everything so bad. That is the racist part.

            The word nigger made the speaker forget everything else that happened whilst he was in Old Baltimore. “Of all the things that happened there/ that’s all that I remember”.  The only thing that he could remember was when he was called a “nigger.” That one word drowned all the good times that the speaker potentially had.

            I can relate to this poem in a way because one time, someone said something rude towards my religion. In camp I was waiting in line for lunch, when a boy my age came up to me and saw my Jewish necklace. He said, “I can skip a Jew!” and stood in front of me. I was very sad, and I never went back to that camp again. I was only like 8 years old as well.

            In conclusion, I think that the word “nigger” is a symbol to racism in the poem.         And racism may occur at young ages and it may change your whole life. Racism is a terrible thing that is expressed in this poem, and there should be a stop to it!