What It's Like To Be A Black Girl

The two poems, ‘What it’s like to be a black girl’ and ‘Child of the Americans’ are of great inspiration to the readers. The two poems relate especially with the African Americans, who face many life challenges, together with these being discussed in the two poems. This caught my interest as the subjects and events talked about in both poems are real and happen in the society each passing day. In the poem what it’s like to be a black girl, the choice made by the girl is desirable. She is determined to prove that being black is just like being of any other race. The girl prides herself and appreciates her skin color. This choice made by the nine year old girl contributes to the entire theme of the story. It helps bring about the issues facing the black people when they are trying to define themselves in the society. Due to discrimination because of race and culture, people are not treated with equality. They end up lacking good jobs despite of their academic qualifications (Smith, 2006).
The characters that are looked down upon lack a sense of belonging in the community. They end up feeling left out and unwanted, which causes depression and low esteem for some individuals. In both poems, the difficulties faced by women in order to be accepted into the community are clearly laid out(Morales, 2002). In the poem ‘Child of the Americans’, the author says; ‘I am a child of the Americas, A light-skinned mestizo of the Caribbean, A child of many diaspora.’ In the poem ‘What it’s like to be a black girl’, the author states; "Primping in front of the mirrors that deny your reflection". This shows the kind of life lived by the black people due to racism and cultural discrimination. In both, the characters handled the issues they were facing with courage and high self-esteem. Women, who seemed to seek acceptance drew more attention to them and thought of their backgrounds more