Bella Furst | “Declaration” by Tracy K. Smith | Racial Injustice Never Went Away

    

“Declaration” by Tracy K. Smith

Racial Injustice Never Went Away

    Written in 2018, Tracy K. Smith’s poem “Declaration” holds incredible power, especially today. The poem tackles racial injustice in America via erasure poetry; this is a form of poetry where the author chooses to remove certain words or phrases from a pre-existing work. In Smith’s case, she uses the United States Declaration of Independence as her pre-existing work and removes phrases and adds punctuation to highlight slavery and modern racial bias in America. This nods to the title both in that it is derived from the DOI and that it is a declaration for help, a plea for America to stop feeding into racial inequality.

    This piece has been relevant and will continue to be relevant until America becomes capable of properly managing the racial injustices embedded in our country. Since the Black Lives Matter movement has been rising since mid-2016, Smith’s inclusion of “In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms” with the response that “Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury” seems to hold a significant part of American history within. We have seen even today that several POC (people of color) are physically harmed by the “justice” system and when people petition and protest, little is done to bring justice and remembrance to the names of those who lost their lives to brutality. 

    As a young black writer living in America under these racial confinements, Smith’s work is extremely important, as she’s protecting not only her own rights, but fighting for justice in her community and her life. She’s highlighting that “[America has] sent hither swarms of Officers to harass [her] people” and it’s time it stops. Centuries of racial inequality must stop and justice is long overdue.

    On a personal note, I really enjoyed this poem. I think that despite the fact that there’s numerous evidence to point out racial injustice in this country, that there will continue to be ignorant and oppressive individuals who refuse to acknowledge that. I think that Smith using her voice and her incredible platform to speak upon such matters is essential to educating others further. If you have the time, I’d recommend reading this poem. It can be difficult to see past the privilege we hold and awareness of important social and human rights issues, like racial injustice, are important to teach to ourselves.