If Khadijatomolewa-ga is from somewhere in Asia, the questioner may
not understand any of the context of the poem that we immediately
recognize.
"Incident
Once riding in old Baltimore,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.
Now I was eight and very small,
And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue, and called me, "Nigger."
I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
That's all that I remember."
-- Countee Cullen (Thanks, Pinkfreud.)
Baltimore, Maryland, is a city north of Washington DC that had a
significant Negro (black) population. The author, Countee Cullen was
a black person and wrote the poem in 1925, referring to an incident
that he experienced as a child at an even earlier time.
I assume that he was visiting Baltimore, happy to be visiting the big
city relative to where he lived, and I assume that "riding" in the
first line means that he was riding a bus or streetcar, but others may
interpret that differently.
At that time "nigger" was a common expression for black people, but
one that they did not like to hear white people use, especially when
speaking to them directly, and especially as an insult, as the little
boy in the poem did: sticking his tongue out at him.
This insult left such a strong impression on the little eight year-old
Countee Cullen, that it was the only thing that he remembered about
his stay in Baltimore.
I hope that helps. |
