Records

Records
CC: Well I don't have the hyperlink, but I did provide the peom typed below!

Records ~ Nikki Giovanni

it’s so important to record

i sit here trying to record

 trying to find a new profound

way to say

johnson is the vilest

germiest beast

the world has ever

known

in the alleged civilized

times

trying to record

how i feel about a

family

being wiped out

trying to explain

that they have nothing

against bobby

he’s a white

millionaire

several hundred times over

so it must be me

they are killing

trying to record

the feeling of shame

haven’t yet

committed a

major assassination

which very desperately

must be

done

trying to record the

ignorance of the

voices

 that say

i’m glad a negro

didn’t do it

a negro needs to kill

something

trying to record

that this country must be

destroyed

if we are to live

must be destroyed if we are to live

must be destroyed if we are to live

Giovanni uses the importance of documentation, proof of history and unethical behavior of life from each civilization. Records mean “A thing constituting a piece of evidence about the past, esp. an account of an act or occurrence kept in writing or some other permanent”. The repetition of records is to constantly remind the reader that there is always evidence of history and to always document events. Giovanni says, “It’s so important to record, I sit here trying to record, trying to find a new profound way to say Johnson is the vilest germiest beast the world has ever known in the alleged civilized times”. This hyperbole Giovanni uses is to describe Johnson, the president that succeed Kennedy as a germiest beast because even though he signed the Voters Rights Act, in her emotion, she was unhappy that Kennedy was killed. Giovanni also uses imagery to convey empathy for a family being wiped out. The importance of this is to highlight the emotional connection Giovanni has for the people who are struggling, but in contrast showing apathy who are millionaires that do not share the wealth. Giovanni also says, ‘They are killing trying to record the feeling of shame that we Black people haven’t yet committed a major assassination”. Giovanni explains that the white people have committed huge assassinations like genocides and revolutions to oppress Black people. Thus the name of the poem Records; Giovanni suggests that the whites are trying to document their rage of the Black people not starting a revolution. Giovanni ends the poem with the imagery of stupidity and struggle. The white people will not live until the Black people commit a massacre so they have something to blame the Black people for. The importance of this poem is to leave the reader with the significance of history, which is it is always in the perception and observation of someone else. The truth of history is in the records, but different perceptions of history will always be told from different point of views.