{"id":22,"date":"2016-06-30T17:54:31","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T17:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/?p=22"},"modified":"2021-09-21T23:42:46","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T23:42:46","slug":"clap-clap-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/2016\/06\/30\/clap-clap-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Clap Clap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"image3\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.  The award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.  In a continuing effort to promote these authors, illustrators and their works the CSK Committee is engaging in various aspects of social media to continue delivering quality content about everything CSK. Over the next few days, you\u2019ll see the list of contributors to this blog grow because everything related to the Coretta Scott King Award is a family effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"image1\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What better way to begin this blog than with the call to action poem delivered as the acceptance speech at this year\u2019s Coretta Scott King Award\u2019s Breakfast by Jason Reynolds, author and co-author of the 2016 Author Honor books. All American Boys<\/em> was co-authored with Brendan Kiely, and The Boy in the Black Suit. <\/em>Both books were published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children\u2019s Publishing Division and both books were this year\u2019s honor books. The speeches of the winning author and illustrator presented that morning are available on the Horn Book blog<\/a> and also printed in it\u2019s journal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jason\u2019s acceptance speech was the second he delivered on the morning of 26 June. While he read, his mom shed tears of pride and joy and, when he finished, everyone was on their feet. I do wonder if anyone recorded his reading?<\/del>\u00a0There is a video of Jason reading the poem here<\/a>. Jason said he did read the poem as written, but did adlib a few lines at the end. And, there is nothing to compare to an author reading their own work, their emotions laid bare in the words they\u2019ve chosen with care and vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read closely and then, get to work!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MACHETES (written for and read during Coretta Scott King Honor acceptance speech, 2016)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

if you listen closely<\/strong>
you can hear the machetes<\/strong>
cutting the air<\/strong>
in half<\/strong>
connecting for half a second with something<\/strong>
breathing and growing<\/strong>
breathing and growing<\/strong>
before being chopped<\/strong>
down like sugar cane in a Louisiana field<\/strong>
yes there are machetes everywhere<\/strong>
the sound of them cutting the air<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

chop CHOP<\/strong>
chop CHOP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

we try not<\/strong>
to bend in the wind<\/strong>
try not to bow or bow<\/strong>
try to wrap fingers around our own<\/strong>
saccharine souls<\/strong>
and brace ourselves<\/strong>
for the<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

chop CHOP<\/strong>
chop CHOP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

the machetes<\/strong>
cutting the air in half<\/strong>
coming for us<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

seems like folks like us be best<\/strong>
when we broken open<\/strong>
when we melted down<\/strong>
when we easier to digest<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

if you listen closely<\/strong>
you can hear the machetes<\/strong>
cutting the ears off<\/strong>
us<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

chop CHOP<\/strong>
chop CHOP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

cold steel against our cheeks<\/strong>
be black sheep siblings<\/strong>
be black boy pillows<\/strong>
be<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

chop CHOP<\/strong>
chop CHOP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ears lopped off<\/strong>
leaving our drums in the dirt<\/strong>
like we ever needed ears<\/strong>
to hear God<\/strong>
like we ever needed ears to hear<\/strong>
the machetes<\/strong>
cutting the air<\/strong>
in half<\/strong>
the machetes<\/strong>
cutting the eyes out<\/strong>
us<\/strong>
retinas ripped<\/strong>
light left as a stain on the angry end of a blade<\/strong>
life in black and white blur<\/strong>
like we ever needed eyes to see red<\/strong>
to see gold<\/strong>
to see sunshine laughing yellow<\/strong>
to see those machetes<\/strong>
cutting the air<\/strong>
in half<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

chop CHOP<\/strong>
chop CHOP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

those machetes<\/strong>
cutting us<\/strong>
in half<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

chop CHOP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

dropping us down<\/strong>
to a manageable size<\/strong>
like gigantism be the only reason we giants<\/strong>
what you gon do with this ten foot fire in my belly?<\/strong>
what you gon do with tidal wave under my tongue?<\/strong>
aint nobody ever told you we always find our legs?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

if you listen closely<\/strong>
you can hear the machetes<\/strong>
cutting the air<\/strong>
in half<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

chop CHOP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

and if you listen even closer<\/strong>
you can hear<\/strong>
in the sliver of silence<\/strong>
between those chops<\/strong>
the clapping<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

clap CLAP<\/strong>
clap CLAP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

the clapping of yester-generation’s<\/strong>
freedom songs<\/strong>
protest warriors<\/strong>
unpopular opinions<\/strong>
uncomfortable confrontation<\/strong>
unhinging truth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

clap CLAP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

and this generation\u2019s<\/strong>
freedom songs<\/strong>
protest warriors<\/strong>
unpopular opinions<\/strong>
uncomfortable confrontation<\/strong>
unhinging truth<\/strong>
hashtag<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

clap CLAP<\/strong>
clap CLAP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

the clapping of kids in the street<\/strong>
and grandmas at church<\/strong>
the clapping of aunties watching<\/strong>
their nieces lead the march now<\/strong>
the clapping of new connections<\/strong>
new routes<\/strong>
new alleyways<\/strong>
new allies<\/strong>
new chances<\/strong>
new dances<\/strong>
at house parties<\/strong>
because we\u2019ve never needed<\/strong>
eyes ears or legs<\/strong>
to boogie because boogie<\/strong>
be our heartbeat<\/strong>
and if you listen closely<\/strong>
you can hear our heartbeat<\/strong>
in syncopation with that<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

clap CLAP<\/strong>
clap CLAP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

our laughter<\/strong>
clap CLAP<\/strong>
our singing<\/strong>
clap CLAP<\/strong>
our dancing<\/strong>
clap CLAP<\/strong>
our fighting<\/strong>
clap CLAP<\/strong>
our praying<\/strong>
clap CLAP<\/strong>
our crying<\/strong>
clap CLAP<\/strong>
or trying to breathe and grow<\/strong>
in the midst of all this<\/strong>
chopping<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

yes there are machetes everywhere<\/strong>
and if you look closely<\/strong>
really closely<\/strong>
closer than closely<\/strong>
you can see the machine<\/strong>
turning its wheels<\/strong>
churning out those machetes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

this machine<\/strong>
distant yet all around<\/strong>
like sky<\/strong>
faceless<\/strong>
and cold<\/strong>
and perfect for sharpening steel<\/strong>
because it has no finger to prick<\/strong>
it has never felt the sting of skin rolling back<\/strong>
because it doesn\u2019t have skin<\/strong>
and the excuses of history keep its conveyor belt<\/strong>
rolling<\/strong>
rolling out<\/strong>
machete after machete after machete to<\/strong>
to cut the air<\/strong>
of so many of us<\/strong>
in half<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

no this machine<\/strong>
it does not feel<\/strong>
but it does speak<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

it says<\/strong>
get to work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

chop chop<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Text copyright @<\/em>2016 Jason Reynolds, used with permission of Pippin Properties, Inc.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.  The award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, … Continue reading Clap Clap<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,8],"tags":[3,53],"class_list":["post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-csk-awards-breakfast","category-past-events-and-important-people","tag-jason-reynolds","tag-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1472,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions\/1472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}