dear white america

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2017

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Related Poems

“Tonight, in Oakland” by Danez Smith (2015)

In “dear white america,” Smith references Oakland when describing America as brittle and broken and walking through the city. “Tonight, in Oakland” is in clear conversation with “dear white america”; “Tonight, the police / have turned to their God for forgiveness” (Line 17-18). In these two small lines, Smith quickly brings up the idea of police wrongdoings, their attempt to justify them, and the idea that they look to a God that is there to protect them and them alone.

“alternate names for black boys” by Danez Smith (2014)

In this poem, Smith employs numerical listing to, as the title suggests, provide alternative names for Black “boys.” These names are not actual names but phrases and ideas. Smith utilizes naming as a gesture in “dear white america”; here, Smith uses the listing convention to convey ideas like “5. guilty until proven dead” (Line 5) to demonstrate the mistreatment of Black men at the hands of the criminal “justice” system.

“Bullet Points” by Jericho Brown (2019)

Jericho Brown is a contemporary American poet and writer from Louisiana. Like Smith, much of his writing is concerned with the historical and present mistreatment of Black Americans. The sentiment behind “Bullet Points” can be concisely explained in the following lines: “I trust the maggots / Who live beneath the floorboards / Of my house to do what they must / To any carcass more than I trust / An officer of the law of the land” (Lines 11-15).

“American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin [“I lock you in an American sonnet that is part prison”]” by Terrance Hayes (2017)

Terrance Hayes is a contemporary American poet from South Carolina. As the title of this poem suggests, he too is concerned with issues facing Black Americans. Hayes is perhaps most famous for his collection titled “American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin,” in which he uses the container of a sonnet (a form historically employed by the elite white ruling class) to rewrite history. Each sonnet in the collection is given the same title. In this particular sonnet, Hayes plays on the idea of the sonnet as a prison, demonstrating that white society has contained him. Now, however, he will reverse the power dynamics and do the same to the reader.

Further Literary Resources

"Crying, Laughing, Crying At The George Floyd Protests in Minneapolis" by Danez Smith (2020)

This is a creative nonfiction piece originally published in The New Yorker, in which Smith incorporates a critical and political lens to their personal experience at the George Floyd Protests in Minneapolis in the summer of 2020. At the beginning of the essay, Smith invokes #SayHerName politics, a theme present in “dear white america.” Their ability to begin with the Black Women who fight for, and demand improved treatment for, all Black lives sets the tone for the essay on the whole.

"What we owe and are owed" by Kiese Laymon (2021)

Kiese Laymon is a critically acclaimed writer, editor, and professor from Mississippi. His best-selling memoir “Heavy” was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. In this essay, he reflects on being “tired of talking to white folks about black death."

"‘I Got the Cell Count Blues:’ Danez Smith, HIV, and the Legacy of the Black Arts Movement" by Toni R. Juncosa (2019)

An academic paper connecting Smith’s collection of poems Don’t Call Us Dead (2017) to the poet’s predecessors in the Black Arts Movements. The paper argues that Smith’s expression of HIV in their poetry continues and updates the denunciation of mass incarceration of, as well as structural violence against, non-white US citizens.

“Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope” by Esau McCaulley (2020)

McCaulley’s book offers a contemporary counterpoint to Smith’s argument in “dear white america” that the Christian God can only really be a tool of white America and therefore a tool of oppression. McCaulley researches Biblical interpretation from so-called Black churches, interpretations that he feels are ignored by many white churches and white academics, to paint a hopeful picture of faith and redemption. He looks at how scriptures were used against slaves, yet how many of those same slaves knew from their own understanding that the Christian God was not the same God being offered them by white slaveholders. He also addresses how many contemporary white evangelicals often purposely overlook the sins of Christianity’s past (like slavery). For McCaulley, being Black and Christian in America is a political act due to culture and social location alone. Reading While Black breaks from traditional, conservative Biblical interpretation to show the hope and glory of a God for all people.