Madison Scheuneman
Recently a six-year-old black boy was arrested in North Carolina for picking a tulip at a bus station the charge being injury to real property. When reports of this were made public there were so many disturbing facts that were released such as his lawyer having to give him a coloring book and crayons to keep him occupied, his feet not being able to touch the floor, and the fact that his mother was not allowed in the courtroom with him. The court case was dismissed, but the article that I used to create this found poem entitled “6-Year-old Boy Arrested for Picking Flower at Bus Stop” quoted Lyana Hunter, his lawyer, saying “the earlier you introduce a child to the criminal justice system, the higher the chances are that they will remain in the criminal justice system.” This quote was something that filled me with a lot of sadness and anger because at only 6-years-old this boy’s chances of being stuck within this so-called system of justice have risen when they were already high considering the way in which this system targets black men specifically. Because of this deeply emotional reaction to this quote I wanted to conclude my poem with it as a way to get readers to look to the gloomy future that this boy will face due to the experience and his race.
In order to create this poem, I plucked words from the article to try to draw a parallel between the flower pulled from the ground, and the boy being pulled from the bus stop into a cop car. I also wanted to emphasize the boy’s identity as a six-year-old kid who happens to be black and male because his identity was a key factor in his arrest and will be for the rest of his life. It’s a sad fact but being a black man will not get any easier for him moving forward, which is something I wanted to acknowledge in this poem. To try to mimic what must have been a disorienting experience for this boy, whose name I was unable to find anywhere, I took a page out of M. NourbeSe Philip’s book and chose to play with the white space and the placing of the lines on the page. I also found myself drawn to the repetition Philip uses in Zong! as a means of emphasis as well as a way to force readers to acknowledge the truth of the situation. Writing this poem, which focuses on a very politicized topic, especially after reading Zong! only deepened the idea that all poetry, and art in general, is political with the intent to bring people to a common understanding rather than drive us apart.
Hi Madison! I thought you did a really great job creating your found poem. I was able to feel your anger through the poem. The fact that a six-year-old Black boy was arrested for picking flowers at a bus stop absolutely disgusts and infuriates me. We see that the criminal justice system truly targets Black people even as young as this little boy. I really like how you emphasized the fact that this was a Black boy when you crossed out “6- year-old boy” and replaced it with “6- year-old black boy”. This was extremely powerful and important to do to prove that it wasn’t just any boy who got arrested, it was a Black boy. The fact that the boy was so young that he needed a coloring book and colored pencils to keep him busy is super upsetting. This shows that Black people, including children as young as six-years-old, are exposed to racism. It is completely absurd to know that this broken system is capable of arresting a six-year-old Black boy for doing nothing wrong.
Hey Madison!! I thought you did a really good job on your found poem. I was able to feel your strong emotions of rage and anger throughout the poem. I am appalled by this world when it comes to racial injustices. It is unjustifiable that an innocent young black child was arrested just for picking flowers at a bus stop. Unfortunately, at times the criminal justice system is unaware of the concept of implicit bias which leads to African Americans consistently being accused of wrongful actions. I really appreciated how you crossed out the label of six year old boy and made sure to add the additional black boy in order to portray the young boys race and why this is happening to him. I felt your found poem was excellently displayed and definitely filled each reader with heavy emotions of fury and sadness. I felt your conclusion was also very powerful as it wrapped up the poem and explained how he will most likely be incarcerated for the rest of his life even though he didn’t do anything.