Can you see the pride in our community?

MLK Academy 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students continue to explore social issues this week by looking at the poetry of the late rapper Tupac Shakur. Throughout his career Shakur wrote songs and poems that reflected the racial violence and inequality he saw while growing up in the inner cities of New York, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. Together students read and discussed Shakur’s poem “Can You See the Pride in the Panther.” In his poem Shakur uses the symbol of the panther to express the sense of pride he has for his black community. Can you see the pride in the panther/as he grows in splendor and grace/toppling obstacles placed in the way/of the progression of his race. For Shakur, his poem is paying homage to the Black Panther Party, an organization founded in 1966, that stood for black unity and empowerment.

Inspired by Tupac Shakur the students created their own poems that reflects the sense of pride they have for their own communities. Please enjoy these published poems.