The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense’s “10-Point Program” demands that black people are represented, granted freedom, and given security in all aspects of society. Their last demand of “land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace” makes these goals clear. Black people gaining this security would give them ownership of social and economic opportunities for their community. The overarching themes of black liberation and the Black Power Movement supported by the "10-Point Program," such as black people taking ownership of their lives, uplifting themselves, and achieving freedom in all aspects of life, are represented in poetry of the Black Arts Movement. Firstly, a major message of Black Arts poetry is finding pride in creating a structure that breaks away from the typical form of art created by white people. “You Know,” by Jayne Cortez, describes the urge to write a meaningful piece. Haki Madhubti’s “Don’t Cry, Scream” is written with the unique structu...
In “Down By the Riverside,” Richard Wright uses a naturalistic style of writing to urge the entire black community to unite in opposing racial segregation of the Jim Crow south. Naturalism is the idea that nature has total power over an individual, rather than the individual’s actions. While the flood might seem like the nature that controls Mann and his family, Wright conveys through multiple passages that a white supremacist society is really the overarching force on their lives. By representing the ways in which Mann fails to survive the flood and the mis-treatment from white people despite his greatest effort, Wright instills the idea that the black community needs to unite to stand against racial segregation for the Civil Rights Movement's success. Firstly, the two paragraphs at the start of page fifty-six contain vivid descriptions of both the flood and white supremacy. When describing the flood, Wright says, “He looked out; his house was about twelve feet above...