In this assignment you are going to analyse a poem on civil rights issues in the United States in connection to voting for the presidential elections. You will go through the poem and find out about the history of voting in the US and how it has changed. Finally, you will reflect on citizenship and civil rights.
to look at citizenship in the United States from a historical perspective
to explain the effects of unfavorable government policy towards ethnic minorities.
to critically reflect on contemporary civil rights issues.
For teachers who want to adapt this assignment into the classroom, a small set of instructions can be found here.
Want to do another assignment from Daniel García? Have a look at "You Know What I'm Sayin'?".
Here you can find the poem. You will need to read it in order to answer the questions.
1. The title Securing The Blessings is an allusion to a part of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. The full phrase reads “Securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” (posterity meaning all future generations or all descendants). The Preamble has no legal value and is used to interpret the Constitution, which came into force in 1789.
a. What picture does the poem paint of past and current interpretations of this phrase regarding who is regarded as ourselves and our posterity. Consider which ethnic groups have been left out in the past.
b. How can people secure their blessings in this poem?
2. The narrator alludes to a difference between a green card and a voter registration card in the second stanza. If you are a green card holder, that means you are an immigrant permanently residing (living) in the U.S. Though green card holders’ rights are similar to those of U.S. citizens, they do not have the right to vote (i.e. be eligible to obtain the voter registration card). What does the narrator make of this in the third stanza?
3. Consider the fifth stanza.
a. Find out by whom and in what context this phrase was expressed. Write down your notes.
b. What relation does the phrase have to the poem? Describe this relation.
4. In stanza six and seven, the speaker relates how in the past there were other requirements to vote. If needed, do additional research to answer the questions below.
a. How could poll taxes (having to pay in order to vote) and literacy tests target certain ethnic groups to keep them from voting?
b. How were white citizens not affected by these requirements?
5. The speaker describes a scene from the 1950s in the U.S. in stanza eight.
a. Do a google image search on Jim Crow law. How are the pictures you get similar to this part of the poem? Provide examples.
b. How would you feel living all of your life in a country, but being denied full citizen rights, having to deal with similar situations as those portrayed here?
6. America, the Beautiful refers to a line from the song with the same title, a patriotic song.
a. After introducing the beauty of the U.S., why is maintained a separate line on the page?
b. in perfect rows / by azadones and pesticides. What does the mentioning of this tool in italicized Spanish indicate?
7. First, the narrator describes Native American Indian roamed / before we became a burden and / they said we couldn’t vote and then lists the other groups of people denied the right to vote.
a. In what way is preventing certain people from voting effective in getting what you want if you would be in the current political party that is in charge of the country?
b. Why would these people be considered a burden?
8. The poem ends with the repetition of And I’m tired of you voting for me.
a. Who is being addressed here?
b. Why would the narrator be tired? Consider the economic, social, personal and cultural effects of the inability to vote and the time it has taken for ethnic groups to be eligible to vote in the U.S.
Reflection questions
1. What do you think does it mean to be a citizen? What civil rights are fundamental? Include references to both the poem and the Dutch constitution (De Nederlandse Grondwet).
2. How is your daily life influenced by your civil rights?
3. Think of ways in which civil rights are still challenged today .