Summary
As Mychal Smith experiences college and it’s stresses, the out of school stress becomes worse and leads him to lose himself. Mychal Denzel Smith continues to talk about minorities but now bringing in the LGBT community to relate the two. Then he switches over and talks of the 2008 election where Obama wins.
Smith first starts off by bringing in the well-known Frank Ocean, an openly gay, hip hop and rap composer. Smith talks about the difference that Frank Ocean has to other artists, not only is Ocean black but he is gay and openly sings of his relationships with men. Smith bring ups the fact that we do not see black and homosexual hip hop artist that grow their audience as large as Ocean.
Smith later talks of how it was growing up for him, he had panic attacks due to all the conversation on war on the news that Mychal Smith watched. At first, he does not know what is wrong with him when after he sees a bright flash and hears noises, he begins to have a panic attack but unaware of it at the moment, he thought he was dying. Later the doctor alerts the Smiths of Mychal’s health issues (169). Due to his anxiety and stress that occurs in all students, Smith falls in to a dark place and is diagnosed with depression. This is new to him, it has never happened luckily, Smith had a lot of support from his family. While battling with suicidal thoughts he finally decides to confront his mental health issue and try and fix it (171). In his journey to get better his process is paused when he learns of his cousins death, a young black boy who was killed. While he is in the company of his family he learns to cope and feel better with his family there. However, after leaving the funeral and going back to his daily living Mychal Smith goes weeks with survivors guilt, until he is helped by his mother and his cousin’s Dad (188).
On November 5, 2008 Mychal Smith and his father go to vote for Mychal’s first time. Smith talks about how Obama was a step forward against the past and for the civil war that wanted to create change, it was finally happening and Mychal Smith was excited to be apart of history. Although Mychal Smith and his father vote for Obama, Smith analyzes one of Obama’s speeches. In this speech Obama speaks of the struggles of a single black mothers and their children and how they are more likely to commit crimes and drop out in the future. Smith goes on to argue and elaborate on his feeling that it is not being black nor being from a singlet parent that causes this but missing a fatherly figure and the closure needed. Smith goes on to speak about how instead of worrying about being black or a child of a single parent but worry about getting the closure and opportunities needed for these kids to be successful.
Passages
- “Unless you were highly knowledgeable about the subculture pf gay rappers/singers, Frank Ocean’s invitation to the rest of us into his same-sex attraction was not “normal”. He let us see him, all of him, and it made listening ti Channel ORANGE a revolutionary moment.” I decided to mention this paragraph because it was very important, Frank Ocean changed everything by inviting us into his personal life.
- “He’s black in a way that allows (not all, but enough) white people to be comfortable with America’s history of racism. They can ignore it because Obama largely ignores it.” I decided to discuss this passage because it is well written and interesting because it discusses America’s history.
Word Magic
- Frank Ocean – Christopher Francis aka Frank Ocean is an African-American rapper and signer who is known for his idiosyncratic style. I chose to mention him because he is brought up, I listen to his music, and because his Channel ORANGE album is Mychal Smith said, “revolutionary”.
- Demetri- Mychal Denzel Smith’s cousin who was murdered, I believe he is important because Demetri’s death takes a toll on Smith. Thankfully Smith’s family was able to be there for each other and comfort each other in the tragic time.
- Virginia Beach- This place is important because a scene is set here with his uncle who unfortunately passed away. Mychal Smith has a memory here of playing basketball here with his uncle and shows his uncle his jump shot.
- Ron Artest – professional basketball player, He is important because Mychal Smith could relate to him because Artest mentioned that he was seeing a psychiatrist around the time Smith was having mental health issues like depression and anxiety.
- Hillary Clinton – Democratic nominee of 2016, I decided to discuss her because she is discussed in the book and can also relate to current times since she is running for president this year.
Connections
- Today, our minorities are still being oppressed and are still treated as minorities, although it is getting better the issue has not yet been solved since oppressors of minorities still exist today.
- On the news, we still hear of all the war in our world, in the book Smith talks about his anxiety due to all the war conversations but that still is happening today.
- Frank Ocean is still making music and has recently released an album, he still is making history with his lyrics mentioning same-sex attraction.
- Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are still alive and working today, both of them are working to get Hillary Clinton into office.
Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching 