Counting Descent

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2016

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Background

Cultural Context: The Black Lives Matter Movement

Black Lives Matter (sometimes abbreviated as BLM) is a social and political protest movement “emphasizing basic human rights and racial equality for Black people and campaigning against various forms of racism” (“Black lives matter Definition & Meaning.” Dictionary.com.) It is a decentralized movement with no formal leader. The phrase first appeared as the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media in July 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman. Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, in February 2012 during a physical altercation in Zimmerman’s neighborhood. Protests erupted across the United States in 2014 when two more unarmed Black men—18-year-old Michael Brown of Ferguson, Missouri, and 43-year-old Eric Garner of New York City—were killed by on-duty police officers. “Black lives matter” became a rallying cry for these protest movements, popularizing the phrase to national and international recognition.

Protestors also adopted the phrase “I can’t breathe” following the killing of Eric Garner. Police confronted Garner on the street in Staten Island and accused him of selling loose cigarettes. A bystander and friend of Garner, Ramsey Orta, filmed as Officer Daniel Pantaleo held Garner in an illegal chokehold. In the video, Garner can be heard “shouting ‘I can’t breathe’ at least eight times” (Eversley, Melanie and James, Mike. “No charges in NYC chokehold death; federal inquiry launched.” USA Today, 3 Dec. 2014).

The speaker in “Counting Descent,” an African American man, comments on the threat of systemic violence against people who share his demographics. He wishes for a world where him reaching old age wouldn’t be noteworthy. He also uses the word breath as a synonym for life, referencing Eric Garner’s violent death.

Authorial Context: Clint Smith

The speaker’s ethnicity in “Counting Descent” informs his understanding of his family history. This is a common thread in Clint Smith’s writing; regardless of genre, Smith’s writing is preoccupied with the lived experience of African Americans. Smith’s graduate research focused on race, education, and incarceration. His dissertation is “comprised of a series of narrative portraits of incarcerated individuals with whom he has worked, written so that their stories are not forgotten” (Bauld, Andrew. “Looking Beyond a Life Sentence.” Harvard Graduate School of Education, 6 Feb. 2018). He covers racial politics and sports for the Atlantic—sometimes at the same time, as can be seen in his article on playing youth soccer as a Black person in Louisiana (Smith, Clint. “Donald Trump, David Duke, and the Soccer Fields of Louisiana.” Newyorker.com. 1 Mar. 2016). A series of poems in Counting Descent follow the titling convention, “what the [blank] said to the black boy,” featuring such speakers as a fire hydrant, a cathedral, and the ocean.

Smith’s most recently published book, How the Word is Passed (Little, Brown and Company, 2021), sits at the intersection of Clint’s thematic and artistic interests. Smith travelled the United States visiting important sites in the country’s history of slavery. Smith approached the research as a journalist, taking notes and interviewing people during his travels. The book is nonfiction, but Smith prioritized the narrative aspect. As the writer, researcher, and speaker of the book, he compared himself to a protagonist, stating that “the best protagonists reveal their interiority” (“#515.” Longform Podcast.). The reflective speaker is a key feature of Smith’s craft, “Counting Descent” included.