As an African American woman, Audre Lorde was outraged about the incident that occurred the 1970’s that pushed her write this poem. According to the editors on Biography.com, “…African-American poet and essayist who gave voice to issues of race, gender and sexuality.” This poem is like all of her works was a voice to the voiceless. This poem gave the oppressed a voice against blind justice. Thought this poem was not only about the shooting of boy, this poem was about the struggle of the African American community, the anger of having unbalanced power, and sorrow of no power. Being under powered does not mean African American has no power. The African American community has struggled with racism, criticism, and the feeling of being under powered.…show more content… The sorrow of African Americans being oppressed by the Caucasian for the last four centuries is heartbreaking. The lack of equal power causes wars because the sorrow is too much to bare and the people are left with only one skill, kill or be pushed down to the floor. As Lorde stated: “dragged her 4'10'' black Woman's frame / over the hot coals / of four centuries of white male approval / until she let go” (36-39). The fact that she described the poor mother dragging along steaming rocks, speaks the sorrow that flows through out the…show more content… Knowing one that has power trapped in them can help the world and the society that we live in or simple destroy it. Whether people accept the truth or not, everyone has untapped power inside of them. Life events, struggles, and society can change that untapped power in not only in one individual but multiple individuals, even a whole community. In the poem Lorde watches and witnessed the anger and the sorrow of her community and had to mentally balance out her emotions. But she states: “But unless I learn to use / the difference between poetry and rhetoric / my power too will run corrupt as poisonous mold” (45-47). She knows deep down she can be as cruel and as unjust as the rest of the society. But it would not change a thing. People murder and die, because that is what people do. The mood in that she had in the last stanza was far more than anger, she was enraged and she also explained what she will do if she let her anger get the better of her: “…raping an 85 year old white woman / who is somebody's mother / and as I beat her senseless and set a torch to her bed”