The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock

The central theme of “The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock,” or the “biggest News” (Line 46), as Brooks’s speaker puts it, is that it can be difficult to differentiate people who would commit, encourage, or tolerate violent acts of racism from the people who are committed to anti-racism by looking at people’s daily activities. For instance, both racists and non-racists have to deal with parts of their homes breaking, and “put repair / To roof and latch” (Lines 3-4). This is a mundane activity that can be easily observed in the lives of people who are prejudiced and people who are not.

The first lines of the poem hint that the “Man,” or reporter, that the Chicago Defender sends to Little Rock anticipates many obvious differences among the people who harass and assault Black students. He arrives and sees “the people bear / Babes” (Lines 1-2). The line break after “bear” hints at one meaning of bear: to endure hardship. However, Line 2 offers a different meaning of bear: to go through the act of labor to produce a child. Enjambment, the placement of a line break in the middle of the sentence, contrasts the reporter’s expectations with what he discovers.