PART B: Which quote from the text best supports the answer to Part A?Jabari Unmasked by Nikki Grimes

About the Author
Nikki Grimes is an African American author, poet, and journalist. Grimes is well known for her award-winning books written for children and young adults. This poem appeared in her book One Last Word, a collection inspired by poems from the Harlem Renaissance that follow the "Golden Shovel" form. In this poetic form, the poet takes a "striking line" from an inspirational poem and uses words from that inspirational line or stanza in a new poem. The striking line then appears, word for word, at the end of the lines in the new poem. This poem uses the first stanza of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask,” as a speaker describes why they conceal their identity. As you read, take notes on what and why the speaker is hiding from the world.

Fresh out of middle school, we
all understand the rules: wear
whatever’s in, scowl on cue to convince the
world we’re fearless — anything to mask
the million insecurities that
pockmark our skin like acne. Gone the grins
when we strut down the hall. We talk tough and
hope to God it’s enough to get us by. It’s all lies.

We despise the masquerade. It
may disguise our fears, but also hides
our kind and tender hearts, our
agile minds, the wit that sits behind our cheeks —
who’d guess that some of us are geeks and
nerds and poets, too? Clothed in shades
of chocolate skin, our color works to camouflage
our
character and promise — at least, in certain eyes.

One look, and we are neatly judged this
gang, these thugs, these dark delinquents in
debt
to society. Meanwhile, you fail to see that we
are college-bound (more than a few), prepared to
pay
attention to psychology, the sciences, the arts, to
thoughtfully unfurl the scrolls of human
history. Instead, you see a thief who uses guile.

Is such unfairness what the world is filled with?
The evidence is seen in spirits ripped and torn.
Still, the world needs the dreams we offer, and
should we leave those dreams bleeding
on the road, we’d shrink our own hearts
down to nothing, and that we
would regret. Better to let our anger go, and smile.

The ignorant ignore as best you can, and
in the end, mask aside, freshen your mouth
with ferocious lines of potent poetry, with
metaphors that mightily reveal the myriad
of emotions you feel – yet, in all their subtleties.