Check out Clint Smith's poem, "Ode to the Only Black Kid in the Class", and his interview about the poem where he speaks of the circumstances that inspire him to write it, and cautions from generalizing black literature as a monolith. The poem is part of TED-Ed's series, There's a Poem for That

Watch Smith's TED Talk, How to raise a black son in America, which digs into his experience as a kid playing with water guns in a dark parking lot with his white friends— and his father’s furious and fearful response.

Learn more about Smith's work, poetry, and reporting here