Jason McCall is an Alabama native, and he currently teaches at the University of Alabama. His collections include Dear Hero, (winner of the 2012 Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize), Silver (Main Street Rag), I Can Explain (Finishing Line Press), Mother, Less Child (co-winner of the 2013 Paper Nautilus Vella Chapbook Prize), and he and P.J. Williams are the editors of the forthcoming It Was Written: Poetry Inspired by Hip-Hop (Minor Arcana Press).
John Henry is every black man. John Henry is every black man trying to breathe. John Henry is every black man willing to jump in front of a train to keep his job. John Henry is every black man who spent his life on the lookout for the man when he should have been on the lookout for the machine. John Henry is every black man with bleeding hands. John Henry is every black man who made white folks sing sad songs about how hard it is to be white and watch black folks die. John Henry is every black man with a wife in three states. John Henry is every black man who knows “retirement” is just another name for death in his neighborhood. John Henry is every black man dying to leave something more than a scar on the earth. John Henry is every black man flexing in the mirror and not knowing if he should be proud or terrified.