Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

By Louise Ward
Napier Courier·
24 Aug, 2020 12:23 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

The background to this young adult verse novel is that in 1989 five teens were arrested and convicted of rape and battery in what came to be known as The Central Park Jogger case. Yusef Salaam was one of those boys, against whom there was no evidence. Punching the Air is not Yusef's autobiography but is inspired by his experience as a young artist and incarcerated black teen.

Our protagonist in this story is Amal. He's a clever kid who writes rhymes and gets into the extended art class but institutional racism is against him from the start. Ms Rinaldi teaches by making him memorise paintings and dates and when Amal queries the relevance of old white painters it becomes clear that this system doesn't cater for a boy of his background.

There has been a gentrification of the area in which Amal has grown up. He's out with his mates one night and the white boys tell the black boys to get out of their neighbourhood. An almighty fight cracks off and Amal is involved. A white boy is beaten so badly he becomes comatose and Amal is caught, tried and convicted, protesting his innocence all the way.

Amal is traumatised and this is not an easy transition for him. He's angry and humiliated and expecting everyone to be against him and of course many are. The worst of the violence and racism is alluded to but it is neatly and horrifically encapsulated in a description of a tattoo that one of the prison guards wears of a black baby with a noose around its neck. There are tiny moments like this that say absolutely everything and the result is an emotional punch to the gut.

Amal comes to engage with the scant opportunities that are presented to him while incarcerated – a poetry class that gets pulled, an art initiative that gets squashed by bureaucracy – and he beautifully and subtly references Maya Angelou's Still I Rise. As his dreams are consistently brought to dust, still, he rises.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This is a book with which to challenge yourself and your assumptions and its form capitalises on the way in which poetry is calling out to youth as a way to condense their thoughts and express their truth in this world gone mad. A powerful book that deserves a wide audience.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

'May as well make it a big one': Kiwi Olympians off on epic 4500km African charity ride

Hawkes Bay Today

Woman tied to a pole and gagged during 100 assaults from partner

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

'May as well make it a big one': Kiwi Olympians off on epic 4500km African charity ride
Hawkes Bay Today

'May as well make it a big one': Kiwi Olympians off on epic 4500km African charity ride

Their journey starts in Uganda and ends in Zimbabwe, crossing five countries.

14 Jul 06:00 PM
Woman tied to a pole and gagged during 100 assaults from partner
Hawkes Bay Today

Woman tied to a pole and gagged during 100 assaults from partner

14 Jul 05:00 AM
Premium
Premium
'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema
Hawkes Bay Today

'Bringing the community together': Young new owner's plans for Hastings cinema

14 Jul 04:29 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP