This excuse, "Students did not think they were insulting the American flag", does not hold true. When someone takes a lighter and clicks it on, they are bringing forth fire to destroy it. That's disrespectful and has absolutely nothing to do about the mistreatment of Africian-Americans. For that matter, neither does looting, breaking windows, hurting people, and setting buildings on fire. Africian-Americians have been grossly mistreated all through history. No one can deny this. In my opinion, they have had it. The pot boiled over. Their reactions should not come as any surprise, but enough was enough. Now they are being noticed. It's just too bad they had to resort to burning our flag along with other violations for people to notice.
We did this poem in our class too, the strongest form would be allusion because the crystal stair, and all the stuff on the stairs represents her life and the hardships in it.
