So I’m sitting at the bus stop reminiscing

About how the world seemed so innocent

In my childhood, I had a limited understanding of how the world worked at the time

Little did I know, a white woman was waiting for me to get up

So she could sit down on the very same bench

Separate but equal never rang so inaccurately to me personally

In a world where we seem to pride ourselves on diversity

Where the new age idea is supposedly unity

I stand as a black man, often alone and persecuted

For a surface quality that many of my ancestors

Have been executed

My history is filled with pain, persecution, and perseverance

And it’s getting hard to endure the racism that simply hasn’t been cured

Is Black privilege being able to walk down the street freely?

Only to become self-conscious as I hear a car lock as I walk passed it

Is Black privilege having the freedom to worry about minstrel shows being performed on Halloween?

I personally don’t feel safe at night, whether it be because of police brutality

Irrational vigilante “Justice” or some Indian guys calling me the N word

Because they feel like being Brown is a shade close enough to being vilified by

A majority of the majority in which I have been forced to feel less than

Because they call my people the minority

The expectation for a brown man is to be a doctor whereas a Black Man is almost guaranteed a spot in prison.

In a world where my male black friend was walking down the street at night

And a white girl ran in the opposite direction to escape his treachery

In a world where everyone assumes that my full ride to college was from an athletic scholarship

In a world where every man is created equal based on a system founded on inequity

I will stand strong against the wave of inopportunity for my fellow man