"YOUR BLACK!"

INTRODUCTION

One day in class, a fellow classmate of mine who I thought to be one of my friends, but seemed more of a racial prosecutor after his remark, says to me with a face that screams "I'm better than you" and the most insulting voice "Hey Hausson, YOUR BLACK!"

POEM

Rendering back and forth through my mind like the Earth's tectonic plates during an earthquake, causing a sudden halt of time were the words " YOUR BLACK!" Why would he need to tell me this, as if I needed a spontaneous reminder of my ethnicity, as if I needed to be put in my place. I ask you, what is my place? I'll tell you, my place is at the pinnacle of the social ladder along with every human being that walks, glides, slides and stands on this earth because I believe we are all equal no matter how we look.

However, this isn't the first time I've been subjected to discrimination. I've also heard the notorious phrases, "Your not black enough", as if a certain shade of black is required to be considered it, and "You don't talk black, you talk white", as if African Americans are incapable of being articulate. So to racial prosecutors I say: I am Black, from my coarsely curled hair to my wide flat feet. My blood pumps strong like the gasoline that fuels modern day vehicles, whom without them society wouldn't be where it is today. So, remember the next time you call me black, thinking you insulted me, your actually calling me Bold and brave in my endeavors, a Leader, an Articulate and accomplished individual, Confident and Knowledgeable about who I am, where I come from and where I want to be.

As the Godfather of Soul, James Brown demanded, "Say it loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" and say it I shall.

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