Blind I
lived
Until I
could see
Going to
and fro
As privileged as could be.
Blind I
lived
Everywhere
I looked
Felt
comfortable
Every
turn I took.
Built
into my spaces
Those assumptions
that I made
I held
to them like a cloak
From the
chill of winter afraid.
Sameness
is what I saw
Left and
right so it seems
Those
people over there
Blinding
that heavy beam.
Whiteness
is how I lived
Who
would be surprised
The folks
with different skin
Were
somehow to be despised.
How long
could that be maintained
And live
and be somehow sane
To hide
behind that wall
And
pretend to be humane.
There
were small dents here and there
By Cora
and the prof we called Doc
My
father’s friend named Charlie
The Black
preacher even more the shock.
College
opened up the door
To more
people of other races
Still
the assumptions just lingered
Without
opening up all the spaces.
Then the
call came that day
“The
severity of the cause”
The
words I heard
More
than made me pause.
Into
their world I wondered
Stories of
farming while black
The powers
and oppression
My white
world did severely crack.
The mediation
hearing in DC
Powerful
people all around the room
Farmer, wife,
and legal counsel
Would
the feds their lives consume.
By grit
and determination
The
lawsuits they did win
How much
of life they lost
These
things America’s greatest sin.
Other
people and conversations
Continued
to challenge my thinking
Gary Doc Van Welchel Janice Major
My blindness
rapidly shrinking.
Enslaved
Africans chained
Inside the
brutal ship
Bought
and sold like cattle
On the
auction block forced to strip.
Brought
here to work the land
To support
the owners greed
Never to
own the land
Freedom
a deeply planted seed.
From
then until now
Whiteness
the dominant color
Who made
that determination
Of the
value of the other.
We see
it all around
When we live
with open eyes
Oppression
left and right
To many
there is no surprise.
From red
lining
To obstacles
at the voting booth
Crime
violence against people
Passed time
to learn the truth.
To
fulfill the dreamers dream
Cease
judging by color of skin
But by
content of ones character
Living beyond
our original sin.
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