A Tribute: UK Black History Month

In the United Kingdom it's October which means it's Black History month and this year's theme for the UK's Black History Month is 'Reclaiming Narratives' which is about revisiting history and taking ownership of the stories about culture, contributions and identity that define people from the black community.

I'm not black, heck, I'm not even British but that doesn't mean I don't care about justice, about equality. I think about it all the time. I think about all the hatred that's in the world. How more than half the world judges a person by their skin color, their sexual orientation, their self gender classifications. See I know what it's like to have an accepted gender in society, and I know what it's like to have an orientation that isn't accepted in society. But there's one thing I don't know. And so I wrote this poem for Back History month in the UK.

___________________

I will never know what

it feels like to be

a proud black woman

but

I will never

pretend like I do.

I have lived

63 years

and I have seen

Racism,

Murder,

And

Genocide

and it breaks

my heart and makes me

feel sick inside.

--

I will never know what

it feels like to be

a proud black woman.

who's turned down for a job

because of the color

of her skin.

But there are roughly

1.3 billion people

in the world who do.

I can see there's

something wrong

with that, can you?

--

I will never know what

it feels like to be

a proud black woman

accused of breaking the law

just for walking

down the street at night

or have everything

in my life

be a constant struggle

and fight.

--

No, I will never know.

But I'll tell you

right here and now,

I will never let the

color of someone's skin

lead me to prejudge

what they are like

---->within<-----

___________________