Mirror Mirror

It all started when I was sorta young

All the mirrors in my room were turned from

Me, Wilson Garner Panteleo Brown

Just your average John Doe or creepy peeping Tom.

Don’t ask me where I started to question

Why white is always right

And black seems to take

the form of all that is wrong

I am Wilson and Panteleo

Enriched from the law

Entrapped by the law

I have justice and honor and follow a code

But it’s a cold call

When did I start thinking heroes are always winners?

And when did I think,

That people who are desperate

And make mistakes,

Deserve to be called villains.

I am Garner and Brown

I have committed

Of the same crime

I’m a victim and I admit it

If I don’t understand

Am I a racist?

I picture

I commit murder

I’m described as pure,

and filled with joy

Who took my voice.

Who decided to give me no choice.

I did.

When I stare in the mirror,

With my two eyes,

Three I I I

see

Zeroed,

I feel ______ in my skin,

But is the value skin deep?

Can you tell me

What the 1 is I seek?

I’ll be the advisee

Searching with my partner

And friend, chronic unrest

Tells me right is for the best

So, I’ll just continue

To tell myself

“Mama never said ‘Be kind,

truthful,

and most of all forgiving’

for she was never understanding

when I said

‘What I did was not me.’”

This is a poem, dedicated to all those who are victims, all of us who search for what is right, who try and find the truth. I have never been a very outgoing person, but I always have questions. I debate about this topic and that one, I have my fair share of opinions but there has always been a fear in me of doing the wrong thing in societies eyes and receiving judgement for it that could potentially ruin my life. I still struggle with my inner fears even in doing this but now, in the present, I have found the power and desire to go out and show others that it is not hard to find what is right. It’s not hard to have a voice, it’s not hard to speak up, because the only person holding me back is me and likewise for you. I am a first-generation college student and throughout all my schooling, one thing I have learned is how to show respect. I respect my classmates, my parents, and my teachers because they have something I don’t. Hope. They hope for what’s best in this nation, in the world. But I refuse to have hope because hope allows you to be content and gives you piece in the unrest. Rather I want change. I want see piece in the world, not just feel that there could be. I want to partake in action that could change the course of life for the better. I want to... I just want to do something that will help. But for now, all I can do is inspire. Words of inspiration are like gasoline to a fire; they ignite the thoughts that fuel the actions that bring about the change. And I hope by reading this my politicians, world leaders, peacekeepers, and truth-seekers will all unite in one common goal; to release all these trifling matters we find ourselves entangled in and fight for what is righteous, what is necessary, and what is pure. Fight for our world, stop fighting with our fellow men and women, fight for the animals who depend upon us, search for the answers in the pandemonium, and fight the person in the mirror saying its not possible. So yes -- mirror mirror -- you lied to me, you told me it was impossible but I will always find a way, I can do the impossible.