Colour Blind

After hearing lots of troubling facts and statistics about ongoing issues regarding race relations at the wonderful 2012 LSBC award ceremony, I had to put pen to paper:

I am everything and nothing, I am colour.

I steal individuality, I distort the reality,

I struggle to fit in, I can’t help but stand out,

All who see me find their minds filled with doubt.

I have caused countless deaths, lands have been ravaged in my name,

And still the understanding of my unimportance remains the same.

I am prejudice, I am segregation, I am distrust.

I am colour.

Some might say the picture I have painted is far too black and white,

That for many years now humanity has done its best to unite,

Of course matters are improving, that I can’t deny,

But to say nothing remains to be done, would be a terrible lie.

It’s true we have a black president,

but the racial divide remains evident,

Young black males are still 28% more likely to be stopped while the whites walk free,

Why don’t we just go back to the good old times of DWB?

I long for acceptance, I yearn for respect,

Alas, I know this world of mine isn’t quite ready yet,

I wish to be invisible because that would allow my bodies to be free,

Free to be themselves and free from just being me.

I am everything and nothing, I am colour.

But let’s keep it real now,

And I’ll tell you what burns me to my core,

It’s when any white friend of mine says he can’t take it any more,

When he’s in a room full of blacks,

Shying away from an imaginary skin dominated attack.

 Now I know it’s all about what you’re used to,

But if we can adapt to being the odd one’s out, they should too.

I am everything and nothing, I am colour.

If you see me, then you have failed to truly see.