(ThyBlackMan.com) With the stand against racial injustice, I felt inspired to speak to those who either cannot or do not want to understand. For them, if it were possible to be Black for a Day, perhaps then you would seek understanding:
Black for a Day
If you were Black for a day,
You would feel the weight of this skin.
The air would grow thick
As you suddenly understand that you are both a blessing and a weapon;
That without being given a choice
You have a responsibility and a burden
From birth
To be brilliant and strong for those who look like you
To be close to God, knowing you can’t carry it alone
To be armed–every time you wake up–with whatever shred of confidence you could muster
In a divided world
Half of it affirming that you are a descendant of royalty and the seat of global culture
The other half reminding you that your life is three-fifths.If you were Black for a day
Followed through stores and looked at as a criminal by some
Chastised for standing up
Demonized for kneeling down
Celebrated for your gifts
Envied for your culture
Executed in the street, in your home, and in your car.If you were Black for a day
You would wonder what you did to make the world hate you
Question why your presence strikes fear in “them”
Ponder how the ugly has lived for so long
Postulate when you would be seen for your character alone.If you were Black for a day
You would want the world to know
That even we are as different from each other as “they” are.
That you are more than just one thing
That you can be Republican and still Black
That you can be educated and still Black
That you can be rich and still Black
That you can be none of that and still Black
That you are not a criminal because you’re Black
That you are not a gang member because you’re Black
That there is no ONE perspective because you’re Black
And the Black experience can be varied–just like the white one–and still be accurate and right.
That knowing one of us is still not the same as knowing USIf you were Black for a day
You would also see how beautiful this journey has been
Through the burdens of this skin, you are stronger
Through the trials of this generational fight, you are made excellent
Through the distortions of history, you have had to dig for truth
Just to prove your existence and contributions are valuable and real
Through the centuries of oppression, “they” need not fear a return of the same treatment at our hands–karma does it’s own workAnd if you were Black for a day
You would want someone
Who doesn’t look like you
To agree with you
That God loves us all
Not one more than the other
That He created variety–in His image
And that your life matters.
Staff Writer; DesJean Peyton Jones