I Thought I Wasn’t Racist. I Was Wrong.

“Them And Us” has never worked.

Photo by Obie Fernandez on Unsplash

I got it wrong
hard to admit
Seventy years
blind and deaf
head in the sand
smart and funny
self-righteous fool.

I didn’t hear my words that way
didn’t understand.
that’s not what I meant
that’s not what I said.

or is it?

they can’t hold and breathe
our thoughts and prayers
it’s not enough.

last year
George Floyd
murdered

it goes on and on and on
I still say they and them
think they and them

they are too close too far
separate but equal
right?

it has never worked
we’re killing them
will do more damage
til them becomes us —

we’re killing us

hear the words and cries
until they are we and
them are us.

not over there
in the quarters
lynched —
horrors from the past
are the present
the here and now.

stop.

shut up.

listen.