My eyes awakened to a world today
That they do not really understand
For this world will not accept me
As the young man that I really am
Society has had a tendency to dictate
A world of hard life for one like me
Because of my skins darker color
Because of what their eyes daily see
Will there ever be hope In my life
Of being more than what they say I am
Why do I have to work ten times as hard
As my brother in God, a Caucasian man
I am a constant victim of a daily outrage
Which has lasted for far too many years
And I wonder if I’ll ever be sheltered
From many of my life’s most proven fears
For there is not a place for me to go to
From this savage land where I was born
And I find myself continually an outcast
While in my country I daily taste its scorn
Though I am akin to the Africans, the Asians,
The Europeans and Native Americans the same
In my country, they won’t accept my true identity
Refusing to recognize my color has a real name
For my color isn’t black as I’m constantly told
And neither white as they try to conform me to be
My color is of natures beautiful red-brown pecan
For this is the true color each day my eyes see.
By Wendell A. Brown
Written October 1971 at the age of 20
Encountering racism in southern Missouri,
And the racism still exists today for
People of color. Our color was created by
God equally, and yet over 40 years later.
We still encounter hatred, because of our
Color.
Copyrighted and all rights reserved.
A version First appeared in American
Diversity Report.com. 2010.
