And a young child said, speak to us on race
And she answered:
You are the same beings beneath the thin layers that cover your hearts and souls.
For the color of your skin is not really what makes you different from your neighbor.
What makes you different is the color of your intentions.
Many were taught by those who could not see truth … by those whose hearts were damaged by their own thoughts.
But you, children of the light, will bring us back from the depths of our fears, our ignorance and stupidity. You shall lead us to freedom from the illnesses caused by our own erroneous thinking. Thinking that told us our color made us separate from each other.
For, it is said that children will lead us into the promised lands of our dreams and that they will teach us with their questions, and challenge us with their answers.
A growing understanding is unfolding and rising like spring flowers breaking free through winter’s cold crust: that no matter our differences, we are ultimately the same.
And each day the enlightened children of our world will silence despair and destruction and bring us home to the awareness that we are truly One.
I read my poem, Speak To Us On Race April 2011© at the request of The Community Foundation for The National Capital Region during their conversation series: Putting Race on the Table at Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. I modeled the style of my poem after ‘The Prophet’ by Khalil Gibran.
