Poem: If the White Were Dark

Trayvon Martin (1995-2012)

White is dark.
Bang! Sorry!
A fear of being killed is your defence
As they lie
                  dead
                          with nothing but a pair of keys in their hands


White is dark.
Get out! You don't belong here!
Publicly humiliated - and for what?
A willing, paying customer,
                                            shamed,
                                                            singled out for looking different


What if white were dark?
Bang! Sorry!
Arrested and punished
On trial
             for murder
                              in the second degree                                                           


What if white were dark?
Get Out! You don't belong here!
Imagine the uproar
The viral videos,
                          dominating social media,
                                                                   crowd jumping to their defence


If the white were dark,
Gun laws would be there,
racism at a minimum,
no wall, no discrimination, no
                                                 separation
                                                                    of families.

Mother and child at the US-Mexico border, 2018

     
The writer of this poem is a pupil at PGS who has requested to remain anonymous.