poetry

from the article:

I, Who Am Ignorant

I, who am ignorant Need to know If white is virtue true So I can go and bleach my skin

Asks this question, a loyal man Because he needs to know If the black man should not be baptized In the baptismal font

If there is yet another more pure

Going forward, going back Prettier, shinier Where the white man is dipped Will someone tell it straight For I, who am ignorant

Two men and one woman From whom we all descend While only the black man With disdain ought to be faced

The same blood it must be Though the black man alone Is placed forever Separate

If the black man is not baptized I need to know Black was St. Benedictine Black his paintings too And in the Holy Scripture I have never seen a single word writ in white ink

Black were the nails driven through the Christ’s hands Died, he, upon the holy cross Is it possible then, that down he came Not to suffer for the white man’s sins Only this way will I know If the color white is virtue true

When we have to account To my God for every deed How will the black man atone For the white man’s sins

If the black man is then found Without a crime for which to pay Will they say that it’s not true That the white man has no sentence That it’s all been misconstrued So that then I may go and bleach my skin