Mahlon Gumbs,
Atlanta, GA.
What is uhmm…
Race is uhmm…
The thin line that
Blinds us,
Confines us,
Keeps us at home base.
If we cross that line
It’s a crime,
No matter the time;
Society will put us back in our place.
But what is uhmm…
Race is uhmm…
The thing about which we sing
Old negro spirituals
And perform rituals
With hopes of hearing freedom ring.
“Swing low, oh sweet chariot…”
And take us in the direction of Harriet
As she lays tracks to the underground railroad;
The underground’s *real* road to freedom.
But what uhmm…
Do we need freedom from?
Race is uhmm…
A curse that’s placed on all races
And plagues all people
In all places.
It’s a spell that enlarges our differences
To a magnitude so great
We can never see similarities;
Hence we learn to hate.
But from whence uhmm…
Did this hatred come?
Race is uhmm…
Here to stay unfortunately.
It’s forever usurping the sanity
Of humanity;
Disrupting our harmony
And clarity.
And as brother Shabazz said
Long before his last breath;
Like freedom,
The price of
Race is uhmm…
Death.
