As Black History Month winds down, I’m sharing a poem that I wrote two years ago for a contest at work. I won the poem-writing portion of the contest, but I don’t think they got more than a handful of entries.

Still, I think this has value. Enjoy.

Black
“Is it because I’m black??!!”
The comedian asked.
As if being “black” could be a reason
Or an excuse
To treat someone differently.

But what is, “black”?
How could a single color
Singled out from the rainbow
Tell so many
That they have no shades of grey?

Not different
From each other.
Not the same
As anyone else.
Separate and NOT equal
In the color-blind eyes of the racist.

Is Black History Month
A time to gently return
The color black to the rainbow,
So that it can join the other colors
In a celebration?
Where every color is joined together AND equal
In the color-soaked universe of our Creator God

“Is it because I’m black?”
“Yes,” the rainbow answered.
As if we could be a rainbow
Without you
Within us
To be glorious together.

(c) 2008 Tom Keefe

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 27th, 2010 at 11:43 am and is filed under communications, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.