Identical Reflections | Teen Ink

Identical Reflections

October 13, 2015
By GraceKent SILVER, Ann Arbor, Michigan
GraceKent SILVER, Ann Arbor, Michigan
9 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
What isn't given to love, is so much wasted.


Humans are undoubtedly the beast of mankind
Humans are the ones that speak slowly to the blind
Humans are divided, it’s a fact that you cannot deny
The rich, and the richer, and, oh look, that homeless guy.
Content with life sitting in his rotted chair
A man comes along with long black braided hair
And gets asked if he’s got any dope to share
Is that fair?
Sometimes its intentional or maybe its not

An unconscious reality, free of  much thought
But who really cares if we’re living in a world of white?
Why stay awake when you can’t see during the night?
Oh but it's so much deeper than anyone feels
The only pain felt is when your pigment reveals
A past, a world in which a color was a sin,
A coward, a worker, a “what could have been”
A color does not determine socioeconomic positions
Because the universe revolves around doctors and mathematicians
Around two opposite extremes, or at least it seems

Society as a whole is playing for two separate teams.

Be sensitive to your own prejudices, I will tell my daughter
Cause’ in the end, we all sound the same under water
And the ifs and buts about racial oppression
Slash a deep cut through the facial expression
Of the people from a single God or higher being
In which we were all created differently for a reason

I’m guaranteeing
That the reason my eyes are brown and your eyes are blue
Aren’t so that we can see things from a different point of view
Because when the sun hits two people at just the right direction
A shadow is casted of two identical reflections
Moving in only one direction.
But when the sun goes away, and no shadows can be cast
It is only through humbling oneself and learning from the past
That we can continue to keep walking forward and straight
With a mind filled with love and empty of hate
Prejudice manifests itself as a lack of respecting
Assuming, avoiding, accusing, interjecting.
Unnecessary suspicions fog the brain from seeing straight
If loving is so easy,  how come we continue to hate?
Who cares if that hate is shown publically or not
Or justified by the terms “a little” or “a lot”
The fact is, it’s hate and it’s based off a color
Even after human anatomy proves we're all like one another
My skin, it’s white, and therefore I will never know
How a black boy feels, the horror, and that news show
“Our community is corrupt, bring back Jim Crow!”
But no
Because you see movements are associated with passion and fixation
So step outside of your metaphorical plantation
Because in this generation
Movements are associated with making yourself aware
Not by asserting yourself dominant in a world that already puts you there


The author's comments:

I originally intended for this poem to be read as spoken word, where I could put my emotions that I had while writing the poem, into the actual presentation of it.  Words are strong and they can be used in positive and negative ways.  I hope I opened some peoples' eyes in seeing that the world we live in is not black or white, but rather a sea of colors in which we all swim in.


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This article has 2 comments.


on Apr. 27 2016 at 9:39 pm
GraceKent SILVER, Ann Arbor, Michigan
9 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
What isn't given to love, is so much wasted.

thank you!!

maddies999 said...
on Jan. 12 2016 at 10:29 am
maddies999,
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
this is so amazing. i love this sooo much