BLACK AND WHITE

In the beginning,

It was black when the Lord moved over waters

It was the colour of Africa that hushed with distilled silence

Through the cordless spines of Nature

It was the night, commander-in-chief of dark forces

That needed federation which ushered the entrance of the sun.

We showed them the paths to thread on

The hungry streets yelling for chaos in frantic ululations.

At the end, it was white

Light touched the sky with fingers of beauty

White defined wisdom in seven ways

That called Black dumb, daft and dark

Light was good but White was rude

In the end, it was a war.

This war started in the middle

When Black became angry of White’s piercing needle

When White was made the cop chasing the fugitive called Black

When the list where names of terrorists are written is Black

When the hero was white and zero was black

When the hand that triggered the bullet that shot that black kid is White

When they said Black is the colour of the devil and White…

That of the God that created the Night.

This war started when Black was thought to be negative…

In the middle, it was grey

A mixture of black with white

A stereotype that shows us the pride of White men

Who saw nothing but war-rotten creatures?

They pierced us with hot bullets and cold steel

In the middle, racism started.

We, Black men, know it will never end

But we will remember at a point at this bend

Not the words of those who don’t know when their shadows cry

But the silence of our blacker fathers.

©tohQuality