To have to defend yourself on a daily basis to be judged not by character but by the color of your face,

Oh to be black

To be turned down for careers, not because of the lack of qualification, not because of education or motivation but just because of the color of our skin, we take severe blows to the chin,

Oh to be black

To have our children treated differently in the schools, bending and altering and changing the rules to make things hard for our kids, when does fairness for all set in?

Oh to be black;

To be turned down for mortgages and loans at twice and sometimes more as the rate of whites, to keep on trying although we know we are not winning this fight, Oh to be black;

To have sickness and disease at much higher rates that most, to have the largest poverty levels from coast to coast,

Oh to be black;

To have our men treated unfairly in the corporate world, because of some silly threat they may be after the white girl,

Oh to be black;

To have to smile to keep from crying, to keep your chin up although inside you are dying, Oh to be black;

To be black, a sister has choices of only a few decent men, many of the brothers are incarcerated, and you know this is a sin, Oh to be black;

To have some our own minister’s men and women supposedly sent by God, ripping us off with money schemes gimmicks and games, what doggone shame,

Oh to be black;

Well it’s a fact, not a bowl of cherries being black, but I would never give it back!

Jacqueline R. King