Can You Imagine

Can you imagine being chained in a ship and taken to a strange land against your will? Can you imagine you and yours being shackled and sold to farms to work the land? Can you imagine being whipped for just saying something or looking the wrong way? Can you imagine your wife or daughter being used as brood mares to create more workers? Can you imagine your loved ones being categorized just like any other livestock? Can you imagine finally acquiring your freedom after a lifetime of imposed servitude? Can you imagine a country founded on the ideal of freedom denying it to so many? Can you imagine being hated and treated unequally just because you looked different? Can you imagine being hunted by people in hoods with bibles and crosses in their hand? Can you imagine being in fear for your life just for walking someplace or talking to someone? Can you imagine seeing your father or son in a hangman’s noose swinging from a tree? Can you imagine not being able to use a bathroom just because you were the wrong color? Can you imagine having to scold your child for using one of those bathrooms? Can you imagine being told that you cannot ride in a seat in the front of the bus? Can you imagine being told there is no vacancy at a motel when you know there is vacancies? Can you imagine people not serving you at a restaurant because you were not the right color? Can you imagine people crossing the street because they feared walking by you? Can you imagine having feelings for someone but not acting on them because of others? Can you imagine being gunned down by those who are supposed to protect and serve? Can you imagine being sprawled out on the ground with someone’s knee on your neck, struggling for every breath, asking for your mother, knowing the life is slowly draining from your body and wondering why? Can you imagine?