What Is White
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What is white?
The ironies of the question and the implications
Are really quite extraordinary ...
For WHITE, specifically
Is the ABSENCE of all color.
If "white supremacists" truly took the term seriously
They'd know that they have completely misrepresented themselves
And that the term "white"
Is the most all-inclusive term possible
If taken literally ...
Oh, I'm sure they'd come up with some absurd rationalization
Or a term far more hateful and divisive
(Cause that's what they're about, after all)
But I'd love to make them aware of that reality just the same
Just to watch them squirm a bit.
But I'm a realist, overall, and that's what "white" means to me
A lack of all color, distinctly.
I don't like labels ...
And I don't like being called "white" ... it doesn't fit
I'm sort of tan, if you must know,
And it changes throughout the year
And sometimes by the minute ...
Depending on the amount of time I get in the sun
Or the amount of time I've spent shoveling or blowing snow, (yuck!)
Or, quite possibly, how much wine I've had with dinner
But I'm not, nor have I EVER been, remotely "white".
If we applied that word to society as a whole
We'd ACTUALLY be saying that mankind is colorless
And while it's also not remotely accurate
It would be wonderful if we saw each other that way ... colorless, I mean.
But color, like religion and politics and size and sex and ...
Oh, EVERYthing, really
Is something that makes us who we are
The differences that make us unique and special creations
And ALL those things should be embraced ...
And celebrated ...
For our differences are the things that denote individuality
And SHOULDN'T be things to divide us
But rather things that bring us together ...
As individuals ...
Not incite fear and bias and hatred.
So, please don't ever call me "white"
UNLESS you mean what the WORD truly means - colorless
Because that's how I see myself spiritually
And in relation to my fellow humans.
But if you're talking skin tone
Try "light tan", that's probably closest ...
And I'm proud to be the shade I am, (whatever that may be)
Cuz I doubt there's anyone else
That's exactly the same ...
And the fact that there's probably no one else in the world
Who's EXACTLY the same skin tone as anyone ELSE
Is one MORE good reason
Why it shouldn't matter ...
At ALL.
Ever.
* Written and submitted on January 17, 2018, for the "What Is White?" Poetry Contest, Debbie Guzzi, Sponsor. *
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden | Year Posted 2018
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