Poetry: Blanco Y Negro

BLANCO Y NEGRO 

By JENNIFER MORALES’22

CONTRIBUTOR, Volume 1, Issue 1

Día y noche 

A Color, A Nightmare

There is always a light

A light that grants us vision

I see myself and others

Wondering why my skin stirs up trouble

Café, Blanco y Negro

Is there a difference?

Why is any other color besides the color of my skin considered beautiful?

Rojo like a beautiful rose

Blanco like an angel in heaven

Azul like the sky

Rojo, Blanco, Azul

The American Flag

It’s my greatest nightmare

So peaceful and hateful

“Are you allowed to be here?”

“You can’t sit here!”

“WHITES ONLY!”

“You don’t belong in this country!”

White is part of the flag

White is in this country

White is something I’m not

My brown skin is beautiful 

I am not dirty

I am not dangerous

I am not a rapist

I am not in a gang

I am a woman

A woman who cries and shouts 

LISTEN TO ME

I’m like you

I am not dangerous, I am IN danger

In danger of being abandoned

Of being left behind by the country I was born in

I thought this was the land of the free

I guess it’s just a trick for people like me