Prologue

 

I just wanted to give a brief summary of how the piece “Black Shoes” came about. I watch the news on a daily basis and I see so much that makes me wonder about what is going on in our country when it comes to race. Over the course of three months I have witnessed several African American men being shot by the police. Having your arms up and laying on the pavement doesn’t seem to be enough.  I have seen police not release evidence in the wake of questionable shootings of unarmed African American men. I appreciate what the police do each day in the community but with any profession there are good and bad. Like any profession or career it is up to the management to weed out the ones whom can’t do the job correctly. Furthermore, training should be developed to assist any professional in dealing with the many different types of cultures and races they could meet on a daily basis.

 As the election of our next leader wears on, the media noise has incessantly buzzed like a hive of busy bees. As we are constantly bombarded with the next vile statement from Trump or the continuing debate about Clinton’s trustworthiness, Colin Kaepernick is mostly silent as he continues his protest about the inequalities in our nation. However, because he is not standing for the National Anthem he is considered unpatriotic and vilified because he chooses to exercise his constitutional right. It is quite interesting when a Supreme Court judge states that his protest is stupid. Our Supreme Court is sworn to uphold the very constitution which protects Kaepernick’s right to protest.  Why is it that in this so called tolerant age it seems we cannot withstand the idea of an African American athlete exercising a right for which our ancestors died? Why are we still attempting to cash that same blank check Dr. King spoke so eloquently about fifty years ago? We have a beautiful new repository of African American Culture and History in D.C but at the same time we are still rioting in major cities for just a tad of justice. In a recent poll it was discovered that 64 percent of whites disapproved of his protest while 73 percent of African Americans agree with his protest.  The racial lines are drawn clearly in the sand when numbers like this stare you in the face.

We have come a long way in this country when it comes to race. I must admit that fact. However, we still have a distance to go. I look forward to the day a person of color can protest without race coming into the picture. Look past the color is what I say. Don’t say I don’t see color but instead see past it and see the human being behind the facial shade. I hope the new museum will soften a hard heart and begin conversations that will help others see the magnificence and contribution of African Americans.

Thanks for reading and please have an open mind.

 

Black Shoes

I challenge you I say

Put on these tired black shoes

Do it each and everyday

Lace them up and walk out the door

Put one foot in front the other

Step across the floor

The floor of the U.S of A

A country that has duped us into being at bay

Put on these shoes I dare you

Come on cool dude

Become one of the many to wear these sneakers

Experience the tightness as you lace ups these shoes

As they strangle hope

Push folks over the edge who can’t cope

Dreams shattered on concreate

Watch these black shoes walk across the pieces

Bias filled classrooms

Faces seeped in despair

Sitting at desks in a country that doesn’t seem fair

Hands outstretched but no hand there to help

Put on these black shoes I dare you

Black shoes run across the field each Sunday

Kaepernick posing on bended knee

Just wanting people to understand his reality

The blood of our shackled ancestors provided the ink for the first amendment

Dirt thrown in Attucks’s revolutionary face is a testament

Peaceful protest is a human right

You wear black shoes

Don’t bother to get in the fight

Put on black shoes

paralyzed with fear of the policeman

speaking to our children about how to act

They might not make it home

That’s a hard fact

palm video held in wavering hands exposes the truth each day

Weeping for our losses

The so called sworn protector gets away

One day these ideas won’t matter

At least that’s the hope

If not our constitution might as well be in tatters

For our country I pray

Please remove these black shoes forever plus a day