I AM ASHAMED

I am ashamed to be white
A common thread with those who fight
Fight they do for all delusions
Bred in them by parents confusion

Skinheads, bigots, Ku Klux Klan
Reduce our nation with their racial brands
Adolf Hitler, David Duke
These are the people we don’t rebuke

For the world that will grow
From the hatred that they sow
Which makes it hard to find a place
Where racist problems can be erased

Is this the America in which we pride
Where liberty and justice is just a lie
Because these people “preserve” the whites
They take away minorities rights

Why must color determine fate
Why must color give or receive hate
Why must humans seek the differences
Why must color have such significance

Can this earth rise above
Instead of hate breed more love
For if we can’t the “heaven” we’ll find

Won’t be the one we have in mind.

©sinbajé1965-2008

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I was living in a small midwestern town when I started the above poem. The town, with only a handful of minority people even living there, experienced a number of cross burning incidences. At one point members of the KKK, or those offshoot radical groups came to town to rally. While it was not largely attended, I just remember feeling very disturb by the whole thing and needing to record my feelings.