You Say You Don’t See Color

What about the dress I’m wearing?
Do you see its color?
I wonder
Is it black and blue
or white and gold?
I recall the frenzy —
All over color.
The tints that you
do not see bind us
and remind us

Be it burgundy, indigo, or jade
Colorblindness is but a shade
That hangs over us
And confines us

My gown is bright yellow
Like the sun
or like a canary
Like a bird,
it is just out of reach
For you don’t see color.
It’s a pity.
You don’t see me.

You don’t see the sky
It is blue
dark in hue
beautiful
unlike your blindness

Do you see anything?
Can you see the forest,
or is it only the trees?
I forgot;
You don’t see color.

Do you see those lovely leaves?
What about the brown buds bursting into blooms
or the fruits that come in the spring.
Do you see
Oranges. Cherries. Grapes.
Plums. Peaches. Limes.
Lemons.
It is a dilemma

How might it be?
That you say you see me
if you don’t see color…
— or is it only skin
that escapes your sight?

If only you saw color…
but maybe it is better that you don’t

You will never have to study that thin-blue-line
or the blood that runs red and deep
It pours out into the streets

#TrayvonMartin #MichaelBrown #EricGarner #TamirRice #AkaiGurley #EzellFord #JohnCrawfordIII #YvetteSmith #RekiaBoyd #MarteseJohnson

No, you don’t see color.
Few do

I only wonder;
what might the world be like if we all saw color
the deep purple hues,
the chocolates,
the caramels,
coffee …

butter crème
pale pinks,
tans,
the burnt umbers,
the melanin.

Now I remember!
That is why you do not see color.
You don’t want to see or believe that Martese Johnson was beaten,
He was bloodied
brutally at the hands of police.

Oh but officers too do not see color
They do not hear the pleas?
Please do not beat me!
See me!
“I am a UVA student” he screams
between the blows
“I am a UVA student”
a child like your children…
Ah, but I am a person of color and
You don’t see color.
You don’t see me!
#JusticeForMartese

~ Betsy L. Angert

In homage to Martese Johnson and the centuries of other Black men and women, children, who have been beaten, battered, bludgeoned, and worse, just for being,
~March 18, 2015

Betsy L. Angert is an Author. She is also,as she believes we all are, some formally, some informally, an Educator. Betsy is a student. She began her “career” in a classroom at the age of one and one half and in many ways she never left. She sees her present-day life as an extension of her calling as a student. In each dynamic Betsy gains greater knowledge, shares the wisdom, and in doing so, she learns anew. She thanks all those she meets — they are her teachers.