"I Hate Being Black"

Angelina K. Morrison

Note from the writer: This is a 70-line observation written to express raw emotions. Read and decide if you identify with the views shared.

"I Hate Being Black"

"I Hate Being Black!"

Is that your refrain?

So what?

You hate your colour?

Did you choose this colour?

Why hate what you had no choice over?

And why despise what you can't change?

Would you bleach till you become a pale white image?

Or a sorry impression of a Michael Jackson?

Yes, black is disdained in the world;

Fair is the standard.

See how our people fall over themselves around white people.

Oh! What a shame!

But who created this sorry state of affairs?

Our people?

God?

But Lord, why did you make some people black and others white?

And why did our people buy into an inferior mentality?

See how they show us on screen:

Emaciated bodies,

Distended stomachs,

Flies all over,

Drinking from dirty rivers.

Yes, they even call us a Dark Continent.

Are we that hopeless?

Or we signed off our own story of shame?

And today our women are not comfortable in their skin;

And our men must go far and slave:

Wiping floors and behinds to make a living.

And our leaders live in luxury,

While the masses feed on poverty.

And why do our treasures leave our shores?

Gold, silver, timber, bauxite, you name it...

Lord, you gave us abundant natural resources,

But why not the brains to feed ourselves?

And why must we import what we can produce?

Oh! Why did you leave us in this state?

To learn to complain and still do nothing.

And why have I also caught the complaining bug?

And here we do nothing to change our fortunes?

Lord, we say we have embraced you;

But we've mixed your Word with our traditions.

And so we don't see results.

Dwelling in a land full of lazy bones,

Comfortable with little.

Perhaps, that's why you hate being black,

But you shall remain black.

I too shall remain black,

Because that is who we are.

Our colour will never change.

Now, what must we do?

Take a journey of mental change,

And someday, we shall see the light.

We feel our people are cursed,

But, are curses not to be broken?

So this curse must be broken.

For all hope is not lost.

Though our land may not soon change,

Our ways must quickly change.

But you, stop hating your colour,

For what a person hates today,

They may soon grow to love.

Recant your "I hate being black" sentiment,

And be now proud to be black.

Yes, start loving your colour,

And stand defiant to your detractors.

Black is God's gift to you.

Black is what you are;

And black is what I am,

And black is what we'll always be!

Look out for my next piece Dreaming of Two Heavens: Africa & The Unseen.

I shall return with my talking drums.

Angelina K. Morrison is interested in national development, true religion, and self-improvement. She enjoys thinking, and writes stories only when the muse grips her. Her first short story for public consumption is available for free at Amazon on 28th February & 1st March 2015. Strangely titled Gravellatina, it is part of a breathtaking five-part gripping series. You can email her at angelinakm75@gmail.com, or find her at www.angelinakmorrison.wordpress.com.