Waking Up Black

ONE MORNING I WOKE UP BLACK

INWARDLY, I WAS STILL WHITE BUT I KNEW, THERE IN THE MIRROR, I WAS

BLACK… BLACK AS IN AFRO AMERICAN… BLACK AS IN NEGRO BLACK

 AS IN COLORED… BLACK AS IN NOT HAVING THE PRIVILEGES OF BEING 

 WHITE…

 WHITE AS IN NOT BEING BLACK…

WHITE AS IN ANOTHER RACE AND ECONOMIC CATEGORY.

COULD I WALK DOWN THE STREET, AS A BLACK MAN, AND FEEL THE

SAME AS I DID AS A WHITE MAN? 

IN THE MOVIE THEATRE WHERE THE EMPTY SEAT NEXT TO ME WAS NOT

SAT IN BECAUSE OF MY NEW COLOR?

COULD I GO INTO A SUPER MARKET AND BE TREATED WITH THE

KINDNESS AND RESPECT THAT I RECEIVED AS A

WHITE SHOPPER?

COULD I LEAVE THE JAZZ CLUB AFTER THE LAST SET

AND WALK HOME WITHOUT THE FEELING THAT, AS BLACK, I SHOULDN’T  

BE ON THE STREET AT THAT TIME OF NIGHT?

HOW ABOUT ALONE ON A TRAIL IN ONE OF THE PARKS? WOULD OTHER HIKERS VEER AROUND ME WHEN THEY PASSED?

HOW WOULD I BE WELCOMED AS A NEW OWNER OF AN APARTMENT IN

AN OLDER BUILDING WITH LONG ESTABLISHED OCCUPANTS…. WOULD I

BE TREATED AS THEIR ‘TOKEN’ NEIGHBOR TO SATISFY A LIBERAL NEED?

AND IF I ATTENDED A MEMOIR CLASS—BLACK… WOULD MY FELLOW

CLASSMATES EXPECT BLACK STORIES FROM A BLACK MAN WITH BLACK

EXPERIENCES OR AS A PERSON, A WHITE PERSON, JUST SHARING HIS

LIFE’S STORY??

THINK ABOUT IT….IMAGINE WAKING UP ONE DAY, AS A BLACK PERSON.

GO THROUGH YOUR DAY AND BE CONSCIOUS OF THAT DIFFERENCE AND

 HOW IT MIGHT CHANGE YOUR LIFE. THE THINGS WE TAKE FOR GRANTED

 BECAUSE OF OUR WHITE COLOR, OUR INHERENT, UNCONSCIOUS,

UNEARNED PRIVILEGE.

CAN YOU EVEN GO THERE??