Black History Month...Colorblind

written by: stacia_doss.
Over the years, I've written a lot of poems that can all be relevantly used in honor of Black History month. I want to do something a little different on TWU this February and hopefully continue throughout the year in between my usual posting subjects.

I stumbled upon this site: http://howtobeblack.me. It offers viewpoints from a variety of people (not just Black people) in honor of the book "How to be Black," a lesson that people from any cultural background would be intrigued by, including myself. In short, here is what the site is doing: "Throughout Black History Month (and beyond), we’ll be focusing on questions of identity." Check it out on your own, because I have obviously given a pretty vague description. I, myself, will be answering some of these questions and I invite you all to, as well.

Here are the first eight questions that have been posted:

Blackness Questionnaire

1. When Did You First Realize You Were Black?

2. How Black Are You?

3. Have You Ever Wanted to Not Be Black?

4. Can You Swim?

5. How’s That Post-racial Thing Working Out for Ya?

6. Why Can’t We Just Ignore Racial Differences Already?

7. Has Social Media Affected How People Understand What It Means To Be Black?

8. How Does Race Affect Your Faith In The United States?

First, though, I wanted to post a note I published on Facebook in 2006. It still is and will probably always be relevant:

i think back to when i was little...

i didnt see color..

all i saw was people-

until that point in life that i realized,

we're not the same,

the point in life where one incident shows us

that we are treated differently...

but now , though grown and far from naive...

im still ignorant to the question of "why?"

why did i have to reach that point in life where i realized

such a thing as color existed?

sometimes i wish we all had the innocence of a child...

when different colors of skin were blind to my eyes,

and we were all ONE people....