THE PARADOX

Black is the color of my skin.

Black wears the heart

of the plot against our humanity.

Black blows the tyranny

of the white squall,

that denies us all rights and privileges.

Black is the color of my skin.

Black is the color of my skin.

Black spews the venom

that inspires drudgery

to our bruised mentality.

Black bears the denunciation of a race

For fear that we will all overcome.

Black is the color of my skin.

Black is the color of my skin.

Black spurs the hatred

that’s conjured up

just by our being.

Black is the putrid deterioration

of our already brainwashed psyche.

Black is the color of my skin.

Black is the color of my skin.

Black spurns with utter disregard

the ethnicity of the rainbow.

Black breeds the biting desire

Of a whitewashed nation

to keep we sedated.

Black is the color of my skin.

Black is the color of my skin.

Black defines the blame we are handed

for breathing life’s passions.

Black puts up an impenetrable wall

That’s drilled deep in our souls

To denigrate our ability to soar.

Black is the color of my skin.

Black is the color of my skin.

Black draws out the vile thoughts

of their hardened hearts from within.

Black is the scapegoat

Used in the argument

to segregate us.

But Black is only the color of my skin.

                             Melanie Bynoe