“Maybe I have the chance to speak the words
those darker than me can’t. I’ll use the privilege
of my Whiteness to stand up and start a chant.
See maybe one of these days I’ll be the change
I want to see. Slowly began to realize, I’ve got it
all inside of me. Don’t call me nigga.
Don’t call me nigga.
I feel a sharp pain in my chest when I hear about
this boy, came to my town, for a chance. You see…
they send these buses down to South Central LA.
They tell them you’ll get a stellar education and
we’re willing to help pay. But the truth lays in
the words that fail to escape their mouth. They have
a quota to fill–the darker the better. “But don’t worry
we aren’t racist, that’s why we’re sending you this letter.”
You see they do a good job, installing a division of
trust. They say it’s safer than the streets, but it’s really
just a bust. The school stays saying “he didn’t die because he was Black” but if not the color of his skin
would he have been stabbed in the back?”
-Faith Schneider-Reuter Arcata High Senior
