You Wear Your Black, Like I Wear My Skin

You dress Your bodies in Black with an accent color of White as I dress my Skin and accent it with color.

You wear Your Black like I wear my Skin.

We walk out of our doors, young, old and in between; male and female, understanding that our backs, chests and foreheads are targets. We are recognized everywhere we go.

         You wear Your Black like I wear my Skin.

Everyone knows where we live, work, learn, play and Pray twenty four hours any day.

You wear Your Black like I wear my Skin.

You can and yet You do not compromise Your Pride, Dignity, Faith and Love; as I have no choice but to wear my Skin, with Pride, Dignity, Faith and Love.

WE wear our Black as the creator has made us.
The creator made Black. WE share its Diversity in
the World.

DIANE (DAVIDA) BELLAMY is a Native Harlem, New Yorker of 50 years now living in North Carolina. She is a graduate of Fordham University-Marymount, NY with a degree in psychology. Diane retired from teaching and is currently busy writing and painting. Her poem “You Wear Your Black, Like I Wear My Skin” expresses her point of view of the shooting incident in Jersey City, NJ in 2019. She tried to make sense of it by asking herself, WHY? Could the shooter not SEE they were both wearing “Black”?