For Just A Moment Poem by Mustafa Marconi

Made a wish this morning
That one day I’ll be white
Maybe then I could feel like a citizen
Maybe then I could be proud
To call myself an American
Instantly it would erase
The 400 years that haunts me
The tragic results of slavery, racism, and oppression
Would no longer define me
Freeing my limbs bound to the saddles
Of four different horses
My psyche torn apart
Destroyed in full view of mortified eyes
Who mourn in silence
Never the less I shall not sip from this cup
For my lack of melanin shall protect me
The sight of police will not intimidate me
For white men are not massacred in cold blood
Like Sean Bell or Amadu Diallo
White men are not disproportionally shuttled
Through the prison system
Just for the hell of it
White men are not illegally stopped, frisked
And subjected to all manners of disrespect and humiliation
They are seen as human beings
I shall not be afraid to seek employment
No matter how uneducated or untrained
For in America even an idiot can become President
If he is white
The media will not crucify me
The Government will not alienate me
My elected officials will represent me
And society will forgive my trespasses
The memories of men lynched, hung, and set on fire
Of police dogs attacking women and children
Of four little girls murdered by cowards
Of the endless list of crimes against humanity
That we have suffered
Shall no longer be my burden
I shall not be afraid to stand on a corner with my peoples
To share a beer with my friends
To exit a club after a bachelor party
Or to stand in my vestibule with a wallet in my hand
Woke up this morning wishing for a second I was white
My consciousness thunderously slapping me back to reality
Turn my back on Malcolm, Martin and the rest of my heroes
Think again; I would rather die poor, broken and black
Then live one second of my life as anything else