Malcolm's Blues Poem by Justin Reamer

I was walkin’ down the street one day
While I was out to buy some food
For my family at a local grocery store;
It was time to get them dinner
So that they could eat their food,
So I was doing all that I could
To provide for them that night.

And I was going down there
As I was about to get to the register
When the clerk, a white man of sorts,
Stopped me in my tracks and told
Me that I didn’t belong at a place such as that,
For I was not at the right place.
I showed him my money and told him
I had the right amount to pay for the food
I was purchasing for my family,
But he didn’t listen to me.

Instead, he told me to leave just because
I was a black man,
A ‘nigger, ’ he called me,
For I was nothing but a monster to him,
And I didn’t deserve to be there.
I pleaded with him,
But he kicked me out,
And told me to go back to Africa
Where I belong,
Even though my generation
Had never been there for several years,
For my ancestors had been slaves for the longest time
Until we had migrated north.

Yet, I showed him kindness,
And I begged with him to let me prove myself,
That I wasn’t a thief and
Not a robber, to boot,
That he ignore me for the colour of my skin,
But, alas, he beat me, stole my goods,
And assaulted me until he finally threw me
Out of the store.
And I was beaten till I was no more.

Oh, God, what has happened to me?
Why do I have to suffer so?
Why did you make me black,
So that I suffer the undertow?
I don’t know if I’m human,
For everyone hates me
Simply for the colour of my skin,
And all I have to do is pray,
Awaiting Your answer,
For me and my kin.

Oh, the troubles I face,
What pain I feel,
Will this ever end?
I know not if it ever will,
But I hope maybe we can find peace,
In a dream I live of peace and harmony.

After the grocery store incident,
I began to think about the things
That had happened to me,
And I began to wonder why I was sufferin’ so.
Why was I sufferin’ like this?
Simply for the colour of my skin?
Are we really any different from each other?
The whites and the blacks?
Aren’t we both human, anyway?
So, I got to thinkin’ that maybe I could try to change
The way people think,
So I began to demonstrate and to protest,
Showin’ the injustice that me and my brothers face
Every day in this hopeless country.

So, I went to the bathroom in the bathroom of the whites,
Ate in the food of the whites,
Rode on white trolleys,
And ate in white restaurants,
But, alas, every time I was beaten,
Hurt, battered, maimed, and harmed.
They threw their fists at me,
Punched me in the face,
Kicked me in my groin,
Stomped on my limbs and torso,
And bit me all over,
And I was arrested,
Here to be for ever more,
Simply because the colour of my skin.

Oh God, what is wrong with me,
That I am so different from white folks
Who are supposedly no different?
Why do I suffer this pain that
I cannot explain?
What did I ever do to
Be so black and blue?
I don’t understand,
And I ask that You please help me
Because we are all a-sufferin’,
And we need Your help.

Yet, we go through every day,
Facin’ the darkness that we don’t understand,
And we are lost,
And the pain consumes us all,
And we don’t know where to go from here,
For no one will ever help us at all.

And my life continues,
In a bleak morose state,
For I know not where to go,
For all I will do is suffer here,
In prison as my white inmates
Try to threaten me and kill me,
And end the miserable life I live.
I hope there will be some hope for me,
As I try my best to live my life for God,
But nothing more is to be said,
For I will never see my family
Or my friends ever again,
And I am here for the rest of my life,
With the injustice I face every day.
So be the epic tale of me,
For I know nowhere else to go.
God help me in whatever way He can,
For I will no longer be alive to tell this tale,
But may the white man find us
To be who we really are,
And may whites and coloureds live in harmony forever,
With this I pray for the rest of my life,
And with all of my heart.