Dad, Why Is He Crying Poem by Curtis Johnson

Dad, Why Is He Crying
By Curtis Johnson

Very sincerely, my son once asked me, “Dad. Why is he crying”? My son had seen an African American man, crying at a 711 Store.
This happened on the night of a historical election in America.

An African American had just become the new President of the United States, and my son, who was 31 years of age, saw this senior citizen crying. He wanted to know from me the reason why. I said to my son that I understood the reason for the tears.

I said to my son that the man has lived through a lot of American history, and experienced much discrimination, injustice, and in some places in America, racial hatred. Perhaps he was overwhelmed with the reality of an African American President in his life time. He knew that it would happen ‘someday’, but not this day on the second Tuesday of November,2008.

As if I had not answered his question, my son asked me a second time, “But dad, why is he crying? Will he be invited to the White House for dinner? ” I told my son that it wasn’t likely that he would be invited for dinner at the White House.

Although our views were vastly different, I understood, because I walked in similar shoes as did that gentleman. I felt that no manner of explanation would make my son understand the crying, because the two of them walked in different shoes at a different time, and the times had now changed. At least for my son, this time, the tears were not easy to understand.
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