Jim Crow Etiquette Poem by Steven Taylor

Jim Crow Etiquette

Young people cannot fully grasp
the fear one name would sow,
within the hearts of southern blacks,
the vile name, Jim Crow.

Jim Crow became a canon that,
was used to demonstrate,
a cruel and deadly governense,
in almost every southern state.

Jim Crow was more than abstract thought,
it was written laws and rules,
that became an ugly way of life,
that is never taught in schools.

The Jim Crow Etiquette decreed,
how black folks must behave,
while in the presence of white folks,
from the cradle to the grave.

If blacks paid to ride a city bus,
they were directed to the rear;
blacks had to go separate schools,
and live in constant fear.

Blacks had to drink from fountains that
had signs to designate,
white folks here and colored there,
to remind Blacks of the hate.

Black folks that tried to organize,
were branded uppity,
then tortured by white men in robes,
and hung naked from a tree.

White families used to congregate,
by the hundreds to regale,
this macabre, heinous spectacle,
and buy souvenirs for sale.

The Jim Crow statutes of the south,
that became a second thought,
of late shows signs of slow rebirth,
despite the wars we fought

We are witnessing the passage of,
legal writs that will revive,
a white supremacist regime,
in political disguise.

This growing racist sentiment,
we must all repudiate,
if not, I fear we will return,
to a Jim Crow fascist