I kept telling myself
Slavery is over
It’s 2017
People aren’t racist in 2017
Black lives matter
A harmless threat to protesters
Soon turned into
All lives matter

Yes
All lives matter
But I have yet to see
White blood stand up
For injustice
I’ve yet to see a
White man get shot
Because he obeyed the law
I have yet to see a
White man get killed because he was playing
Pop gospel music
I have yet to see a
White woman get killed
For having a bad attitude
That’s an understatement

Black lives are precious
Diamonds in the rough
Roses in concrete
Caged birds singing
But
What’s white is right
Right?

Do you mean to tell me
That if I bathe in 3 cap fulls of this liquid
That God will open up his arms
And accept me into glory?
That “purifying my skin”
Is the only way to make these pews a little softer?

This world is so twisted
That you often forget the fact that
I was not born black
Just to live white.
I am black and I am proud
I am proud because
I am black

Yes
I am young
But I have been around long enough
To see strange fruit turn sour.

Alia Samone, 16, is a student at Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School
Photo by Alia Samone (not pictured)