“Skin”, a Poem by Pat Long
Such a superficial attribute,
White, yellow, brown, black,
Gradations of melanin
That have no effect on ability.
But in this country, for four centuries,
Skin has made all the difference.
In 1619 black Africans began arriving involuntarily
On Virginia’s shores
To be used as slave labor on the plantations.
For 246 years, throughout the South,
The number of slaves greatly increased,
Bought and sold, their families torn apart.
Mulatto children were born
From the rape of black slave women
By white masters using their “property”
As they pleased.
Skin tones got lighter,
But were, are, still classified as black.
(Obama is half white, half black,
But he is considered black by
Virtue of the one drop rule.)
Emancipation ended slavery per se,
Except for the involuntary servitude of convicts.
But ever thereafter so-called whites still managed
To keep so-called blacks down.
Jim Crow laws were passed immediately
After the 13 th Amendment
To enforce segregation
And disenfranchise freed slaves.
Whenever blacks were successful
In establishing businesses and prosperous communities,
Whites came in with great violence
And destroyed those communities utterly.
The Wilmington massacre of 1898.
The Tulsa race riot of 1921,
Black Wall Street burned to the ground.
(We were never taught these things in history class.)
Then came 3,446 known lynchings of blacks,
Some cheered on by white crowds,
and men in white robes burning crosses.
It took exactly a century
From the 13 th amendment, abolishing slavery
To the Voting Rights Act of 1965, enfranchising blacks.
And in our day
People in black bodies,
Especially young men,
Live in fear of confrontations with the police.
Fathers have “the talk” with sons
About how they must comport themselves
If they are stopped.
Despite these warnings, a scandalously high number
Of unarmed black bodies die every year
At the hands of police.
Michael, Eric, Ezell, Rayshard, Dontre, Tamir, Freddie, John, Tanisha, Breonna.
George Floyd’s slow, deliberate murder on camera
Sparked worldwide outrage and months-long protests.
Blacks are far more likely to be arrested,
And are given harsher sentences than whites
For the same crime.
Crack cocaine versus powder cocaine, for instance.
Blacks represent only 13% of the general population
But 40% of the prison population.
Some 476,000 currently incarcerated black men
Cannot be husbands or fathers or breadwinners
For their families, who struggle to survive.
Amazingly, skin classification can change.
When Italian immigrants first arrived,
They were considered black.
But as they assimilated
They came to be regarded as white.
And what of my own skin?
It is mostly tan and pink.
But I participate in this fiction
Called white,
From which I derive great advantage.
The disadvantages of sexism I have endured as a woman,
The discrimination I have experienced as a lesbian,
The stigma I face as a person with mental illness,
Pale by comparison with the benefits
I derive from being considered white.
I am late to the table
In realizing to what extent I am
Part of the problem of racism.
Despite my bleeding-heart-liberal leanings,
Despite my sense of morality,
I was socialized into a racist society.
I participate in a system that advantages me
At the expense of others
On the basis of skin color.
I repent.
Patricia V. Long
July 2020
Ten Unarmed African-Americans Killed by Police
(This is only the list of those cited in the poem. There are so many more.)
Michael Brown, Jr. – An 18-year-old just 8 days after graduation, shot and killed by
police on August 9, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, his body left in the street for hours.
Eric Garner - strangled to death on July 7, 2014 by a banned choke hold by New York
city police officer Daniel Pantaleo while 5 other police officers were holding him down
and he was saying over and over, “I can’t breathe.” His offense was allegedly selling
loose cigarettes. Pantaleo was “fired” but was kept on the payroll.
Ezell Ford – 25-year-old died August 11, 2014, of multiple gunshot wounds from
police in Florence, Los Angeles, California.
Rayshard Brooks – 27-year-old, intoxicated, fell asleep in his car while blocking the
drive-through lane of a Wendy’s on June 12, 2020. Brooks resisted being handcuffed,
stole the officer’s taser, and was shot in the back by Atlanta police officer Garret Rolfe
while running away from police. In the wake of this incident, Atlanta police chief Erika
Shields resigned. Rolfe was fired and charged with felony murder.
Dontre Hamilton – 31 years old, shot and killed on April 30, 2014 in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. Hamilton, who suffered from schizophrenia and paranoia, was asleep on a
park bench in Red Arrow Park. Someone called the police on him. He resisted being
frisked, as someone with paranoia could be expected to do. Officer Christopher
Manney, who shot Hamilton 14 times, was fired but not indicted.
Tamir Rice – 12-year-old boy carrying a toy gun in a park was shot and killed by
police officer Timothy Loehmann on November 22, 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Freddie Gray, Jr. – was arrested on April 12, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was
put into a police van handcuffed, on his stomach on the metal floor, and head first, and
was driven around very roughly for 40 minutes on the way to the police station. He
sustained a spinal cord injury and went into a coma, but medical assistance was not
provided right away. After he died of his injuries, 6 policemen were arrested, but none
of them was convicted.
John Crawford III – a 22-year-old shot 14 times by police on August 5, 2014, inside
a Walmart in Beavercreek, Ohio, while he was holding a BB gun for sale in the store.
Tanisha Anderson – 37-year-old woman suffering from mental illness who died on
November 13, 2014 in police custody in Cleveland, Ohio. The death was ruled a
homicide.
Breonna Taylor – 26-year-old EMT shot 8 times in her own bed by police who broke
into her apartment without announcing themselves after midnight on March 13, 2020,
in Louisville, Kentucky.
Note from Pat Long:
I wrote this poem in the early months of COVID after reading 8 books on race.
