5/9/19- Since this was written, there have been so many senseless killings of black citizens that it's easy to almost become desensitized to it (Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Philando Castle, Tamir Rice, to name a few). However, I as a father I don't have to luxury to go numb. I have 3 children who are still blissfully naive to the current state of the world. Unfortunately, this poem is more relevant than ever.
The following is a poem to my sons that was inspired by the reactions to the death of Treyvon Martin and the subsequent trial and acquittal of George Zimmerman:
Before I continue, I want to establish a few things:
1)
I personally do not believe that the Zimmerman verdict was a result of racism. I believe
it was due to the defense doing a better job proving their case than the
prosecution- that to me is such a shame, because justice was not served that day
2)
While it
is not clear exactly what happened on that fateful night, I do think that the root of those events
stemmed one person’s ill-fated judgment of another based on the color of their skin and the
clothes on their back
3)
The wildly
polarized reactions of this case across the span of social media, shows the
issue of race is not only alive, but it is a growing pressure cooker that has once again come to a peak
My Sons,
Let me tell
you a story…
One day when
I was a young man, I met your mom.
She was
smart, beautiful and most importantly, she thought my jokes were funny.
And so, I asked her to be mine. She said yes.
And our love
grew.
It grew so
much that it made God smile. He smiled so much that he decided to give us two very special gifts.
And those
gifts were you.
HE made you
in our image
HE gave one
of you my nose, the other her smile
And he gave something
very unique to the both of you: Our color
Oh yes, that’s
right;
I should probably mention:
That I’m
what they call Black
And
Your Mother,
she’s something that they call White
We never mentioned
this to you because it doesn’t matter
And besides
That’s not
how we teach you to see the world
And that’s
not how we saw each other
The only thing
we saw when we looked at each other was Love
We never
noticed silly things like that
Unfortunately,
there are people in this world who don’t see Love
They only
see color
And those
same people think that it’s wrong for me and your mom to be together
Those same
people will look at you, my sons
And not see you
as precious gifts from God
They will
only see you as color
And so, to
no fault of your own
Before they even get a chance to get to know you
Before they even get a chance to get to know you
They will
try to disrespect you
Try to
define you
Try to
deprive you
Try to
demoralize you
And try to
defeat you
They will
try
And Try
And Try
But they
will fail.
Because you
both are stronger than that
And not only
will you persevere
But will
triumph!
Because Love
transcends color
And ignorance
And prejudice
So go forth,
my sons
The torch
has been passed
And show the
world
The Love is
the future
That Love is
an unstoppable force
That the
Love within you will one day change the world
Love Always,
Dad
Kyle, this is so heartfelt and beautifully written. Your sons have a very wise and loving Daddy.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kris. Everything that has been going on (in addition to the Zimmerman case) has been weighing on my heart. I needed a way to express that.
DeleteYou, Kyle, are an amazing person! Your two sons are very lucky to have two parents that instill love as a core value. I know when they get older and they read this, they will think, that dad of ours, God smiled and gave him to us. I know when I get down and I think that the world is full of nastiness, I will come read this and know that someone else is teaching love :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Jenny! What I need to do is stop watching a news for a while. They make you think that nothing else is going on in this world besides negativity. And that definitely isn't the case!
DeleteVery nice! I'm optimistic about future race relations, at least in this area of the country... I have more and more biracial students every year, and see a lot of friendships and romantic relationships form between students of different races. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jessica. Yes, the tide is definitely turning but there is a lot more work to do. Being the example that I wish to see is a good starting point :-)
DeleteThank you. This I am linking to.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful
Thank you Robyn. I appreciate that!
DeleteI really like your post. The letter to your sons is powerful and wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing your amazing words with us...the world would be a better place if more people shared your feelings (both had the feelings, and wrote them). Your boys, and your wife, are very lucky people!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dana. I really appreciate that!
DeleteWhat a beautiful letter!! Your sons (and your wife!) are very lucky!!
ReplyDeleteWords of wisdom :)
ReplyDelete