Beyond The Skin

Beyond The Skin

By Frank Bolaji Irawo

Take a good look

I mean a really good look

What do you see?

A human just like you?

Bearing skin with a different hue?

You say black, I say brown

You say white, I say pink

We are all people of colour you see

Have a good listen

I mean a really good listen

Can you hear the silence?

From stories never told

Lest inconvenient truths are exposed

You say superior, I say different

You take the credit, I set the record straight

All our histories deserve to be heard

Have a good think

I mean a really good think

Is it becoming clear to you

How daft the idea of being racist is?

Pitching your race against my race

You want to be first, I want equity

You got the head start, I’m playing catchup

There has only ever been one human race

Take another look

This time deeper than my skin

Do you see it now?

The red blood that imbued the oceans and mingled with the earth

The same blood that flows through those that reaped the rewards

No more, no less,

Not superior, nor inferior

Just different but yet the same

I hear you ask

From a place of sincerity

What will you have me do?

I don't want to be treated differently

I don't fancy being your token pawn

I'm not surrounded by eggshells, feel free to walk normally

Let's converse honestly about what baffles you

Only the conscious gets to choose

When your mind gets it

I mean your subconscious mind

Would we really need a month of prompting

To realise what has always been?

We all come from the same stream of consciousness

Like the splendour of sunlight manifest in a rainbow

So the splendour of humanity manifests through you and me

To make a better, stronger more beautiful world