The Stupidity of Racism

Since I was a kid
Racism has been
A big issue.

I always remember
Reading about
Discrimination,

Watching a movie
About its victims,
Grabbing a tissue,

Wiping my eyes,
Gritting my teeth
In indignation.

The Whites and the Blacks
Could not get along
In this country,

While counterfeit smiles
Upon each other
They clumsily shone.

Behind their backs,
They murmured abuse
And insults sundry,

And wished that the other
Would not be a bother
And leave them alone.

But one thing I couldn't
Explain to myself
About this conflict,

No matter how long
I thought of its causes
And its misfortune,

I spent a long time
Doing research
And reading pamphlets.

While various scholars
For suitable answers
I would importune

Namely it was:
The so-called "Whites"
Were not achromatic;

I even compared
Their color to paper
And snow, and milk,

And then my conclusion
Was matter-of-course
And automatic:

They were *beige*
And not "white"
As they like
To call
Their ilk.

And the so-called Blacks
The color of coal
Did not exhibit-

They looked kind of brown
Like chestnut or ginger,
Or russet or tan

The conflict in fact
Was not "black and white"
But, could you believe it?,

It just was a conflict
Of "brown" and "beige"
Since the whole thing began.

And here we have
Injustice and woes,
Oppressions and harshness,

That from the beginning
On faulty presumptions
Were wrongfully based.

And people have suffered
From all the fatuity, folly
And daftness

That only us, humans
Can wrongly create
In our bad taste...