Lorna Dee Cervantes – Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-Read Person Could Believe in the War Between Races

This poem is full of two things, personae and poignancy. It speaks to me in a way that it is so true, and that is not a good thing. For years upon years people have been striving to destroy the thoughts of racism, destroy segregation. After all those years, steps have been made. However, it is still there and it will always be there. People are raised with the mentality that the color of a person’s skin dictates who they are. This poem is about that very thought. The line that sums this up is: “Racism is not intellectual. I can not reason these scars away.” This poem talks about the feelings of a well educated African-American talking about truth, and the way it is talked about, poignancy flows from the poem. Marked by the color of skin, they are not shooting at you, these lines were like a strike to my mind and heart, because they are so true. We live in a society in segregation and judgment upon first impression, and color of skin is where it begins. Will it stop, maybe there will be a race war. Time can heal some wounds, but some wounds are not of flesh.