On Acknowledging And Responding To An African-American Student’s Comment Hey, VZ, Don’t You Know That Way Back In The Day, You Probably Would’ve Been One Of Those Cracker Slave-Owning White Guys, You Know, Everybody Would Be Doing It, That’s The Way It Was, So, So Would’ve You?
by
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
I.
Yes, Jason, it’s true.
I could’ve been that way, it’s
true.
Yes, I’m Dutch and some Dutch
did brisk business in bodies and
souls.
I could’ve done that too.
But don’t think that I could
NOT have been one of those
Abolitionist white guys, that I
couldn’t have fought against
slavery.
And don’t think that just because
I’m white
I’m here to do you
wrong.
Now. Today. These days.
Because just because I’m
white
doesn’t mean I should
glad-hand a bigot,
should I, Justin?
II.
A Thought-Provoker In Return
VZ: Jason--Matt over here will confirm
this--
Did you know there were a few,
not
many but a few, black men in America
who
owned slaves?
JASON, incredulous:
Now
why on earth would a black man
EVER
want to own slaves?
VZ: Money, Jason, money.
The
slaves made people richer.
And
Jason, there’s another
question
you could ask too:
Why
would any person judge
any
other based on color
and
not the content
of
that person’s
character?
Van Zant has taught near-dropouts for 14 years and has written many other poems related to students in his alternative school--white, black and Hispanic (dysfunctionality knows no racial boundaries).
Copyright © 2000 Frank Van Zant. All rights reserved.
{jos_sb_discuss:9}
 Add as favourites (28) |  Quote this article on your site | Views: 1732
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved |
Be first to comment this article
