"An Eye for an Eye leaves the whole world blind"
Said the guy who took out the first eye
because he didn’t want the responsibility of making it right.
Though it might make us a little more kind
If we were blind…
But I’m in a bind
Cuz my vision is fine
But you say we’re behind
on making the scales aligned
So if I can borrow some time
May speak my mind?
I can’t see out of any eyes but my own
And I can’t see anything but what I’ve been shown
And I can’t see anyone I haven’t known
And I only feel at home where I feel at home
And I know I’m not alone.
So whether or not it’s right,
in terms of color of skin and ability of sight,
the only life I can I can tell you it’s like to live is... white.
I have always seen people like me on TV.
For 24 of my 30 years, my President looked like blood family.
My lineage is documented to the 10th century.
I get the benefit of the doubt when a cop questions me.
I can appropriate the customs of other cultures with impunity.
In my culture, my shiny red hair is the standard of beauty.
I can talk about my government without being accused of terrorist activity.
I can make it through TSA without them searching my cavities.
I can cross all kinds of borders without a moment of scrutiny.
I can go shopping without the fear that someone will follow me.
I can stand in a line up and know I won’t be accused falsely.
In short, I don’t often have to even think about what my whiteness means to me.
I didn’t choose my starting line,
I didn’t choose to be white, or female, or middle-class, or American, or millennial.
I didn’t choose this hand. I most certainly did not choose the dealer. Hey, I didn’t even choose the deck.
What I do choose is when I will stick out my neck.
I am not guilty of being white.
I am guilty of being ignorant.
I am guilty of being silent.
I am guilty of buying the advertisement.
I am guilty of playing the accompaniment to a melody of privilege.
I am guilty of closing my eyes
to the systematic marginalization
to the unfair criminalization
to the cruel extermination
of my fellow human kind.
So yes, I’m in a bind
Cuz an Eye for an Eye won’t make us aligned
when it’s only our own faces our eyes are looking behind
Only eyes that can see beyond their own lines
Will bridge the divide.
Cuz my vision is fine
And I can see we’re behind
on making the scales aligned
And the cost is most high.
Oh my dear, dear white people: please open your eyes.
