Invisible Colors

A Poem by Kole Oakes

Caption: I Am a Man: Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, Tennessee, March 28th, 1968. Ernest Withers, 1968; printed 1994. Gelatin silver print. Museum purchase, 2006.322.1.

Caption: I Am a Man: Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, Tennessee, March 28th, 1968. Ernest Withers, 1968; printed 1994. Gelatin silver print. Museum purchase, 2006.322.1.

When will I get to work?

When will it all comes w/ ease?

Can you be both passive and active?

Will I regret all the times I’ve popped my bones?

Will I ever be able to walk passed a group of black men

on the street without feeling nervous,

               then ashamed?              

Will they ever been seen automatically as people,

and not a threat?

Will there be a last innocent man killed

by the police?

Does claiming to be colorblind,prevent you

from seeing at all?