by  Jim Kelly | The Quiet Witness

As an African American, I can’t sit with prejudices toward others’ existence, made of biology and gifted through God.

My ancestral history is colored by blood stains flowing from a poison well of our enslavers. This cannot be my destiny. Let me not be infected by its bacteria and sickness of racism and prejudices.

by  Lynn White

Ruby, oh Ruby,

black skin, white dress

clear as the white and black

in a black and white photograph.

Ruby, oh Ruby,

born to build bridges

and grown to cement them

into society.