I wish: An appeal to Racists

Racism is the buzzword everywhere these days. An ugly centuries old practice which died and got revitalised a thousand times has reared its ugly head again. For every Hitler, there was a Jesse Owens or Rosa Parks who stood up(or sat down) for their own self respect. Times changed, the Berlin wall fell, terms like reverse racism began to be heard. Neo Nazis were also seen in many mean streets around the world. Then came President Obama and the world believed that racism died its least death. But, let me tell you, this guy called 'racist' is a tough nut who lives inside each one of us. Some among us carry so much love that the racist in them dies an early death, drowning in that love poison. Many among us take our time to cultivate love and kill him. And, a handful among us cultivate hate and thus making him grow into a monster and take them over. He makes them do all kinds of nasty things like the ones we see in Australia these days, where Indians are finding it hard to just walk on the streets. And while we look and point fingers at those monsters, we shouldn't forget the monsters living within us and among us. Am sure no one needs lessons on India's ugly caste structure and the unhealthy reservations, which are supposedly magic potions which can wash away years of caste oppression.
Wherever it happens, lets just stand together and boot out racism. Hate of the highest order, the one set on blind and high principles, can be broken down only with love of the highest order. Lets make use of the ultimate weapon in this war which needs to end atleast in this century. Lets all kill the racist within us before we demand the execution of the racist under trial. Below is a poem which I wrote yesterday night regarding this subject. Its the story of 2 brothers. One is the son of a black man and the other, of a white man. But, they same out of the same womb, whose colour they didn't notice. The poem is an appeal from the black brother to his white brother....

*********I wish......... ********
I wish you saw your own eyes better
And looked inside your narrow heart.
Your black and white eyes know better,
than your white skinhead brain.

I wish these were physical boundaries,
instead of the thorny hate thoughts.
I can endure a torn bloody flesh,
But I fail before those invisible slurs.

I wish God was not such an artist,
Or somebody just stole his colour palette.
He should've coloured us all the same
Or just made us all colour blind.

I wish you gave a pat on my back,
than that shattering slap on my face.
O brother, I can take a million more of those,
Only if you could shower a drop of love.

I wish you saw beyond all those clouds,
I wish you saw the futility of hate,
I wish we all could live and help live,
I wish the world opened its eyes, atleast for once..



Pics courtesy- from the net.

your crusader Praveen