Everything.
Everything is different for him,
Because of a pigment.
He lives his life like a prisoner,
He can’t go here,
He can’t go there.
He can’t say this,
He can’t say that;
Because of a pigment.
The life that has be painted for him in his short nineteen years,
Has been filled with difficult experiences;
Experiences of hatred,
Experiences of racism,
Experiences of prejudice,
Experiences of denial;
All because of a pigment.
Made out for something he is not,
By people he doesn’t even know.
Painting him with judgement,
Without knowing his story,
Because of a pigment.
They move to the other side of the street when he is walking,
They stare and whisper about him when he is doing nothing at all,
They fear the very color of his skin,
They are filled with fear,
Because of a pigment.
But because of a pigment,
He has also learned amazing things.
He has learned that the people who remain in his picture,
Are the ones who are truly worth having in his life.
They love him unconditionally,
They accept his color,
They stand up for him
When someone is trying to crush his spirit,
Because of a pigment.
Because of a pigment,
Despite all the hate he receives,
He has learned to love himself,
Unconditionally.
He has learned to be successful,
Thanks to the amazing role models he has in his life.
His father,
His mother,
His siblings.
Who have shown him that you that you can have any pigment,
And still be successful in the world.
You do not need to feel discouraged,
Because of a pigment.
He has had many negative experiences,
He has learned things that no one his age should have to know.
Been treated in ways that no one should be treated.
But because of a pigment,
He has also experienced so much love.
By friends,
Family,
And most importantly himself.
He has learned that he cannot be torn down,
Because of something as simple as
A pigment.
Author’s Note:
Because of a Pigment was inspired by a good friend of mine, Dae’Ron Jones. Dae’Ron is a nineteen-year-old student at Hastings College in Hastings, NE. He grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, graduating from Raytown High School. Currently, I am taking Anchor 214: European Cultures, Histories, and Ideas at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. We were assigned to interview someone different from us in order to gain insight into what it was like to live a life that was different from ours. I decided to interview Dae’Ron to ask him about his experiences as growing up as an African-American He told me about many of the struggles he experienced throughout his life, from the racism and prejudice to the horrible violence members of his own family experienced. “…back when I was [in] elementary school, my siblings and like one of our really close family friends were at the mall one time and they got into kind of an argument with some people in the parking lot, some black people in the parking lot. And then some white cops came to the scene, and they just kind of over-escalated the situation with my siblings and started like beating them, they sprayed my sister with mace. […] They tased my, two of my other sisters.” (12:12) He also told me about how hard it was for him to not try and change himself to be more “white”. This part of Dae’Ron’s story reminded me of the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman. Published in 1980, Maus is a graphic novel that tells the memoir of Spiegelman’s father, a Holocaust survivor. Not only is it a graphic novel and a memoir, but Maus also contains a bit of historical fiction when Spiegelman is telling about his father’s experiences. Notably, Spiegelman depicted all the Jewish characters as mice. Often, these Jewish mice are illustrated in pig masks, which represents Polish people, to conceal their identity. This is often what Dae’Ron did; he tried to put on a mask to hide who he really was. He tried to conceal his pigment in order to fit in. But soon he learned that trying to wear this mask was pointless; it was not at all him. With the help of his loving family, he learned to be proud of who he was.
