If the world isn’t black and white

If racism isn’t just about blacks and whites,

if white men are racist,

and black men, too.

If controversy isn’t just right or wrong,

if we’re all racist, prejudiced, violent,

and evil, too.

If pride isn’t just all or none,

if you can be proud even if you aren’t black

and gay, too.

If conservatism isn’t good or bad,

if progressiveness isn’t yes or no;

if “yes we can” didn’t mean “us or them”,

but all of us, too.

If states aren’t red or blue,

if nations aren’t friends or foes;

if borders didn’t split land and water,

and cultures, too.

If our fight isn’t for money,

if our struggle isn’t for power;

if we don’t hate each other,

but love as brothers and sisters;

if mothers and fathers didn’t fuck

and fight and then

fuck each other over

just to find another;

if we can be

brothers and sisters

from different mothers,

and still believe in

different gods, too.

If freedom isn’t distributed at random,

if speaking isn’t seeking

to be canceled

and dismantled, too.

If movies aren’t silenced

and films have color,

if it’s not all about the contrast,

or ends of the spectrum.

If we don’t raise Little Boys

like ticking time bombs,

if all the soft hearts and sharp minds

can change the world

without setting it on fire.

If history isn’t written like a story,

if the past doesn’t hold the future hostage,

and justify its murder, too.

If the prism of the media

shows all the colors,

if all the colors focus

back into one beam

and lights up

our tunnel vision.

If we can all live, love, and laugh,

if racism and prejudice aren’t about anybody,

if blood isn’t an acquired taste,

and if evil doesn’t run in our blood.

If our proudest creation doesn’t run in ones and zeroes,

if we understand each other beyond binary code,

villains or heroes;

if the light bulb in our head isn’t just on or off,

if we could keep our window to the world always open.

If I can wake up to a world of color,

if I can look outside the window

and see the much-needed rainbow;

if the world isn’t black and white.

If the world isn’t black and white.

If only.