I have watched the “Court of Justice” –
As it’s practiced in our land.
What I’ve always thought was fairness here –
Can deal a dark, foreboding hand.
“The Jury” may be fine at times in certain special cases –
But “the Jury” is a frightful thing when it involves two races.
My heart is oh, so heavy, as I ponder this day –
Oh, how I wish “The Jury” had ruled the other way.
The faith I’ve had that men will feel compassion for each other –
Is now replaced by deep despair – they really cannot bother.
They think in terms of “I” and “me” and what I want from life –
They trod upon their fellowman and leave him in strife.
They cannot point their finger at the image in the mirror –
They will not project themselves to feel the Negros terror.
They fail to ever ask themselves – just how they might feel –
If it was they on the “Ship of Life – with a Negro at the wheel”.
But listen all my countrymen to this dire prediction –
I think a novel is in progress – and I’m sure it won’t be fiction.
The first draft has been written – tis the framework of tomorrow –
And the printers ink upon the page has filled the book with sorrow.
This book we have written with its hate and awful greed –
Will be the book your child and mine is going to have read.
And oh, my heart is aching for the future generations –
When parents teach their children hate, how can they build a nation?
A place where every man can live and never know discrimination –
A land where creed and color are free from limitations.
I do not know the answer, though I do the best I can –
I try my best to put myself in the place of “my fellowman”.
And I feel if each one asked himself this single simple question –
“How would I feel in his place”? We’d be a happier nation.

Gaylia Kenslow – Stogsdill
1969

Copyright Roy Richard