From my perspective, I see myself as a spark of light given life. Skin was on the surface and what lies within was the purpose. The principle; the character. To be judged by it was mind blowing. I’ve never lived life as a Black man. I don’t understand that quality. I’ve lived my life while being judged as other Black men are judged. I have lived through Racism and Bigotry and Contempt and Disregard. But I was never Black. I was always just me. 

Now, more than ever, we are grouped into these superficial boxes. We are organized as mindsets and given limits for each box. This only confuses me more. All this time other people spend attempting to define my existence and I can only find more confusion at the simple minded “I-spy” mentality.

As far as Society is concerned, I am a Black man. That label means nothing to me. My history doesn’t change; my heritage doesn’t change; my beliefs don’t change because I refuse to acknowledge, personally, a title that I view as meaningless. No other color designation means nothing to me, either. People are people. Each his own. 

Life is about the passion, zest or  zeal….life is not about the titles, labels and silliness that we often attribute to success or accomplishment. Where we look at one another and judge based on something fairly unrelated to living. As long as people have life, there is nothing that should separate them from opportunity. But of course, there will be. 

We will always slog forward using the short histories of any given life as an excuse to judge and diminish; we’ll use it to exclude and uplift ourselves. I’m guilty of it but I work to diminish how much I do it. I can only hope to be better at seeing people as “life” and not by their height, weight, shape, color or style. I can only hope that one day, that’s precisely what others will see in me.