I cry! — Wanda Herndon

Home alone, I cry.

—

I cry for my ancestors, stolen from African homes

To suffer the injustice of slavery in America

Viewed as inhuman beasts of burden

They died.

—

I cry for my people who survived this shameful history

Oppressed and terrorized, their tears watered the roots of inequality

They suffered.

—

I cry for an American dream lost

Replaced by a Black person’s nightmare then and now

Only we understand.

—

I cry for members of my race, callously slain by evil

Ku Klux Klan, vigilantes, neighbors, and the law

Thousands still die.

—

I cry about poverty and destitution engulfing our communities

Unbreakable cycles of despair begun so long ago on slave ships, plantations

Few escape.

—

I cry, incensed by the murder of yet another Black person

Knee on neck, asleep in bed, jogging in their neighborhood

America is our country, too.

—

I cry because we are not welcome

We are tolerated by those who say, “It wasn’t me”

A perk of white privilege.

—

I cry because our sacrifices for America are unrecognized

And our deficiencies emphasized

Equality eludes us.

—

I cry because our ancestors died for my chance

Decades later, hate still festers and threatens our souls

The pain is too much.

—

I cry for justice.

Wanda Herndon, ’74, M.A. ’79,  is a former senior vice president of public affairs at Starbucks Coffee Company. She is president and CEO of W Communications, a strategic communications consulting firm in Seattle.