Workshop on Racism

Her mother is crying
because Briana came home from school screaming in agony.
Two girls in her class are named Briana
and the children distinguish them
by calling her "The Black Briana," taunting her.
she screams at her mother, "I don't want to be
'The Black Briana!'"
her mother weeps, helplessly. "What can I do?
I give her dolls, read her
black history. How can I protect her?"
Already at five the children understand,
"black" is not a color, it is a
blazing skin.