Eyes Wide Open

by Jeanine Browne

Eyes Wide Open

I came to class, my eyelids closed.

I read some books and got exposed.

To issues such as race and hate; I never thought about of late.

The more I read and came to class,

The Truth resounded clear as glass.

Of lies and hatred, never knew,

But found out slowly what was true.

As members of a race so white, oppressing all within its sight.

To keep the lies and hatred "live", maintain their power to deprive,

All others, much to their chagrin,

Denied them life, because of skin.

Each week the class revealed some more,

that I, no longer, could ignore.

My eyes saw truly, as they knew.

The wrath of white man’s daily due.

My eyes, they opened up real wide.

No way to close them, turn the tide.

They stay wide open all the time

They see the Truth. They see the crime.

They won’t forget what they have seen,

My self-awareness; oh, so keen

We seek to change the old world view,

And see all people as anew.

I came to class my eyelids broken,

I leave the class.

My eyes wide open!!!

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Nonfiction Writing Contest contest entry

Eyes Wide Open, is my poem that I wrote in 2007, while I was grad student at Lesley College in Cambridge, MA ; I was pursuing a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology. It was for a class on racism, named âWhite Privilegeâ. It was so a props then and even more so now, given the violent, racial, political atmosphere we are experiencing in the present.

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I wrote it in grad school, for a class White Privilege.

Eyes Wide Open

by Jeanine Browne

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