Blinded by the White

I was Blinded by the white
Trapped in a bubble
that was dictated to me
as my life

Sheltered from the world
And the events
That molded a future
My parents not knowing
This was more of an ignorant stupor

America was growin’ in the 60’s
from coast to coast and border to border
All generations were cemented
with a free thinking society as the mortar

The scene was ever changing
With answers “blowin’ in the wind”
Free love was a state of being
And not considered a sin.

To give you a more perfect picture
Of my life as kid to understand
I was a Navy brat in the 60’s
And knew nothing of Vietnam

It was better to push the kids away
When Reasoner, Rather and Brokaw came on
Showing the actual gory pictures
            reported on the tube
Of the enemy, the Vietcong

I didn’t discover the revolution in music
until the 70’s were nearly complete
but I soaked it up like a thirsty sponge
Janis, Jimi, Zeplin, Creedance
            And even a little Canned Heat

The societal changes hit us all
from dodging the draft, discrimination and desegregation
These issues are still before us 40 years to the day
strangling and bleeding this so called free nation.

Desegregation is a touchy ideology
that crosses lines never crossed by man
But it can’t escape the ignorant mind set
Of those “Blinded by the White” Hand


It stretched further than Little Rock Arkansas
and Federal Troops sent to protect innocent kids
     striving for a better education
It even went as far as my own home in Jackson Mississippi
before I could even pronounce the word discrimination.

The story of a young girl bussed twenty miles across town
with 100 students of her own color.
The fear of this new experience in her life
Left her in tears and trapped in a shell away from others

Her first day at school was a lesson in torture
as angry eyes judged her to the bone
She was stripped, deloused and hosed down in Gym Class
            and given assignments with no text books to take home.

Everyday was a running of the gauntlet
As she went to her locker in the “segregated” hall
It’s ironically funny how they can bus you
            twenty miles across town
And still separate you within four walls.

What’s even more ironic as this story unfolds
of this young lady and her plight I’m transcribing
Is the fact that it’s a story close to home
It’s the plight of my own sister I’m describing

What makes it even more ironic,
I found out thirty years after she suffered
When I asked the questions of my sister,
“Why were you pulled from school
            and sent to Texas to stay with our grandmother?”

Because this situation happened in reverse
doesn’t make right or give it validity
It only confirms what it took me a long time to learn
That discrimination, in any form,
            is the most malicious act of stupidity.

It took me years to break out of this bubble
and step boldly in to the light
Just remember it’s never to late for you to escape
from being “Blinded by the White”

     R. L. Stephenson has been livin' with the cactus and horny toads for many years. It certainly has affected his views, not to mention the few dances with peyote doin' the same. Slingin' hash, or grub to most folks, being an accomplished Executive Chef has put the groceries in the fridge and a roof over his head. He is editor/publisher of Whoopeecat Press. His work appears on various websites. Accomplishments - chapbook: "Nola in the Streets" and "Howlin' Cat Blues" - 15 poem CD.