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By Priscilla Wiredu
Posted on June 24, 2022
The stick turns blue,
As the couple screams in joy and delight,
The sun shining through
Shows that the day will start off right
Another milestone of their life
They are going to be parents
Someone to spend their hard earned money and resources on
As their family and friends rejoice in song:
Congratulations!
She gets her vitamins
He gets the registry
She has her OBGYN
Keeping track of the fetus they see
Growing inside of her belly
Nurses, staff and the like all say
Through tears of happiness
Congratulations!
Week 20,
The results are in
The sonogram proves that
It’s going to be a him
The father cries in happiness
The mother is silent in unknown fear
They mistake it for shock
As they leave at three o’clock
They receive once more a
Congratulations!
He finds her crying in the bathroom one night
Wonders if she got into some online fight
“No” as his bride harder cries,
Telling him that the one thing
That she doesn’t need
Is a Till, Martin, or Arbery
To raise in this racist country
She reminds him of the many
Black men who have been
Lynched, beaten, raped,
Chocked, slapped, shot,
Sold, broken, imprisoned
How can their baby be safe?
What are his options?
Congratulations; it’s a statistic
The father knows her pain
His mom went through it again and again
As he grew up on “The Cosby Show,” “Fresh Prince”
And all the news coverage of racial stints
Was afraid to look a cop in the eye
The L.A. riots made his eight year old self cry
What to do? Share his concern?
With every dead end
There’s a chance to turn.
Congratulations; it’s a statistic
They have their family
They have their friends
They will fight to make sure
This cycle of abuse ends
The baby boy will be great
Who knows his ultimate fate?
He does not have to be fearful or feared
There are so many idols he can adhere
From MLK to Obama,
From Kobe to Kaepernick
He will have much inspiration
He will have the instincts
To never be fearful
Of the very country his ancestors made
So no, he won’t be a statistic
A victim of violence,
A gangster heretic
He is the future, as with many newborns
And as the parents sit in the hospital room
18 hours post-partum
They come in with him
Crying in a blue blanket
As they say
“Congratulations—it’s the future!”
Priscilla Wiredu is a writer for this year’s Black Voice project. An alumni of York University, she graduated with Honors where she studied Social Sciences. She then went on to get an Ontario Graduate certificate in Creative Writing from the Humber School for Writers, and a college certificate in Legal Office Administration at Seneca College. She is currently studying for the LSAT in hopes of going to law school. Her main goal as a Black Voices writer is to ensure Black issues and Black Pride are enunciated through her works.