By: Ralvell Rogers II
A lot had been said about myself
in this messed up society
when I was on temporary assignment
training with another black man.
He’s a much older cat than I (he’s fifty to be exact),
“But i know i don’t look it” he said
as if he gets that response all the time,
and then he told me about his management treating him dumb,
i mean as if he were dumb and ignorant.
i too
have felt this treatment
ever since i started working at sixteen,
but I always thought to myself,
Once i get older
and look older,
and grow a beard
and have a long career in some career,
they’ll give me my due respect
even though i been earned it,
but i think i thought wrong
because this much older cat
rubbed his beard
as he showed me how
to clean countertops and dishes
behind others,
and set up meeting rooms
and sort important mail
for others.
“But they treat me
like i am less than them
cuz they got a title or an acronym,
and i just smile
cuz i am not that kind of guy,
i just kill them with kindness.”
He didn’t know it,
that his actions may have been clairvoyant
to my-precognitive-self,
not because he’s dumb or ignorant
as they say we both are
at our respective ages,
but because he’s just another hard working brotha
trying to make a dolla out of fifteen cents
for a company that don’t really want a real brotha
to really be there
in the first real damn place.
He’s just living
as i am
black man
complaining about management
to the next black trainee,
killing with kindness.
Ralvell Rogers II is an ambitious storyteller and educator from Kansas City, Missouri, who focuses on realistic fiction and reflective and provoking poetry. His writing has been published and can be found in many (online) journals including River City Poetry, Heartland, Genre: Urban Arts, Rigorous, Flinthills Review, Black Artists' Club, Quivira (Emporia State University) and Tittynope Zine. Before graduating with his Bachelor of Arts Degree in English, Creative Writing at Emporia State University, Rogers was the first student-recipient of the Presidential Award for Distinguished Service to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in 2018. Currently, Ralvell lives in Arlington, Virginia.
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