that people work so hard to change in life

Jan 5, 2005, 12:59 PM
The graveyard behind my childhood home was segregated
I used to watch the funerals from my tree fort in the backyard.
It took a couple years before I realized
the black people were buried on one side
and the white people on the other.
It's odd that this was upsetting to me even tho I was only
eight or nine years old.
I used to watch the different funerals.
The white people would file quietly in and quietly out,
I used to wonder why they did not do more.
It was different with the black families.
The friends and families would sing, and cry, and talk to one another
some times for hours.
There was passion.
I always thought I would rather have a funeral like that.
I remember wondering how many years ago
this graveyard was established
And why this pattern had never changed.
I wondered if the people even knew that different colors
Were buried on different sides
And if they would have cared had they known.
I would care.
It bothered me.
I know I was just a little white girl
And  I didn't understand
why people had ever been segregated;
But I hated that the things
 that people work so hard to change in life
would be carried into death.

Charity