This World is Going to Change
OPPOSITES
What if white people were treated the same as Black people
What if we were opposites for one day
A white man gets pulled over by a Black cop
Because his tail light is broken
The Black cop instantly puts his hand on his gun
Because “white people are dangerous”
But that’s just if we were opposites
A white man goes into a store with his hoodie on
The Black man calls the police because he think he doing something wrong
A Black cop comes and attacks the innocent white man
Shoots him
Because he was supposedly “resting”
Another white man’s life is gone
A mother has to bury her son
Once again
But that’s just if we were opposites
White man goes into Starbucks
Asks to go to the bathroom
But he can’t
Because he hasn’t bought anything
A Black man asks the same exact thing
He is allowed to use the bathroom
He hasn’t bought anything
An employee calls the police
Because the white man is sitting politely
The white man is arrested by a Black cop
And he was just waiting to have a business meeting
But that’s just if we were opposites
White man goes to a job interview
Black man applies for the same job
Guess who got the job
. . .
The Black man
Because of the color of his skin
Because the white man is scary and dangerous
But that’s just if we were opposites
A white man tells his children everyday he loves them
And to be strong if he doesn’t come home
He walks out scared for his life
How would you feel with a slowly ticking death clock
Above your head waiting to go off
He doesn’t know when a Black cop will come around
To kill him
Just like that
With no consequences
If you call getting paid to do nothing a consequence
That’s just if we were opposites
THAT SMILE
“There’s a smile for when you get ice cream
When you get a 4.0 for your semester grade
When you get a brand new pair of shoes
When you go back to school from your summer break and see all of your friends
When your best friend makes a joke that only you and them laugh to
When you finally finish your big ELA project
But
It’s also that smile
That smile when you walk in the darkest room
All of a sudden it brightens up
Like the clouds had to make room for
That smile
The smile that can turn your worst day
Into an ok day
That smile when you walk into the kitchen that’s like a sauna because you know it’s time to say grace
Which means it’s time to eat
That smile
That smile
Man that smile
That smile is on my face
Every time I see little kids playing with each other
Not caring what color they are
Because they see that smile
That smile that says “come sit with us” when it’s lunchtime
Or that smile when they say the
“First Black man” or the “first Black woman”
But there is the smile
The smile that is going to be on my face when all people are treated equally
I don’t care if I have to wait until I have grandkids
I am going to have the smile while I am alive
Because that smile is no comparison to THE smile.”
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When she wrote this book in 2019, Aniya Butler was twelve years old and in the seventh grade at Downtown Charter Academy.
About the Author
Aniya Butler loves to go to school, play basketball and football, and write poetry. She believes that everyone should be treated equally and everyone should have equal rights. She dreams that one day we can come together and solve that.
About the Illustrator
Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh is an Oakland-based visual artist and teaching artist. Her work explores history, identity and the creation of a visual narrative. A lover of materials and process, Dawline-Jane uses a range of media including relief printmaking, pen and ink, photo transfer and encaustic. Her work has been exhibited internationally, across the United States, and was featured in a 2018 article about artist activists in Teen Vogue. Ms. Oni-Eseleh was a Print Public artist-in-residence at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, California in 2018/2019, and currently works as a Teaching Artist at Sequoia Elementary School.
