The Code

The Code

On an episode of Blackish, the lead character

a Black man, trying to keep true to ancient African

beliefs, tries to educate his son about the importance

of respecting others, other people of color around him.

and I think of how I, newly exploring not only my

newly freed body, a body scarred by a private war

with a disease that nearly killed me, how I

spreading out the edges of me, become aware

of this code, this silent language of Black men

how we be, how we be when we are trying to stand up

to be heard, to be seen, to keep truth like a gift

and send it off, a bright, rebellious flag in this

world's angry, unaccepting wind of fear and a broken

song of backward stepping by those who've never

known that we are great, we brothers, whether we

were born genetically, or whether, like me, we one day

opened a closet door, stepped out into light, and hands

hands say: “Welcome, my precious one, we been waitin'

we been waitin' a long, long time.”

by James A. Stansberry [excerpt from the in-process book, Talking With God and Cats]

SHARING STORIES is a weekly column for and about the 50 plus crowd living in the Puget Sound region. Send your stories and photos to ariele@comcast.net. Tell local or personal stories; discuss concerns around aging and other issues; share solutions, good luck, and reasons to celebrate; poems are fine too. Pieces may be edited or excerpted. We reserve the right to select among pieces. Photos are always a plus and a one-sentence bio is requested (where you live, maybe age or career, retired status, etc.).

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