Green-Book

I travel now, no Green-Book needed for me
I travel now, but am I free?

Only knowledge in my head, drilled into my brain from when I was a kid, keeps me alive on these streets

I travel now, no Green-Book needed for me
I travel now, but am I free?

Sundown Towns
Come in before the street lights come on
Walk don’t run before the cops suspect you and start to come
Hood down
Hands out
Look straight, but not to high
Hands on the wheel, no sudden moves
Speak slow and low and don’t forget who’s who

I travel now, no Green-Book needed for me
I travel now, but am I free?

Generation after generation
Taught the rules of the game
Guidelines that only people with any significant ounce of melanin in their skin carry with them
Black code
The rules that keep you safe
Rules that keep the breath circulating through that shell of flesh allowing you to see one more day

I travel now, no Green-Book needed for me
I travel now, but am I free?

Still bitten by this travel bug
Daily risking mortality to see the world
Black codes no longer stored in a book
But in the recesses of our minds; in every action taken; in every conscious decision

I travel now, no Green-Book needed for me
We travel now, but are we truly free?

Are we safe?
Have things changed?
Now living in this new Jim Crow age
That Green-Book don’t look the same

This poem was inspired by my newfound knowledge of The Negro Motorist Green- Book. The Museum of Arts and Design has two spaces surrounding this piece of literature, Sanctuary by Derrik Adams, and Unpacking the Green Book, Travel and Segregation in Jim Crow America. Also, History.com has a great article that explains The Green-Book’s history. A definite MUST read.

Being exposed to this book has further peaked my personal interest in the history of blacks in America and the things we continue to face today. Out of the all of the cultural institutions I have visited thus far and the things I have seen, nothing has resonated with me as deeply as this.