racism

‘the white man’s burden’ —
i never knew of that;
i was raised among
the cultures —
everyone of a different color.
my first english teacher —
jamala,
turkmen,
spoke perfect american.
i was born so fortunate,
among the diffirent races
where the whites were probably
the one percent of many.
i never knew of racism
until i picked up
the americans,
until i read how
europeans destroyed the nations
imposing the law,
the religion.
i never knew of that
in the soviets —
we had no religion.
it turned out,
the world could be oppressed
just by the color of the skin,
by nationality,
or the way you speak.
i was amazed
by how much evil there was,
but that was when,
until…
in childhood, though —
my friends were nations,
black and white and yellow,
and we were free as birds,
and no one cared…