Meet a Student: Derick Ebert
Category: WebExtras
Below, you’ll find the full text of Ebert’s poem “Black,” an excerpt of which appeared in the print version of the UB Magazine.
Want to see Ebert in action? Watch him perform “Black” at the 2014 Baltimore Youth Grand Slam, and then check out this UB video profile of him for more:
videography: Hartlove-Goodyear
“Black”
by Derick Ebert
In middle school
We would always have placement tests,
To see what we had learned at the end of each month,
I was always prone to write down
African American on each ethnicity question
Until one day,
My teacher whispered in my ear
Derick,
You
Are not
Black
As a 6th grader
I didn’t know how to take it
I wasn’t between a rock and hard place
But rather
Working in the field
And working
Within the house
As if,
My blood doesn’t pump freedom
Like the underground
I
Constantly play Tubman
Running away from something
That I am not
Maybe that’s why I am always suspended
Fighting against my race
While racing
Against the racist
That makes my life of
A race
Sometimes,
I feel like I’m losing
Derick you are not black,
But dust off my roots,
And you’ll find
The soft eyes
Of Emmitt Till
Not picking his battles
Because his battles
Had already picked
Him
Check my heart,
And you’ll find
The beat of the
Million man march
On the day
That I was given
Life
But this board game
Isn’t trying to give me my cards
So how
Do you expect me to play
When all
I can draw
Is that I am not
Black
I never felt
Like I could relate to soul
Something from within
Cause
Uncle Sam
Has colonized my territory
And keeps
My black panther
On a leash
As much
As I’d like to breakdown
There is nothing left to break
And I’m tired
Of being down
It’s kind of sad
I wear Africa
On my chest
As if we’re related
But I am nothing
Just its stepchild
Placed in foster care
And told
To forget where he
Came from
Cause they had never loved you
In the first place
For six years,
I have been reading
Between the lines
In a world
Completely color blind
No wonder
Waldo always hides
No wonder
Zebras always run
No wonder
I share traits with both of them
Always hiding
In crowds that’ll never accept me
And fleeing
Not fighting
As soon as I’m attacked
But I’m still searching,
For what it means,
To be
Black
