"Angels can't be black, stupid" she said to me And she said it so matter-of-factly To the eight year old boy with a figurine That his mother gave him, looking so kindly And I didn't know of her words nonsensicle But everywhere I looked, in books, store windows and tv specials I saw that angels in serenity with floating halos And all of them were white
So I was down, not surprisingly Because think of how mad or sad you'd be To find Heaven's hosts had no minorities And that an angel could not be made of me And angrier I became as on tears I choke To be the **** of that little girl's joke And to find all the words my mother spoke Might be only lies and fairy tales
And with my head planted on my desk The angel next to me did rest As my teacher saw my distress And question my obvious bitterness I shrugged her off and her query grew "Nik Bland, what in the world's eating you?" And I told her what that girl and the whole world knew About the fable of my figurine
And she listened to my childlike woes As tears streamed down, sobs did grow And she nodded as I said I did not know A single place in the bible where minorities showed A trace and she went up to the class And spoke that, scientifically, in the past It's been shown that the brown skinned and blacks Were the colors of the first of the human race
So that sparked a fire within my mind To realize that if humankind Found a way to travel back in time They might be seeing an ethnic Adam and Eve And she showed me on the map the Middle East And my heart rate slightly increased To see it held Israel and Bethlehem, doubts then ceased As I saw the mixed skin color of their people
And as the class pondered this, she came to me And told me very quietly Of her and her Christianity And of Jesus, whose chose his mixed coloring And with tears in her eyes, she put that angel in my hands And to me that I must understand That God looks past the color of the man For He painted us all
And Christian or not, you must admittedly Say that the world is a piece of artistry That is incomparable to any man has in the making And that we are all living here equally And show we pass on, some soon than most But with belief in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost That eight year old boy could proudly boast About the angel, so serene... and black