The Man was a man of a color they were afraid of
so they hated him already.
When he offered his hand so that they could walk together
down a new path, they chose another hand.
A hand from behind
from a dark path covered in the sharp thorns
of intolerance
of hate and fear
of lies and misleadings.
So they rejected the hand of The Man
and turning their backs on him
strode proudly into the dark
where their clothes and skin were torn
and cut.

Still The Man offered his hand
and a way out of the darkness
of the lies and intolerance
of the hate and misleading
of the fear...
But the hands from the dark kept a firm grip
and the voices of the blackness
called out to them and played upon their fears
of the new
of the different
of those who were not the same as them
and they kept walking backwards
into the dark.
....
....
....
finally...
when they had reached the deepest darkest bottom
and their clothing had been rendered from their bodies
and their skin was shredded and bleeding
and they had nothing left
they realized...

and they turned to look for The Man
but they couldn't see him
for they were in too deep
and had turned from him
when they had had the chance...
the chance to walk together with the rest of us
into the brightest of forwards.