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  • Writer's pictureShamari
    • Jun 26, 2018
    • 1 min read

Trains...

It was like 4:33pm. Super hot. Drip Drip. I barely caught the A-train heading downtown. Destination: happiness. I find a seat next to a white woman. I sit down. She gets up, clutches her purse, and hurries to the other side of the train car. She stands on the other side of the train car for the next 5 stops. She gets off at west 4th st. It is what it is. I wasn't wearing anything that should have scared her off.....except for this Black skin. Melanin poppin'. My music wasn't even blaring: "never let you shoot the nose off my Pharaoh." The Carters. Why am I even wasting time and energy thinking about her?


Three days later. It was the day after the Pride parade. During the parade, one of the participants gifted me a rainbow bracelet. It had "pride + joy" written on it. It was cute. I decide since it was still pride month I would wear it the next day. Well, it's that day. I leave work and hop on the 1-train. Going to Brooklyn for an event on/with LGBTQ+ youth of color. I transfer to the 2-train at 96th st. I sit down next to a Black man. He glances at my bracelet and hops up. He hurries to the other side of the train car. He stands on the other side of the train car for at least 4 stops. He gets off at 14th st. And I continue on to Brooklyn Black, Gay, and proud.

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