Why do men smile when I speak, <br />And call my speech <br />The whimperings of a babe <br />That cries but knows not what it wants? <br />Is it because I am black? <br /> <br />Why do men sneer when I arise <br />And stand in their councils, <br />And look them eye to eye, <br />And speak their tongue? <br />Is it because I am black?<br /><br />Joseph Seamon Cotter<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/is-it-because-i-am-black/
