Pennies

Society has overlooked us for hundreds of years. We have been set aside, castigated deemed worthless. You can walk by us and never even look at us, loved only by the very young as their minds have not yet been corrupted by the prejudices of their parents. Our self worth tied up in your emotional baggage, your value system. Unable to break away from systems that devalue us, we only have each other. Tied together by a common bond we stand alone in our hope of meaning more to people. Our self loathing made more apparent because we are darker than the others, therefore less important not as valuable.

For decades our very existence has been the topic of discussion, so under valued we do not even warrant a place in the future. Our future is bleak, for no one wants us to be around. You will find hundreds of us in the lower income stores, ghetto’s, on the street corners, still perpetuating the welfare mentality as our brothers and sisters are easy to get. Used up and thrown away like trash we feel dirty, could you have at least used the Vaseline? Show us some love, we are worth something are we not? Time has tarnished us, rubbed us raw, you have finally broken us, denigrated with nothing left we live under bridges, in shelters, on the cold streets, in subways, and we ride in buses to pass the time just to feel something again. In those buses we can mingle with the pretty ones, the light skinned ones, the ones deemed more valuable.

For hundreds of years we have wanted to be apart of something, something other than being bottled up together and used as a last resort. We have wanted the same things as the others, respect, dignity, to feel like we are worth something, to feel like we deserve to coexist with the lighter skinned ones. Unfortunately we will probably be extinct in the next 50 years because we can not survive alone. However, we will be prominently displayed in the national archives, the local museums, forms of rare art. What a future we have to look forward to, knowing we won’t be around long gives us a sense of freedom, we can live despite ourselves. We can live life to the fullest because we are free. Free to imagine, free exploring the essence of life, free to be free. We can remain in that bottle and know that all we have is each other. We can ride in that bus with the pretty ones and know that although we may not be as valued as they are, we will go down in history as one of a kind. From 1793 to present we have been called different things. We do not like being called 97.5% zinc core, 2.5% copper plating, we prefer the OG, just plan old copper. By the way, the pretty ones may believe they are worth more, but they either run in fours, tens, and twenties, they can not compete, for all we have is each other and all of them separate equal the same as us. We are the one hundred, yes the very same….. $1.00. (In pennies)