Near White
Ambiguous of race they stand, By one disowned, scorned of another, Not knowing where to stretch a hand, And cry, “My sister” or “My brother.”
Countee Cullen
Ambiguous of race they stand, By one disowned, scorned of another, Not knowing where to stretch a hand, And cry, “My sister” or “My brother.”
Cullen describes a person whose racial appearance is ambiguous—someone light-skinned enough to be “near white” but not fully accepted by either side of a racial divide. One group disowns them, and the other scorns them, leaving them unsure where to turn for kinship.
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