Authentic Allyship
A Black psychiatrist's reflections and dreams on what true allyship would look like in a country that remains divided.
beaubelle/Adobestock
POETRY FOR INCLUSION
Sit with me
White brother
and sister.
Strip nugatory
garments filled
with historical
bias.
Stand with me
White son
and daughter.
Inject cognitive
flexibility botox
into prejudiced
foreheads.
Testify with me
White congressman
and congresswoman.
Speak God’s truth
rooted in divine
non-partisan
justice.
Pray with me
White man
and woman
of faith.
Breathe auguries
of love into
stereotyped
obstructive
nostrils.
Dr Clark is an outpatient psychiatrist at Prisma Health-Upstate and clinical associate professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Greenville. He served on the American Psychiatric Association’s Task Force to Address Structural Racism Throughout Psychiatry, and he currently serves as the Diversity and Inclusion section editor and advisory board member for Psychiatric TimesTM.
