Black man, black mask
Black man run fast
Black man raised to shoot
Black man missed you
But black man wasn’t missed
Yet he is, he left people too
He left a life, you only left a block
You write his wrongs as if yours aren’t to be frowned upon
Was it he who told God, ‘Make me a Pigment
That others view with resentment’
Was it he who asked God, ‘Let me die as another statistic’
Was it he who dreamt of being born a killer
Another cog in the cycle
Now his tears wash your sins?
No
His blood just stains your rifle
3 minutes and two bullets
Was all it took to end one life
And to alter so many more
About the Author
The son of Dominican immigrants, Kelvin Nuñez, feels he’s here to tell stories.
Born in Manhattan, Kelvin is the only boy of five children. His family moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, when he turned two in 2004. Reading was where Kelvin’s imagination developed and took hold. He then moved again to Philadelphia in 2010, where he has lived ever since.
His parents show the young man the meaning of self sacrifice. He works hard to make them proud and to make all of their late nights and busy mornings worth it. Their story of being overlooked immigrants as well as his city of Philadelphia makes him value the underdog stories.
Kelvin is a freshman here at Hamilton College and he continues to tell stories. He wants to be a full-time multimedia artist and he envisions his music and writing opening doors for projects that he hopes can impact the world for the better. He wants his writings to inspire others to challenge their perspectives of the world.
Kelvin Nuñez is a painter of words, painting the valleys and peaks of his soul for the world to see.