Poem – nominated by UN as the best poem of 2006
November 6, 2007
This poem was nominated by the UN as the best poem of 2006
Written by an African KidWhen I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in Sun, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die, I still black
And you white fellow
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you gray
And you calling me colored
??



November 7, 2007 at 1:04 am
Witty poem with sharp edges. Helariously biting words that speak the truth. Makes the reader laugh and cry inside.
I wish you well.
~ Jeques
February 22, 2011 at 8:14 pm
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/319577
November 27, 2007 at 5:23 am
The poem is very intensely written and inocently perfect. I can surmise that the kid is really exposed to the reality of life in which he/she precisely express it in this poem…He/she has a way of traslating lifes harshness and crystalize it into a art form….
God bless you kid.Hope you know Jesus so you will see what is the true color of life and colorful promise that awaits life after black..
cheers Jo from philippines
November 29, 2007 at 10:42 am
i seriously doubt that the un nominated this as the best poem of 2006. I search extensively the UN sote and nowhere could i find any evidence that UN suggested this as the best poem, nor that it suggested any poem at all. Even worse i clearly rememebr listening a disco-house tune which had as its lyrics this poem. I dont questions its quality, but i believe its background story is fake.
December 4, 2007 at 8:12 pm
I knew this poem as far back as 1992.
February 7, 2008 at 2:50 pm
[...] Re: Poem by African Kid – 1 Minute Ago Source for Above Info nominated as best Poem for 2006 in UN [...]
February 8, 2008 at 10:47 pm
“When I’m born I’m black, when I grow up I’m black, when I’m in the sun I’m black, when I’m sick I’m black, when I die I’m black, and you… when you’re born you’re pink, when you grow up you’re white, when you’re cold you’re blue, when you’re sick you’re blue, when you die you’re green and you dare call me coloured” – Malcom X
February 21, 2008 at 8:37 am
Dear African Kid,
I read the poem when a friend forwarded it to me. I mailed the poem again to several other colleagues and friends and recieved a great response. Everybody seem to love the reality expressed with simplicity and innocence which has a deep meaning and history attached to it….Way to go Kid. I wonder what your name is? What part of Africa you are from and how old are you? Just inquisitve….Best wishes.
June 27, 2008 at 4:28 am
amazing thinking.
August 20, 2008 at 10:59 pm
This poem is factual and cannot be denied regardless of the comments of who actually wrote it or when it was written. It is a strong message to those who first named the skin tones of different races into colors. Well we’re trapped with it… Great job KID. Let’s spread the message.
October 4, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I swear this was a pop song in the 90′s
January 29, 2011 at 9:45 pm
yes it is
January 23, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I can surmise…whatever
This poem has been around since at least the 1970s. I read it when I was a kid. Long long time ago.
It was written by an African-American.
When have Africans ever been called Colored? I’m speaking of people from Africa. “Colored” is a term from the US South. An African boy would not be familiar with the term in this context unless he had visited the American South of the early 1900s.
April 2, 2009 at 2:52 pm
This is a prank or a hoax that is circulating on the internet for some years. Firstly, the United Nations has not recognized this or some other poem as a best poem of the year. There is no scientific validity for any of those statements.All babies, irrespective of their race and ethnicity are born in the same color. The newborn baby is reddish purple in color as the skin is very thin and transparent and we actually see the color of the blood which is the same in all humans. It takes several weeks of maturation before the baby develops permanent skin tone and color. This poem is just a racist view about human life and has no merit or truth to support it by facts. Black kids get sun burn, they turn blue, they turn yellow when they are sick and they turn gray as the aging process continues.
September 20, 2011 at 5:05 am
Helo Major,R.Rudra, why are you so conservative about the nature. The tone of poem itself indicating that it is written by a kid and he expressed wide openly. He simply told without any prejudice but your similie is not natural, it is self made and with burn confern.still you are without justice and trying to suppress the natural inwardly outcome of the innocents. A natural color is blessed by Allah alm but burn is due to eventual happenings.Please don’t mix up and learn something from the innocent kids. I like it most. Izainmyn. Pakistan
December 3, 2011 at 1:48 pm
It is a hoax in the aspect that it was said by Malcolm X, in America, not some little kid in Africa today. Rudra is also correct that the UN hasn’t officially recoginzed this, but I guess saying that a child wrote it gets more attention.
April 10, 2009 at 12:26 am
Dear UN, what is this African Kid’s name? Give the kid some credit~
October 3, 2009 at 8:12 am
who is the kid? what is his name? how old was he when he’s writing that poem? what is he doing now? where is he now? strange… his name never published
December 3, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Malcolm X said it, not some little kid in Africa. There is no name attached because people want to give it a childish nature when it was said by a grown man fighting to end racial oppression. When a “child” says it, it’s so cute and funny and can almost be taken as a joke, but find out that Malcolm X wrote it, and suddenly the humor is taken away and you can sense the seriousness of the tone he intended.
February 24, 2010 at 12:28 am
Shame it wasn’t written by an african kid but a Maori from NZ and has considerably better grammar than written above which just seems to affirm someone’s stereotypical view that black people are poorly educated!
February 24, 2010 at 12:31 am
Unfortunately I don’t know the name of the author, but if you really want to track it down, contact Saroja Subbiah of the NZ government office.
April 15, 2010 at 8:01 am
that poem is really impressive
we white people just say yeah great bravo and if we
are a little more warm hearted we will cry a few drops…
but who…really who cares?we read this poem and we admire it but which one of us really will change our minds?!!!
peace with all races
send my regards to that lovely child and tell him or her that i’m a poet too but i’ve never ever been able to describe my feelings so innocently…
May 27, 2010 at 8:10 am
this is actually a quotation by the late American black leader Malcolm X
its not done by any African kid!!
August 7, 2010 at 3:45 pm
HOW UNFORTUNATE THAT SOME OF US MUST ARGUE THAT THE POEM AWARD WAS A HOAX. CANT WE ACCEPT A BEAUTIFUL POEM FOR JUST WHAT IT IS?
September 8, 2010 at 3:51 pm
the poem is fentabulous .hate’s offf to tat cute ,brainy kid
September 21, 2010 at 11:24 am
hello. nakakatuwa naman ang poem.The first time i read your poem i am really touch. i felt inside my hearth how happy i am coz i read it. Today people are crucial. They are not thinking of one’s feeling.
Thank you for writing it. Hope i can see you. thank you again.
October 14, 2010 at 8:11 pm
This poem is cute
February 6, 2011 at 2:18 am
guys, how many times do people has to publish this? this was never nominated by UN, this is a poem usually attributed to malcom X, but i think it’s not true! It is a great poem, and usually seen on literature books with other similarly great poems. Stop talking about a an african kid, and show your ignorance!
April 20, 2011 at 10:09 am
word of pain!
June 22, 2011 at 1:20 pm
Found on http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/queries/faps/#27:
Coloured
When I was born, I was black.
[...]
AND YET YOU HAVE THE CHEEK TO CALL ME COLOURED!!!
by an Anonymous pupil of King Edward VI School, Birmingham, UK.
Found in The children’s book of poems, prayers and meditations ed. Liz Attenborough (Element Books, 1989)
July 23, 2011 at 3:38 pm
awesome man!!
July 23, 2011 at 3:41 pm
gr8 job kid!!wat an intelligent..
October 12, 2011 at 12:06 pm
nice and interesring
October 17, 2011 at 12:48 am
The most natural poem I have ever read.Hat’s off.
December 3, 2011 at 6:37 pm
If a “white” person,especially American had written a poem similar to this they would have been called a “racists” and it now today would be a “hate” crime.
March 10, 2012 at 3:23 pm
At the end, it doesn’t really matter who wrote the poem, the more essential is the deep content and meaning behind it. Though it sounds racist, but it is what it is…so real and true.
May 3, 2012 at 3:39 pm
any body know about the biography of author? i need for my thesis.
or some information of that poem. thnks be4