Have you ever
had to defend your existence
to your White friends and family
who call you “militant,”
thinking it’s only Black folks
you can see?
Colorblinded cheerleaders
shouting
see people as humans,
never as skin tone…
I mean Barack Obama made it
besides slavery’s been gone
Fear flashes in their eyes
as my voice begins to rise,
saying
where I stand today is a long way
from the fairytale innocence of my youth
believing the United States
must be synonymous
with freedom, democracy, truth
you see,
slavery today we know
by another name
prisons have become industries,
producing Black and Brown bodies
enchained
I spent fourteen years
in Catholics schools
hearing about the glory of heaven
when God’s love and goodness will prevail
but now I question the value
to suffer, suffer for a world
with so many trapped on earth
inside this living hell
My education took me beyond
the mental confines of textbooks
bound with lies,
causing my innocent mind
to contemplate the state
of other folks’ demise
like…
How come my friends
in the public schools
got 30-year-old textbooks
and I’m the only one
from my block today
who made it out of the town
while they’re still
pregnant
in jail
or jobless
yet everyone from the Catholic school
was college-bound?
Why do White folks tell me
I don’t act Black
if it ain’t about race
then call me their best friend
but tell n*gger jokes to my face?
What’s the basis of all this?
if Abe Lincoln apparently set us free?
How can they call themselves “Christians”
yet claim their god
could never look like me
blasting hip-hop
in brand-new cars
throwing private parties in mansions
praying for God to bless the poor
while adopting conservative republican stances
I’m so confused
by all these contradictions
can’t someone please make it clear
why in 2015
I still have to live my life in fear
not knowing whether each time
I leave the house
might be my last
because trigger-happy cops
call me “suspicious”
then blast
The media portrays us as:
criminals
uneducated thugs
burdens to society
that only make babies
and sell drugs
If Barack Obama made it
why are my sisters and brothers burning
in the flames
of a nightmarish American Dream
that just sounds deranged?
Compared to the inequality I see
every single day,
this world leaves us so broken
Is it any wonder
people kneel down to pray?
So, my family,
if you truly want to love me
I have just two conditions:
First
recognize all the diversity
within human existence
simultaneously
we’re all constructed
from the very same elements…
So what? You ask
and question my relevance
Second
accept that our collective humanities all intertwine
so my freedom’s dependent on yours
yours dependent on mine
That means as long as teary-eyed Mothers
ride along with Black babies
in hearses
I’ll continue to cry out for justice
in all of my verses.
