To Be Black - Madison Herring

To be black

Madison Herring

 

To be black is to be a shadow

A memory of a slave who somehow got free

That ⅗ of a person

That afro pickin, cotton diggin, back of the bus sit sitting one.

To be black is to walk into a store with your hands held high but your head down low

you're too afraid if you look up you'll see the bullet  

To be black is to walk into a room with the bodies of your fallen brothers and sisters

The body of Sandra bland, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin

Its the privilege of praying for your unconceived child that they can walk in a world where the color of their skin won't be the target on their back

To be black is to try to erase your name off a bullet

To be black is to give and never take

To be black is to be numb

Quiet and slow

Hearing your mother's words move easy move slow

Their after you

To be black is to walk with your faster foot first

you'll never know when you have to run for your life

To be black is to be the strong one

The holy one

To be black is to be at fault

To be black is thinking that the rise of a fist is enough to say we are human too

To be black To be black

To show that we bleed the same color as you

Hands up don't shoot

Is that not enough?

Do you want the mouth and mind of my son

The confidence of my daughter

To be black to say enough

To be black is to plead hands up don't shoot 

Thinking 

The knell of a knee is enough to say don't shoot

To be black

 

This poem is about: 
Our world

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