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