We Must Remember to Succeed

One thing we must remember to do
Is succeed.

We have been glued on our knees
And hung on trees
By those who swear
That we are too needy.

I hear gunshots all around my city.
And anxiety fills my chest
Whenever I see my brother leap
Due to the fact of Police Brutality
I Am Exhausted.

I'm terrified to bring another black girl in the world
Knowing that I may have to stroke her curls
And tell her about how the school to prison pipeline works

Or tell her that she may forever be disrespected.
Because the color of her skin
Will be taunted and fetishized and metaphorically devoured
By any man who may walk in

But we must consider success.
We held our hands upon our breast
And chanted to, persay,a land
A man
A piece of government.

Betrayed.
Never were we meant for success
Because the test we take to get a higher education
Was made by a man who specifically did not want us to do that

Fist in the air
Unite.
We must show our gold kings
That they are just everything
And our queens are dripping of rythm
And that we all beautifully vary

We must consider success
When the blood of our brothers
Ooze down their necks
All thanks to an officer
Who gets off shooting black Boys and black men

We must consider success
When our sisters thighs our full of neglect
And our our speeches are just considered attitude
And our bodies are valued as Just Sex.

We must consider Success.
Black men and women
We have nothing left
Our tounges and thick lips
Our braids and our limbs
Our Roots and the stories within
Success.

This poem is about: 
My community

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