'Anti-Racism'
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Don’t smile with me if you don’t want to
Because I am not a mirror
Don’t be like a bluffer who gives me a black smile
You unfasten the buttons on your shirt
loosen the collar
alter the sides
tie the ends into a knot
cuff your sleeves
I’ts not that I’m insouciant,
I just can’t find the shape of tongue
To inform you of your ignorance;
To tell you the ways of the world,
In a moment or less.
For You
If I tore apart my body
For you
And you examined my organs
Tested my blood
Ripped my skin
Piece by piece
Hands ache as the cold metal cuts in deep
Pressed unyielding to ensure obedience
No resistance to an entrenched position of power
I can't breathe
Back is bruised and full of tension
I still remember, the freedom and the trees I was surrounded by
Suddenly replaced by the dark stink of a crowded cargo hold
A collective nightmare sailing during an endless night
What Inspires Me?
They never even heard us
Until they wanna blame us
We taken the shots
Hits to strong to even block
i walk into the store
to buy some snacks, a simple thing
down the aisle my careless eye
a mark of my youth, my faltering attention
but everything becomes still
I know what I amI know I'm brown,I know I'm brave,I know that I have acne on face I know what I am I know I'm a women ,I know I'm thick ,And I know my positivity might make you sick I know what I amI know wasnt always t
I learned a long time ago
That the night only brings fear
As i walk through the city of New York
It seems to be that i am the only shadow that is creeping
Of human ignorance I am almost in despairFor racism is around me everywhereBut like they say sheer ignorance is blissJust like Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss.
Privilege? I’m sorry I seem to have forgotten what that word really means. You see it’s been forced in my ears and down my throat so many times I’ve become numb to its bitterness.
It put me in my feels
You broke open my seals
I wanted to speak my mind
But knew I had to somehow be kind
I will never feel guilty for shit that I didn't do....I understand there's also reasons why you should look at your race as racists too.....I'm white but I never placed anyones neck to a noose also i never burnt a cross or hid my face under a poi
if only i had a pencil,
i could write my way out of the ghetto.
if only i had a pencil,
i could explain the voices in my head that scream in falsetto.
if only i had a pencil,
Love
Humans and Change
Like oil and water
To things that refuse to merge
It’s a cycle.
And it happens over and over.
We are the peopleWe are the nationWho has a beast inside
Don't disturb usWe open our tongueless mouthsWe roar with a thousand voicesThe thunder of a thousand gunsThunder of a thousand hearts
You can't escape labels
From every mouth and every mind
I'm seen as the weak link and the last pick
If anyone ever looked past color, size, or how kind
Being constantly burned will shorten your mental wick
Fairness, somethin’ extendin’ only in our hands.
Our weak, ivory hands.
We wrap the privilege ‘round our fingers,
5 silhouettes stroll through a white town alone
the sight of them causes residennts' mouthes to foam
4 jagged stones are thrown
aimed to shatter the dark kings' destined thrones
3 skins ripped to the bone
It's a set-up
Meant to rip apart apartheid
A trap in which they themselves get caught Made as an escape from lashes of the sword
On human backs like whips to a palfrey
Smile at the Russian man who talks kindly of his home landLaugh with the German girl who walks with an American Shake hands with the French man who will learn English in time
The world today is at war.
People screaming for more-
More peace, more love,
more reaching for the stars above.
No more war, no more lies,
no more spit in our people's eyes.
Listen
Can you hear them?
It’s the natives crying as they're eradicated and displaced.
It's cracks from the gun that everyone owns
It's funny,
I grew up seeing the world as something beautiful
Painted with a crystal blue sky
And a warm, bright, yellow sun
But as I grew older
My ancestry's energy gives me no sympathy for your white supremacy.
So please exempt me from having empathy when at war with your privilege tyranny.
If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention. It's all the white supremacist the president fails to mention. It's all these racist institutions that only aim for the retention, of all people of color still fighting against oppression.
I'm just writing to contemplate everything that's going on.
I mean just everything that's going wrong.
I'm tired of the news telling me what's right and wrong.
When I was young all I wanted to be was a baller.
In the streets I learned how to be a shotcaller.
Working on my handles with the steel to be a hitman.
Working on my handles, coach put me as a big man.
They put us in oppression.
They drown us in depression.
It's nothing but discrimination.
They try to kill our brown brothers in immigration.
They try to burn us down because they have the heart of Satan.
We gotta make this world a better place,
been looking for a better space.
They looking for a place in space.
We looking high even though they hit us low. Change trying to come but it's slow.
In this world it's filthy.
Over 300 years of incarceration.
Today we still got our people living in incarceration.
We were the ones who built this nation. Because of our skin color hard to find an occupation.
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful black queen,
Genesis, they called her.
She'd been through more trials and tribulations than you've ever seen.
Her innocence, stolen.
A white man, with no decency.
Let me tell you the folklore of the hardcore
Who crystallised 7th neuron into majestic bilinear
Stood transfixed at the centre of death's voyeur
Admitted to institution of fool's theatre
America was made
To be great.
From the small towns to businesses,
It was all so great.
Until one day settlers came along.
From Columbus to Addams,
They started out strong.
Is this the land of the free?This is not true for all,Fortunately it has for me. Other people will agreeThat prejudice can make you bawl.Is this the land of the free? Banding together is the keyFamily does nat let you fall,Fortunately it has for m
America the DEAD
No feet stood before its coffin
No mourning was given
Nor a shed of a tear
Whose man has spoke of this soil being
G R E A T?
Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
People born to privilege deciding what is right.
By the cop lights’ red glare, guns bursting through the air
Gave proof through the night, that inequality is still there.
By the dawn's early light may we only see skin color
Lady liberty may racism befall her
perilous fight for equality
death for the innocent
land of the free
What do you see when you look at me?
Do you see a threat or do you see me?
From my beautiful black nappy hair all the way down to my black feet.
When I look in the mirror, I see me.
I love me.
See my reflection on your white skin
You shout "Reciprocated racism!"
No.
Stop.
Listen.
These are the effects of our cause
The results of oppression
The "land of the free" made a slave out of me
My people chained body and mind
While they "progress" we get left behind
We try to find our nitch, but are too dark for them to make room
I grew up being told you can achieve anything you want
I grew up being told to love not hate
I grew up being told that America is the land of the free
We were all created equal in the eyes of our founding fathers.
But through generations, racism has been birthed by us the mother.
Mothers of what brings inequality and a long life of despair to those born in innocence.
Where I am not free
Where I will stay brave.
Where my friends have ancestors
That used to be slaves.
Where my vagina is open
Each day you wake up
and each day the pledge is heard
some stand up and put their hand on their hearts
but others stay seated
For is it really true?
One nation under god with liberty and ¨Justice¨ for all
Judge not his braids
Judge not his dark skin
Judge not his dress, his distress, his whims
You have not lied within his confines
The very thing he can't hide behind
This country is a mess.
Promises of freedom for the few by
oppression of the many
taking hold of us,
with anger and a sense of injustice
My mother has green eyes
They still call me a negro
She has straight hair too
But they still call me a clicker
My father has skin that’s black like cocoa
What were you doing the night of August 28, 1955?
How were you feeling on May 15, 1970?
Where were you on March 3, 1991?
What about on April 29, 1992?
October 9, 2005?
Where I'm from you can walk outside and see the stars at night,
Run into trees when you open the door
Hear the birds chirping from inside,
Where I'm from people you don't even know smile and wave,
I believed we were righteous
It was why I had to run
We would all come together
Each and every one
We made progress, love, and peace
They said I was the man
What we had was beautiful
My heart goes out to those
Who have loved and who have lost
To the ones who did nothing
And yet still paid the cost
The cost for what, their
Drinking Narrows Reason I roamedThe minds of the few In narrow landWhere dogma burnedA bonfire of credoLit by torches of ignorance I felt mans pangs of consternationAnd pules of defeatSharp in my tummyMy affinity achedThe few were so thirsty In n
I do not live to appease anyone.
Why do you categorize me?
Why is my appearance labeled, Am im not good enough for “Your” society?
Why does the color of my skin designate what school district im welcomed in?
