black lives matter
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Bajo el puente Del Río están parados, atascados, estacionados
Miles de inmigrantes Haitianos, no Ucranianos
Francamente, si fueran estos últimos, no serían sancionados
Bon appetit a tout Ayisyen zanmim yo,Moun ki pral bwè, manje, deguste bon soup joumou,Ke nou fè ak joumou, kou koden, makawoni, ke bef,Kawòt, yanm, seleri, pèsi, ak lot bon legim.
I have tears in my eyes for Haiti
At Christmas
But I am not crying
At the midnight mass
Tears could not stop flowing
Unlike,
Snow White in the celebrated enchanted story,
my sable sista sports a coiled crown of glory.
She use to press her strands straight, or
level her thick crinkled mane with lye.
There are inside some men the nerve to hate.
While some are born with nerve to tolerate.
When did we come to have such separate minds?
I’m exhausted by the grief
And drained by this place
This place that once held promise
This world that once had values
Or perhaps it never did
This is not a recrudescence of racism
In America or in the world, but rather
A continuum of malfeasance, antagonism
And hardcore cruelty of the systemic horror
Born to love
Taught to hate
Stranded between
nature and nurture.
Your soul and your skin
furiously debate
until your skin
Just gonna hop right in
When you repeat over and over
The same problem on repeat
It doesn't get better, it only gets repeated
BLACK LIVES MATTER!
We are all from different backgrounds
but that doesn't mean that I don't have Bound's
What is the best I can hope for?
A seat at the table with those who look down upon me?
If I speak and dress eloquently I will somehow be acceptable?
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.
Follow me as I clear the way
Serpents in the grass won't make me quake
I shine the light through the darkest night
As I stand tall and battle for my rights
Your beatings won't get me to yield
is blocked off, roads nearby have no more parking spots.
Still, more people walk or bike to show support and watch.
Some hold signs and stand, others sit silent in the street.
Tensions are rising, this country is falling.
Are you a bystander or will you come?
Can you hear the strong voice calling?
United people keep on hauling
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
Hot topic time, what about race?
It’s a great moment to talk about the issue staring us in our face.
You see, during the Great Depression Black people had it the worst.
I grew excited as they built me
Because the men, they would talk
Of the grand place I would be.
For the Land of the Free
And the Home of the Brave
They made me, Lady Liberty.
Murder is okay,
If you’re a
Cop with your
Shield of law
That protect you
From doing any
Wrong giving you
It’s simple you see
We’re angry.
We’ve held our outrage
by a string,
A ballon of animosity
I can’t believe has lasted so long,
We are many shades lighter
But carry the most darkness
Complicit in the genocide
Of those who look different
As i'm walking i can hear the clear water's existence
When i get closer i see blood flowing from it in a distance.
I hear it cry and cry as i get closer
Response to James Cone's "The Cross and The Lynching Tree"
I have the faith to hang upon Calvary
but would I hang upon the Poplar tree.
If by it I may set my sisters free
Frustrated!Frustrated at the actions of the people who's supposed to protect/Frustrated that right now my skin makes me a logical suspect/
“Meaningless”
Because justice is just a word
slipping off the tongues of folks so surely
so carelessly only
Justice in terms of a meaning
is simply
man made,
To my future son,
Bringing you here is a challenge you see, not physically or financially but mentally.
This should not be a part of my worries but you know it’s racism and police brutality.
my life cannot matter in a place where my body was used as a currency.
because between you and me and those who look like me, freedom is the goal but uh...
freedom can’t be achieved by us cuz uh...
there’s a system.
white men are like asteroids;
they land where ever they want,
and decimate whatever was there before.
reach for your ID but be careful not to get gunned down.
these streets are feeling like syria now.
misinformed gunplay and guns spray in the area.
people being divided because they don’t meet the white mans criteria.
my niggas are drenched from head to toe in red.
colors matter.
my moms face is overwhelmed in blue.
colors still matter.
traumatized criminalized minds on green.
colors will matter.
Somebody help him somebody somebody. Somebody help him anybody
Three rules while being a black man.
1. Keep your hands out of your pockets
2. Don’t be black
My brothers and sisters,
Related by the shade of our skin.
My brothers and sisters,
Targeted by men who can’t fit in.
My brothers and sisters,
Running from the pigs that harm our men just because they can.
Where does it end?Where does the bloodshed of my brothers and sisters end?Freedom is non-existent in a world where our skin is not acceptedWe have no real rights because our race is rejected
Wake up, America
the girls are crying, souls are dying
brothers in neighborhoods, broke as
hell but they’re trying, their utmost best
against an unjust system that
If the streets could scream we would hear them say
Our history bleeds and reveals the world at play
The little children running in fear
With adults yelling in their ears
"You were born the wicked race"
Once there was a kid
He was so lost in the world
He did not understand the unspoken rules
He did not know why people looked at him funny
Or why females clutched their purses while he walked by
Teach our Black children to swim
Take them to the ocean and show them life has no bounds
Teach Black children to read and to explore more than the outside of their broken door
Give them tangible hope
In the Streets of America tonight
Many hands of young students scrape the sky
The colors of blue and red abrace their face
As they endlessly march unguarded
"Oh my gosh you’re sooo sassy” should be tattooed on my foreheadIf I had a dime For every time I spoke my mindWith confidence
Fake men afraid to have real conversations
Adverse persuasion
Scared of world view revelations
So the same hatin' going down in police stations
It’s not okay
You know, it’s just not
It’s not okay that I can’t just be me
You say that me is all I can be
But, then, tell me why I can’t be me when I’m with thee.
I want my seat, I want to own my pride
I seek to lay claim to what should be mine
Come, let me show you how I’ve been robbed
How I’ve been pushed aside as you take flight
We live in a society where it is more disgraceful to kneel before a flag than to stand for racism.
Where the KKK is seen as a group of “fine people” with jobs. Families. Lives worth protecting.
White walls
Question my worth because you can
then drain my essence through your fingers
I am sand
I am sand.
White walls
They don't understand
tiana didn't ask for a prince
she was an entrepeneur
she didn't ask for her best friend to be a rich white girl
but she took it with grace
she wasn't supposed to turn into a frog
White man asks black boy what he wants to be when he grows up
Black boy looks back with a smile and says alive
White man laughs
To live the American dream means to be the one living in the family house that you own
Debt free
That you paid with the money that your white ancestors swept from my black ancestors hands
My soul is shattering every second of the day
Outcasted by hate in any way
As I fall my fate begins to fade away
But I say NO!
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King
Man oh man, they could have been a power team.
Really they just wanted the same thing,
They wanted to live the American dream.
I too, hear America singing
Many millions of songs.
I hear the song of my teachers
All they say is listen.
My country tis of thee
Wish you'd stop shooting me
And all my kin
All made from the same clay
No matter what you say
A fallen flag can't stop me from falling for you.Even after all the discrimination and racism I still find myself proud to be called an American.
I pledge allegiance to the Racism of the United States of America,
and to the Rich, White, and Wealthy for which it stands,
one Nation under a Christian God,
divisible,
Slavery and human rights violations. Ugly, like a scab. Rough and hurts like a stab. But little by little, begins to heal; the aching sore that is a big deal. Slowly but surely, progress is being made, as hate begins to fade.
I spoke with a friend yesterday.
And even though we're both white, the police had
never been something that was on my mind because--
Well, everything was okay.
I will protest againt this insanity
Speak up without enmity
Even when they set their dogs loose
Because I won't tolerate this abuse
And we're not backing down
I refuse to be led by a clown
I bet you’ll pull your gunwhen I speak upbut you won’t shootsimply because I look like you.
Sometimes I wonder what it’d be like if I was white
I believe my life would completely change if I was white
I wouldn’t be closely watched as I walk through a store, if I was white
If there is liberty and justice for all
Why is it that you only seem to hear the white-man's call
Are my cries not enough
Am I just an angry black woman
Who always feels the need for things to be just
At a time when unity is never been more necessary,
We put our trust and country into regressionary
Actions that will “Make America Great Again!”
But many left questioning,
“What if we are not white?”
Your spirit held the beauty of Aphrodite but never commanded a crowd to form around you like this
Instead it was the crimson liquid, glistening in the light,
That made everyone stare
'Merica
Is the old man who stopped and turned
To snarl at my mothers beige skin
In the dairy aisle without shame
It is the voice in my head saying
I'll never be able to hold my girlfriends hand
When was the last time a young girl wasn’t dress-coded or sexualized just because it was 85 degrees outside?
When was the last time an immigrant earned enough money from one job to support their family?
God bless AmericaLand that I was born inStand by my brothers and sistersAnd protest issuesThrough the nightWith the lightFrom police carsFrom FergusonTo Flint, Michigan
BLACK with no Regret
I'm Black With No Regret
And maybe my shoulders scream it too
Or maybe it's in our stride
And strong voice and afros
I'm Black With Some Regret
Alls my life I has to fight...
Alls my life I...
been a modern slave with my chains decorated red, white, and blue.
“An invisible black man”,
through and through.
Yet, my skin offends many;
Oh Sweet America,
you killed my brother today and went home to tell your side
you classified him by his skin and decided it was time
,that you were God and that you should be the one to end his life
America the Brave risked everything for the future.
America the Strong fought endlessly for our rights.
America the Proud flew the flag for all people to see.
America, you lied to me
I came here to grab all the opportunities
It was a long wait, in that large embassy
I held on my mother’s hand as we flew across the sea
I'm walk-walk-walking past the school I should call my own.
I was kicked out of the school close to my home.
Now I walk past head down, tears flowing
because my skin is darker then theirs.
A year ago today, I was half asleep.
I heard the alarm ring through the streets
Hands up! Don’t shoot! Hands up! Don’t shoot!
and I? I pressed snooze.
A year ago today, I went back to sleep –
Our country is dividing down the middle-
So divided, it's crumbling.
One side begs for justice, and their rights.
They beg for it to stop-
This isn't my fight,I say with hidden hands balled into fistsReady to defend those which the comment was againstMy knuckles let go
Is it that we’re black?
Because that’s how it feels
But why?We are all human
The 1400’s started this all
The river runs deep
Deepened with crimsion
Each death premautre and unjustified
Lives claimed
stolen
devalued
Left behind are family
loved ones
“A time comes when silence is betrayal”When the government's stops telling you what is happening you are doomed to an endless life of misinformation and lies spread thick and thin on propaganda cloaked as movie posters and pop culture. Because w
On the days in which my blackness be a burden
My body just a container, a casket.
Mahogany skin cultivated to hold dead things.
Wake up!
Rise above hatred and become unique!
Make a difference by stopping the racism!
Let me tell you about a young African-American girl stopping her fellow white classmates from being racist to her.
You feed me the word oreo
And expect me to fill full
Satisfied with the sugar
You want my big lips to curl around the word
My fiery tongue made sweet by the “compliment.”
“You’re not like other black girls.”
The hurt the pain
Lives of black childrens father's
Taken carlessly with a gun
Gun praised by the land of the free
Shot at, choked, and hung
All of the above
Brought about the young
Spreading hate, instead of love
Spat on and discriminated
Police officers are killing my people which is a crime
but yet when they stand in front of the jury they get no time.
They started off as heroes but are turning into murders overtime
taking innocent black people lives.
Everything that we do is a problem
They feel as if guns are the only way to
solve them.
They don't want to see us in no caps and gowns.
They'll rather see us in a cell or six feet under gound.
Hey I'm black in america
What are you doing? Why are you trying to kill me?
I can't be black and hapy anymore? What happened to the world?
I look around and I see hate! hate! hate!
Some white guy cooked up the idea that Americans bleed red, white and blueFrankly speaking, that just isn't true.I've seen so many Americans bleed,On the Internet, on tvAnd let me tell you there's red in the streets
Does beauty fade from my skin if it's too dark?
Well if beauty is only skin deep, judge the color of my heart,
The hue of my soul.
And if you look inside my heart, you should find a hole.
The Window whispers to me
It told me it wanted to be free
And no longer cry
The Window called to the key
It responded shaken; a little shy
It said you know you can see
You just cannot tell me
To respect the men in blue
When I'm still a runaway,
Post-slave to the system
Still a blooded Indian
Still a blooded African
Still the 'other American in their eyes.
I look up and I see the red and blue flashes.
My skin is as dark as night,
similar to Onyx and Obsidian,
Hair bushy and sun-kissed,
but that don't mean I always got a gun attached to my hip,
If my melanin offends you - I have nothing to tell you,
Black lives matterAll lives matterBoth are true, but who's killing who? Not just murderSilent murderOf hopes, dreams, crushed by circumstance. From povertyMore povertyThe cycle pulls people back in. Arrived as slavesRemained as slavesTo blind, sup
How will I be seen? How will I heard?
Can you help me find myself?
I can hear the struggles and pains from inside,
screaming out for help.
I feel small and helpless but am I really?
I feel horrible but I literally cannot watch another video.
I can't witness aymore violence.
I honestly miss celebrating July 4th, believing this country was as amazing as my history teachers made it seem
"I wanna be a police officer when I grow up!" A little boy of just a few year said to me.He must not see the news.
I walk down the street and see my brother get shot
Now my brother that killed him has to get got
Now I’m picking sides, either the red or the blue
But both are my brothers, so I don’t have a clue
they say that adaptation in its prime is simply
assimilation
or admiration .
but I see things as they are and not for how they will be
and what this is,
what they are-- is damnation.
"We are all the same,"
they say.
They lie.
We are not the same,
you and I.
We are different, two sides
of one coin
And while they say,
"You are equal"
they mean
Black lives matter?
Well of course they do
Same with Native American, Mexican,
Japanese and Korean too.
Though to this thinking
there's a small blight
I guess I don't matter
because I'm white
I'm scared
Scared of what's to come
Scared of what has happened
Scared of what is happening
Scared of what could happen
I know you see it.It's as Black as the midnight sky, it's Brown like the Earth you step on.The crescent in my grin, the softness of my skin.Bronze, dark, and gleaming.
Another child.
Another friend.
Another son.
Another daughter.
Another neighbor.
Another cousin.
Another mother.
Another father.
Another lover.
Another classmate.
I stroll down the sidewalk of my school, I hear murmurs and whispers of my name,
"Why is her hair like that?" "Why is she so dark?". Answer this: why are you hatin' on me, when I'm just trying to flex my complexion?
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."[1]With sincere respect, Mr. President:
Mere words cannot bend it to your will.
Name me as the hope of the slaves
Frame me in my mothers gaze
Let me breathe in open air
Even though we've yet to make it there
Black bodies sway in time
With the drums playing in my mind.
WE DO NOT BEGIN AS POLICE PROPERTY, to be freed or detained based on some guy’s mood or feeling.” he wrote.....
We are not theirs... We are not of their descent.
Their hair.
Their skin...
We are not theirs
Everyone can say a million different things that are awesome to them
Those opinions are solid precious diamonds and gems…..
I used to pray for a son.Could you imagine a little baby boyWith big brown eyes and chocolate brown skin;With an imagination so big that the whole world could fit in.
There is so much controversy over the slogan "All Lives Matter", and I can not seem to get my mind wrapped around the idea why. Yes, black lives do matter. I, as a black woman agree with this statement. There is nothing false about this at all.
I'm afraid to raise sons in this world.Black men who will be profiled and targeted from my womb,
I shook and dissolved
into beams
of pride
and pain
as Neiel Israel spoke the line into existence;
“Every day a black man walks
He is like Jesus,
