Volume I

Hair as big as our dreams 

Hair that can be laid in elaborate patterns 

Lips so full of love

Our beautifully melanated skin glistening in the everpresent sunlight

Our noses so delicately shaped as the focal points of our faces 

The resilience we have that others may never know

Laughter so rich, it rings prosperity 

Voices that flow with milk and honey 

We possess talents that are one of a kind 

Talents that inspire generations to come

Often becoming the blueprint of culture 

Our fashion 

Our music 

Our food which brings communities together 

Personalities ever so exuberant 

Even with histories so full of depravity 

We still rise 

We still overcome 

We still come out victorious 

We are Black people

You cannot erase us

Nor can you erase all that we’ve done to get to where we are now

There’s still more work to do

And we shall do that work to be free

We aren’t finished

If you couldn’t stop us in the past

You’re sure as hell not stopping us now 

Click To Leave a Comment!

They label us as violent

All we want do is survive

We wouldn't have to get violent if they had just left us alone

Because of them, our home countries have fallen to years long corruption

Places where we could've had immense rates of education were plummeted because they thought highways were more important than our education

Why does our education scare them so much?

For years, we were silenced

Beaten down

Eaten 

Blamed

Villianized

Why do you think some of us go down the violence pipeline

We try to ask nicely

You don't listen

We try peaceful protest

You don't listen

Instead of complying, and treating us like the humans we are

They unleash bullets

They open tear gas

We fight for our lives

Our safety

Our peace

To just live in america and be recognized as human

But those who fight for a president who has shown his depravity get treated as some backwards heroes?

They even get pardoned

Why can't our lives be pardoned

Hm? 

We can only fight violence with peace for so long

We have to force our way in

It's our time to fight and stand up

Matter of fact its always been our time

The fight never ends 

Rise up

Click To Leave a Comment!

"Get over it"

“It happened in the past”

“That was forever ago”

“Stop talking about it if you don't want to be reminded”

How can people look in the eyes of those oppressed and say these distasteful phrases with full confidence?

Tulsa Race Massacre happened in 1921

105 years ago

George Stiney Jr, a 14 year old boy was falsely accused and executed in 1944

82 years ago

Emmet Till was lynched in 1955

71 years ago

Ruby bridges

only 71 years old

Segregation ended in 1964

62 years ago

Central Park Five (Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise), 1989

27 years ago

Kalief Browder, 2010

16 years ago

Trayvon Martin, 2012

14 years ago

Kendrick Johnson, 2013

13 years ago

Michael Brown, 2014

12 years ago

Sandra Bland, 2015

11 years ago

Elijah McClain, 2019

7 years ago

George Floyd, 2020

6 years ago

Ahmaud Arbery, 2020

6 years ago

Breonna Taylor, 2020

6 years ago

Keith Porter, 2025 

Not even a full 2 months ago from today’s date

This is only to name a few out of a horrifically high statistic

How can we forget something that is happening presently 

In your neighborhoods

In your local streets

Right in your backyards 

You think our oppression ended when laws were passed by the same justice system who does nothing but

fail us?

This has never been just a horrific memory that we can push to the side

It's a problem that haunts our past, present, and future 

SAY THEIR NAMES

Click To Leave a Comment!

America has never been great

I’ve never understood people wanting to return to a “Great” America 

How can you want to return back to a place that doesn’t exist?

Hiraeth is what those who share this sentiment are experiencing

Ever since the inception of America

It has never once been great

America since its inception has been built on corruption

Oppression

Bloodshed

White supremacy

Inequality

Hate Crimes

Racism 

Wickedness

Depravity

Innocent lives torn down

Yet its praised

It's called the land of milk and honey

The land of dreams

I don't see Amerikkka through rose colored lenses

I see it like it is

And for what it is

As well as the many oppressed across this nation 

The nation that falsely claims being one for all

So, while I don't understand wanting to go back to a place that never existed

I do, however, understand why some are under the illusion of Amerikkka being great

They miss when they could just ignore the oppression that's happening in their “sweet ol’ America”

They miss when they weren’t reminded of the irreparable horrors their ancestors partook in

They miss when we didn't have a voice to speak up, fight back, revolt, and take our destiny into our own hands 

They miss when they could be blissfully ignorant about the true history of Amerikkka

You can't erase history and pretend it didn't happen

We aren't stupid

We shall stay educated and rise 

Click To Leave a Comment!

BLM

A combination of letters which carry great significance 

Black lives matter

Say it loud and proud 

But when we say this

We’re met with resistance

Because we want our existence to matter?

Because we want to have a place in the same America your ancestors forcefully brought us into?

Packed liked sardines

No space for expansion of the chest

Dehumanized

Treated as cargo that could be easily discarded

Does it threaten you the power we will gain in surplus when we finally get our recognition in full?

Does it threaten you to think of our people overcoming?

Does it threaten you to become the minority?

Why would it threaten you?

Why would it threaten you if you didn’t do anything wrong?

Why would it threaten you if we were treated properly and simply as the human beings we are?

Why does it threaten you?

Can you answer that

You know exactly how Black people, as well as all P.O.C are treated in both Amerikkka and other parts of the world

You turn the other cheek

You turn the other cheek because it does not affect you

You lack empathy 

You lack emotional intelligence 

You turn the other cheek because at the end of the day it won’t affect you 

Your life will neither change for the better or for the worse after encountering the way Black people are poorly treated in America 

You can shut your phone off

Shut off the news feed

And pretend it all never happened

However, we have to live with the way you treat us

When we turn off our phones, that part of our life doesn’t turn off and become ignored 

It carries on into our everyday life

You only step up and care when the people in danger look like you 

You're scared to be treated the way the world treats Black people as well as P.O.C as a whole

White cowardness is destroying Black lives, and it has been destroying Black lives for years

If my use of “you, you're, your” caused you to feel personally attacked… you're the exact person this is intended for 

Click To Leave a Comment!

Tears of a white woman

As dangerous as can be

Tears of our oppressors not only gain them sympathy

But they tear down the lives of black individuals 

14 years old

Jr

90 pounds 

Atop a bible

Adolescent 

Matthew 18:1-5

Innocence

Childlike whimsy

Innocent

Innocent

Innocent 

Accused 

Not heard

Not given a chance

Confused

Scared

His death was made to be a show for our oppressors

Like a clown in a circus

Murdered

Slain 

Executed

Taken from his family

Departed from the love of his parents

Why?

Simply because

The public thought a Black life

Was not worth a second thought

A little boy

A child

14 years old

90 pounds

Say his name

Click To Leave a Comment!

Jokes made at the expense of white people

They don't threaten their lives

Their livelihood

Their safety

Their standing in america 

Their freedom

After the joke is said and done

It generates a giggle amongst the crowd

And then they get back to their regular lives

Jokes made at the expense of Black people and other P.O.C

Generate new stereotypes for society to latch onto

Which in turn

Do threaten our livelihood 

They do threaten our safety

Our freedom

Our standing in america

They treat these jokes as definite fact

As a way to categorize all of us

Put us in a lumpsum 

We get criminalized

We get profiled

We get a bad rep

We get killed in broad daylight 

Jokes harm us

In deeper ways than the one who lacks comprehension can understand 

Unfortunately everything is about race

Even the most mundane

We have to live our lives with caution under every step

Even by merely standing there

Doing nothing

Society is already labeling us as a thug

No matter what we have on

No matter what position we hold

No matter what title we have to our name

In their eyes 

We have no name

Just a categorization 

So no

I don't think the roles being reversed onto white people

Has the same implications as when it’s done to us

“What if the roles were reversed?” they ask

Except they have been

Since the inception of america

You always tell us to cope

Why can't you? 

Click To Leave a Comment!