in fifth grade, they taught us about slavery.
associating it with fields of cotton and colored skin scorching in the heat of the sun.
in eighth grade, we revisited the topic,
furthering it to studying the end of slavery, making us believe it never existed again.

no one taught us about what was happening in our backyards in present time,
because we were always too young,
or the topic too sensitive,
although we were the age target of this tragedy.

we were never informed about the thieves of innocence,
the ones who covered each square inch of skin with impurity,
while we sat in classrooms reading fairy-tales.
we were never informed on the serial killer of dreams,
the ones who indulged in corrupted fantasies,
shattering identities into nightmares that will keep them awake for years,
keep them trembling,
keep them flinching when hands reach out,
keep them fearing the ones who fall in love with them.
we were never aware of the slaves victims were made into,
applying definitions,
when they were more that just mere words,
more than just a collection of bones built to prize and conquer,
more than just a babe,
more than just a pretty face and a pair of legs,
more than just someone to quench satisfaction.