Jun 2017
My Black is beautiful…to me.
It’s the beauty contained in my family tree
The spectrum of charcoal to milk of you and me.
Natural from inside or skillfully applied
Black experience is infused with pride.
Yet we are seemingly the only race
Encouraged to dismiss our history’s disgrace
Stories of riches, kings and queens
Reduced and treated as fairy tales and dreams
Black is not the look of hair texture or skin
Black is the connections of the past within
Whether Born on American soil or from island sand
The slave trade from Africa is where all our histories began
The curve in your hip, plump of your lip,
curl in your hair and skin not so fair
Are the influences of the ancestors that we all share.
The African Slave trade is where our histories began.
Torn from Mother Earth, distributed to complete a plan
Now this is not to take from others’ tribulations and strife
But this is the reality of the new beginnings of black life.
Brought to a land with no connections to the past
Sold into servitude relegated to sub-caste.
Followed by Jim Crow laws, which were given the right of way
The residual effects are still evident in present day.
Nonetheless, Black families fought to preserve with
values held dear.
Despite the ongoing atrocities they were made to bear.
But, something happened along the way to interrupt the advancement and flow
Black families came under attack from elements we all know.
****** and crack took the focus off the cause
They disproportionately affected black families, taking fathers with their laws
The residual effects, unseen for generations, so occult
Generational poverty would ultimately become the result.
What we see today are images that depict limited education, family structure and despair
What we see today are the results of communities in need of drastic repair.
The Black Lives Matter movement is not an arbitrary pun
The movement speaks to the healing and work that has yet to be done.
The flip side of the coin depicts positive images of black people doing what we can do
These are the images people need also pay attention too.
There are many accomplishments that black people have brought to bear
Look around and there are examples of triumph everywhere.
Despite the strongholds of repression and strife
Black people have excelled in all aspects of American life
People who look just like you and me or members of your family
People who strive for advancement ... and just want to be.
With aspirations to stand up tall and remain unbowed
I am encouraged to be my very best and make my people proud
See, to be black is to take the bitter with the sweet
Part of a diverse people with love and devotion replete
It’s not a simple monolithic experience that we all share
Black experience changes for people everywhere.
So please don’t limit us by the depictions on TV
We are as varied as the branches on an old Oak tree.
I will never hold my head in shame or deny my family tree
For all the good and all the bad, my black is beautiful to me.
It’s the beauty contained in my family tree
The spectrum of charcoal to milk of you and me.
Natural from inside or skillfully applied
Black experience is infused with pride.
Yet we are seemingly the only race
Encouraged to dismiss our history’s disgrace
Stories of riches, kings and queens
Reduced and treated as fairy tales and dreams
Black is not the look of hair texture or skin
Black is the connections of the past within
Whether Born on American soil or from island sand
The slave trade from Africa is where all our histories began
The curve in your hip, plump of your lip,
curl in your hair and skin not so fair
Are the influences of the ancestors that we all share.
The African Slave trade is where our histories began.
Torn from Mother Earth, distributed to complete a plan
Now this is not to take from others’ tribulations and strife
But this is the reality of the new beginnings of black life.
Brought to a land with no connections to the past
Sold into servitude relegated to sub-caste.
Followed by Jim Crow laws, which were given the right of way
The residual effects are still evident in present day.
Nonetheless, Black families fought to preserve with
values held dear.
Despite the ongoing atrocities they were made to bear.
But, something happened along the way to interrupt the advancement and flow
Black families came under attack from elements we all know.
****** and crack took the focus off the cause
They disproportionately affected black families, taking fathers with their laws
The residual effects, unseen for generations, so occult
Generational poverty would ultimately become the result.
What we see today are images that depict limited education, family structure and despair
What we see today are the results of communities in need of drastic repair.
The Black Lives Matter movement is not an arbitrary pun
The movement speaks to the healing and work that has yet to be done.
The flip side of the coin depicts positive images of black people doing what we can do
These are the images people need also pay attention too.
There are many accomplishments that black people have brought to bear
Look around and there are examples of triumph everywhere.
Despite the strongholds of repression and strife
Black people have excelled in all aspects of American life
People who look just like you and me or members of your family
People who strive for advancement ... and just want to be.
With aspirations to stand up tall and remain unbowed
I am encouraged to be my very best and make my people proud
See, to be black is to take the bitter with the sweet
Part of a diverse people with love and devotion replete
It’s not a simple monolithic experience that we all share
Black experience changes for people everywhere.
So please don’t limit us by the depictions on TV
We are as varied as the branches on an old Oak tree.
I will never hold my head in shame or deny my family tree
For all the good and all the bad, my black is beautiful to me.
