You will never begin to comprehend our struggle
until you have suffered innumerable casualties
as us until you have had your heart ripped out
and scattered in the broken streets, scarred, charred.
feeling like we are being dragged upon slippery tar.

Every day a mother has to consistently worry and pray
for her young men and women of today, wishing
them peace and abundant love to shoulder them
through this cold world, this thunderous storm
of ferocious depictions, inconsistent elements
weaving the world into a drunken despair.

Various black teens catch a blazing bullet in the chest
each day by these devious police officers, as many lay
on the scorching pavement, their thoughts sporadically
shifting, drifting, crumbling, pinned down to the ground
by multiple cops, incessantly punched in the face, snatched
by their necks, lashed across the back with a baton, their
****** bruises a wave of boundless discrimination targeted
against the black race for the color of their rich chocolate skin.

When will these ruthless crimes ever end?  How can we call
ourselves a democracy when one side is divided within
the subconscious?  How can we evolve when white racists
thwart us from reaching the top?  It’s a constant and predominant war against the blacks, driving while black, walking along the sidewalks while black, the alleyways and street corners, confused conjunctions, sinking sensations, crazy vibrations streaming through our veins, lost in this delirious reality, immeasurable brutality, crashing off course as they have no remorse for their actions.

Our enriched melanin skin paints a vivid depiction
of the pain that we have endured for 400 years,
living in fear, psychologically alienated from the nation,
wishing to break away from this damaging creation,
to chase our greatest dreams and be an inspiration
within our black community, to be a powerful mountain
demonstrating our profound beauty and distinctiveness  
in the land, to be more than who we are, to be a shimmering star.