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Stephanie Lynn Oct 2015
we were brought here on a boat
taken from our land against our will
we were sold for loose change
with a collar upon our throats
we fell beneath the soil
ate from the hands of the unholy
forced to take beatings on our backs
until our skin began to boil

while we break way from the chains
freedom ain't free in a land not built for us
we still must eat what we're fed
and follow commands from the reigns
Go back home, they tell us
Go back to Africa, they say
but they were the ones who took us
just so they could sell us

in an attempt to learn our roots
we stand in sand and land afar
hop on a plane of knowledge
in shiny over privileged boots
now Africa doesn't even know who we are
and they don't call their land our home
we aren't welcome, obrani they say
from our chest falls a shattered heart

poorly treated by our present and our past
it's no wonder we remain so broken
striving for equality until we die
misunderstood and fading fast
years of tiresome of repetition
the mission never changes
we just want to be accepted as human

Do you finally see the vision?
(C) Maxwell 2015
Stephanie Lynn Sep 2015
in a world where we pray to be united
within the grasp of wholehearted humanity
standing tall
we sink in the dirt beneath our feet
and holding our heads up high we sing with the utmost pride
a song of which becomes a chanting notion
setting the tone for revenging entities
growing weary of the unwanted waste we toss our visions in the sea
without daring to take the promising chance

how are we to stand together
in a castle built to crumble in its past?

and yet we become the fools
lost in the fight and lost in our grieving
we walk the streets with our banners and our anger
without understanding what we are feeling

let me take you back to nineteen sixty three
when we marched on Washington
and we were lead by a King
what merely started as the seed of a dream
became the prelude to never ending history
yet with each milestone comes adversaries
and we still cry the tears of our fallen fathers
we still cry to be free

but remember my brothers and sisters
to be mindful in your actions
for blood does not wash blood away
and because the tongue can be a sword
be mindful of every single word you say
the whole world is unjust
be emotional if you must
but the time is now to be reflective
to be knowledgeable
to be respected
because the hearts of our sons and daughters
still need to be protected

the sun my still set orange
and they moon may still shine white
the day may still end at quarter to
the moment everything is night
and in each passing day are you going to become the change that is needed to win the fight?

are you going to do what's right?
(C) Maxwell 2015
Jasmine Roper Apr 2015
Black
B - L - A - C - K
5 letters
4 consonants
1 vowel
1 race

We thank
We congratulate
We appreciate  

Everyone person

Whether you created
Dominated
Or lead  

You made our race what It Is

From our Barack Obamas and Martin Luthers

To our Oprah Winfreys and  Maya Angelous  

We thank
we congratulate
We appreciate

Everyone person who has made us, us

Black

B - L - A - C - K
LJ Eaddy Feb 2015
Hush little baby
Don't you cry
Look into my
Deep brown eyes
I tell you now there comes a day
When life gets better for you baby
Baby. Ooh. Baby.
Yes. Life gets better for you baby.

Chains, all around me.
Whiplash everytime I hear a heartbeat.
Work from dawn to dusk
All day in the sun
No break for me
No I don't get none.
"Plow this pick that.
I need some cotton.
Make me my money
Before I beat you rotten"
Beat me down
But my pride's unbeatable.
**** me now
But my hiers will be equal.
Be equal. Be equal. Be equal.

Chorus

"Hey, fight this war for me.
If you do I'll bring you
All out of slavery"
Deal's fair enough
Only if it were true
I might be out chains
But still beneath you.
Can't learn. Can't vote.
And Why you ask?
It's cuz my skin's
Dark and you just can't have it.
Cant have it. Cant have it.

Chorus

We'll fight our war
And we'll fight it united.
Unity and peace
That's what we'll fight with.
Our battle scars
They will come with us knowing
That our blood was shed
But the better days are coming.
We'll dream like kings
And we'll sit in our seats
Breaking down the walls
Separating you and me.
And me. And me.

The better days
They are coming for you baby
You'll see the better days
One brighter day
For you baby.
The better days
They are coming for you and me
Won't be no slavery
It's so justly for you and me.

Chorus
Stephanie Lynn Jan 2015
my great grandmother said,
Oh, freedom
oh, freedom
oh freedom
over me


my grandmother said,
and before i'll be a slave,
i'll be buried in my grave
and go home to my Lord
and be free


my father said,
no more weeping,
no more weeping
no more weeping,
over me


I say,
before i'll be a slave,
i'll be buried in my grave
and go home to my Lord
and be free

Oh freedom!

Oh freedom
over me!

how thankful am i
how blessed am i
to be black
and
be free
This poem was inspired by stories from my father. This is me envisioning generations within my family singing this song (Oh Freedom) at different stages in our history. To me, that has such meaning and power.. With our society becoming more openly racially divided, its as if we have moved backwards in time. So when I find myself becoming angry or hateful, I think about what my family endured in their time, about how my father's birth certificate says "*****" on it, and how he had to drink from "colored only" fountains, and how he grew up picking cotton from sun up to sun down, It means so much to me as not only a light in the dark gospel song, but to know this was sung from the very lips that began this family in a time where freedom was not for us, touches my soul to the very core. My family is a strong family and our ties are bonded by love and Christ.
My great grandmother was a slave, and to see where I stand just three generations ahead of her, really places into my heart the realization of how much power I truly carry in my voice and just how much strength I carry in my veins.

(C) Maxwell 2015
All history is Black history,
wrapped in the shadows of time,
obscured by secret purpose and motive.
The Mother of mankind is as black as night itself,
the rich earth as dark as the space between stars.
History IS Black, and a month barely begins
to scratch its near-inscrutable surface.

— The End —