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Janae Labree Apr 2015
I can't remember ever wishing I had lighter skin.
I was always amazed by the way they glowed;
all of those beautiful black women.
I observed other women, and yes,
they were beautiful too. They just....
Didn't have that "umph" about them.
You know, the way beautiful black women do.

I have endless people to thank,
My mom being on top of that list.
"Mini-me, you're so beautiful,
and don't you ever forget this."

Society is constantly throwing shade,
highlighting no one but the "Arian race".
Leaving beautiful black women embarrassed
and too ashamed to even look into the face
of the next pretty girl, and most importantly herself.

Spending countless hours comparing,
and harping on the imperfections.
Too big, too small, not good enough.
Never pointing out the features that she loves.

Let me be the first to tell you
YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. And
YOU ARE WORTH IT. And
in case you haven't heard,
YOU SET THE STANDARD.

Beautiful black queens, and
Black queens in the making, This is your world.
Everyone else is just living in it.
Love the skin you're in, because
truthfully, they'd love to be in it.

Rock your crown with confidence,
I see you shining from afar. And
if you don't love You,
Today is the perfect day to start.
Donna Bella Apr 2015
AmeriKKKa
Land of the free
Land of the whites
Hell for the blacks
Equality non existent
KKK running land
Blacks running dead
Blood splatters everywhere
KKK never stops
Blacks broken with grief
Whites uplifted with grief
Donna Bella Apr 2015
Blood splatters
White devil
Black angel
Killed by the devil
Debatable sentence
Death sentence or a couple of years?
Killed a brother
But it's debatable
If our brother got a death sentence and 8 shots in the back
It's only right if you get a death sentence
Can the government protect our brothers and our sisters?
AmeriKKKa government can not protect us because it was not made for us
But we can change that
We have to keep on fighting
We have to keep on protesting
We have to keep on studying
We have to get in the office
We have to get these law degrees
We have to become governors
We have to win
Because we've been losing
We've gotten so far
But not that far
I wrote this poem April 8, I was waiting to decide if I was going to pose it but this is the right time. I'm praying for Baltimore tonight
It's in those jeans.
It's in that white printed tee
It's in those converse sneakers
It's in that half cracked smile you pull
It's in those shades
It's in that face.

The detail in which it's shaped and made
The colour which intensifies your smile
The hair which makes you black

It's the love you always feel  
It's the hate you always resent
It's the mediocrity you oppose
It's the fear you never feel

Heart, honour, respect.
To the decent man
Don Bouchard Apr 2015
North Charleston, South Carolina,
Officer Michael T. Slager fires
Eight SHOTS
At Mr. Walter L. Scott,
Unarmed and running away...
Detained for a traffic stop.

Simple math,
These bullets Eight
Into Mr. Scott:
Five Bullets found him:
Three in the back
One in the rear
One through an ear...
Three bullets whizzed away.

And when Scott fell,
Slager yanked his arms
Behind his back
To cuff his hands...
Ghosts don't take to cuffs
The shooting was enough.

I have not been a marcher,
But I have seen enough,
I have seen enough.
No words can do justice, but the video shows what happened. If this officer isn't convicted of ******, where is justice. God help us.
Lorenzo Creaghe Jan 2015
debased heads crooked in the grey city winter
tiltinlikethestreetsisrollinyoudownintohell
sidewalk shufflinlimpinstarindodginhidin
holdin the eyescloudedpaincloudedlifecloudednothing

swayin on a thruway divider in rags and solitude
bentbackbrokenbackbentbackbroken
wearin nevernewshoes and holding a pushcartcane
filled with onemanstrashisthiswomanslife

my bornagainsinglemama sees thepooroldwoman
we pass in a gotbetterthingstodothanpityyou engine
she doin the teetertottersendmetumblinintotrafficpleasehappydance
in our eyes she no more than a label, no more than her vice

butthewheelskeepturnin
wegotmoreworktodolifetolive
andjustl­ikethatshegone
ifsheeverwasthere
Jennifer Weiss Dec 2014
Why do we ignore all these spoken words?

We've had
poets,
rappers,
artists,
and actors
tell us as
it were.


Now I, myself, have spit one or two verse
and I need to let you know
  
I will be heard.*

You call for a social media blackout and
there they sit thinking, " How absurd!"

But when it comes down to it
what do you do when there is
no reaction* to your tear-filled  words?

Is it because we have adapted to being so passive,
when there's ****, murders, lynchings, and theft
we just take it in passing?

Or is it because we can look the other way,
when the hands of a white man
take the life of a different ethnicity away?

Is it in relation to power?
We close our eyes
and pray.

But where is the action
for justice in this final hour?

What is it that you do to help this land?
Other than observe and comment snidely
on your fellow man?

It is no tragedy for a loss of life?
While you ponder your "newsfeed"
via social media
via your Iphone
via your wifi
....
Consider the point when you lost touch with real life.
PUT DOWN YOUR CELL PHONES.
JOIN HANDS.
COMBINE FORCES, WE ARE THE ONES WITH POWER.
let us use our love for one another.
let us try and save each other.
PLEASE.
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