you ask me what it's like to be black
and i'll tell you it's a warm soulful fulfilling feeling
like a pair of new Chucks on the hot pavement jumping scotch on a busy summer day
eating cool iced pops and not ever being afraid
and smelling the warm carmel cake cooling on the stove
and the togetherness on a Sunday evening in grandmama's home

but you ask me what it's like to be black
in america
and i'll fall silent of conversation
because as you see history repeats itself
i don't understand why there is still need for explanation
in deep adversaries and hateful unappreciation
here we stand to be questioned by an authoritative negation

and ignorant folk,
why do you ask me such things?
why are you people mad?
why is it about race?

and i'll ask you, why does the caged bird sing?
is he not entitled to his song or his wings?

as green as the earth and as blue as the sky
i will only explain to an ear willing to listen
to a being with a sound heart and a firm mind
because as God as my witness we were created as equal

and for that given right we must die?

i will sit back and in turn ask you why;
i bet you couldn't say
and maybe we will all learn the answer some day
so join me in prayer will you?
join me as i pray:

to the children of Chicago
who can't go out to play
to the sons and fathers of
Missouri and Florida and New York
who will never again see the light of day
to the mother's pain that may fade
but won't ever go away
to the hateful people and their hateful words and their hateful ways
God won't You heal their pain?

they're so ******* us, Lord
now we're ******* ourselves
and on our knees we have fallen
needing guidance and help
because it isn't about being privilged
or living for the light we're consumed in

being black in america is no longer about being accepted as black

it's about being accepted as human.

My heart is crying for the **** victims screaming falsetto notes in the dark praying someone will find them and lead them to light...and as much as their father would've loved to protect his baby from that, he simply doesn't have an "S" on his chest.

My heart breaks for the babies born into poverty with three strikes against them...because the government will make it their duty so that it is **** near impossible for those kids to succeed; but there will be some that rise above those stereotypes and those children will become the young women and young men who change the world.

A tear falls every time a woman wakes up, looks at herself in the mirror and has to put makeup on to hide the bruises that came from the man to whom she gave all of her love to.  Equally, my heart breaks for the children that live their life walking eggshells because they don't know when their mommy or daddy will snap next.

I cannot rest until innocent children are no longer being kidnapped and sold as *** slaves, until genocides become a thing of the past, until America really becomes the "land of the free", or until so many of our generations teenagers and young adults stop using guns as fists.

I am praying that the people walking this earth who have every reason to give up on love somehow give it one more shot. I am also praying that the young women and men who have shot down dreams will fight harder than they have ever fought because the world needs more of you. Lord knows we need more of you.

I have a dream that more of us will love in permanent ink. I hope that more people will see that the only thing that can defeat hatred is love, and I pray that every person reading this will decide to join love's side and fight hate. I pray that anyone that feels completely alone realizes they have God.

There will come a day when I will be standing in front of a crowd filled with a rainbow of races, ages, ****** orientations, and I will give my testimony. I will tell those people how I almost gave up. I will tell those people I had family that loved me regardless. I will tell those people that even though they feel as though no one loves them, I love them; and more importantly, God loves them.  I will tell them that one day I decided that the only person in control of my happiness was me, and that is when everything made sense. There will be people whose lives will change because of my story, and that is the day my dream will start to become true.