The Human Kind

Human Kind

Ndeye Fatou Coundoul

 

I’m here to challenge your mind

And take you back to a time

 A time were our ancestors voices were trapped in an island

 Called Gore

Located in West Africa

 

You can almost hear the cries to this day

As you make you way

To the slave house

 

A time when families were separated

Mothers and daughters never made it

Fathers and sons could take it

If you weren’t push in the sea with rocks tied to your feat

If you weren’t beaten to death

Starved

Overworked or

Force to give up virginity

To a man who in his eyes you were only an object

To be played with

To be control

To be abused

 

The human Kind

The kind whose mind has been poisoned throughout time

The kind were at times I’m shameful to call mine

Because we fail to recognize what’s really important

You can ask anyone and they might not let you know

How the stories really goes

 

Since all we do is breath, wine and dine

People are now comfortable enough to stay behind

While every part of us screams in rage to never look back

Maybe its defense mechanism

Curiosity killed the cat

To never dig deep into our backgrounds

I don’t know how many times I told them that I wasn’t black

But brown

Historic textbooks will never leave you clues

Dictate the things you do

The way you think

Change of topic

Let’s talk about how the titanic sink

 History Refused

To interpret the blues

Covered up the bruises

Failing to recognized the symbols and the signs

 Because technically humanity is “blind”

When lies and shame have been combined

Doubt and insincerity are next in line

 

To believe that slavery was a trade and a tragedy

But failing to remember that slavery

 Happens to be more than just an event

 

Fast forward to 2014

 People are raised in the land of racism and hypocrisy

Where people aren’t afraid to repeat a broken history

A place where the truth has always been clear

But people chose to label as a mystery

A land where lies are praised

Murderess gets away with murder

As we count of the days of the deceit

Feeling hope but only to end up feeling deceit and defeat

While this never ending cycle rinses and repeat

And we march with wet eyes

And clenched teeth

The blood of our loved ones

Painting the streets

While we scream with every ounce of frustration

I Can’t Breath!

 

As sadness becomes raw anger

And our anger becomes fuel

As society continue to press play on a nightmare

That never ended

As society puts on a mask and calls me its friend

Calls me black

And pretends

To give me my rights

Just so that I won’t have to fight

And point fingers

 

My name is African

My name is Africa

My name is humanity

My name is peace

My name is justice

My name is love

My name is freedom

My name is equal

My name is hope

But my ancestors called me

“Free”

 So how dare you try to call me “African American?”

 

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