It wasn’t just me
It was 200 years being told we were less than human
It was 200 years of losing our culture
It was 200 years of walking the same ground but not knowing the same earth
It was 200 years of being stripped of dignity
Of self worth

It was 100 years of being on spit on
It was 100 years of you can’t play with that kid
It was 100 years of not be allowed the same quality of food
The same quality of life

It was 13 years of fighting
13 years of learning mama was bit by a dog
And daddy died just trying to change our world for the better

So when I learn I don’t learn just for myself
When I play guitar, I do it for those who never had the chance to learn
When I play football it’s for those who had to run out of fear and not out of glory
The skin I live in, is not my own
It shows the strength of a slave girl
It shows the silent fury of a strong man
The soft spoken women who has proven herself
It shows that I am not as weak as I am
I am not as broken as they wanted be
But rather I arise above the occasion
I arise above the situations I am placed in
You will not break me
I will learn
I will eat
I live