Civil Rights

Wed, 01/30/2019 - 22:08 -- Dlkeith

For centuries they have oppressed my people 

For centuries we have fought for freedom

We marched through Jim Crow

They tried to make us feel low

Something they failed at doing a long time ago.

 

They ruled “Separate but equal”

With no regards to the constitution 

Life, liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Denied to us because of our blackness

They hypocrisy was madness

 

They divided the “races”

From movies to hotels to restaurants 

They made us inferior 

Making whites seem superior 

To destroy our psyche our interior 

 

Something had to be done 

Enough was enough 

They separated us 

Couldn’t even sit at the front of the bus 

A change was a must

 

In the year of 1954 we started our movement 

We named it “Civil Rights”

Congressional acts, Supreme Court cases 

Courts filled with tons and tons of black faces 

We testified and exposed those racists 

 

Brown vs Board of education 

Black kids forced to walk for miles to their schools 

Parents couldn’t take it 

They filed lawsuits to integrate it 

The Supreme Court ruled desegregation 

 

In the year of 1964 segregation was illegal psychological testing proved the illegitimacy of segregation 

Little Rock High School forced to open their doors

To let us negroes indoors 

 

With the Voting Rights Act of 1965 

We could vote without any discrimination 

We must not live in fear

Even when the threat of danger is near 

We must hold hands and make it our year

We must celebrate our achievements and cheer

 

For centuries we have been oppressed

We have fought for freedom 

From Tubman’s “Let my people go”

To breaking the chains of Jim Crow

To see the “I have a Dream” speech grow

 

This poem is about: 
My country
Poetry Terms Demonstrated: 

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