I Am

I am the hopeful black women who was denied her right to vote.

I am the caring white supporter killed

on the front lines of freedom.

I am the unarmed black kid who maybe needed a hand but instead given a bullet.

I am the two fallen police officers slain in the line of duty.

Selma has awakened my humanity.

Selma is now.

I am a hopeful young woman, who prays for change.

I am human not black, white, Asian or any other race.

I am all the annihilated Jews in the Holocaust, who were killed because they was different.

I am perfectly imperfect, not better than the next.

My life isn't worth more than the other.

I am all the black kids who are told that they wouldn't amount to anything because of the color of their skin, and not the content of their character.

I am the projects a place originally for the working class.

But now has become a place of epidemic for people that may never amount to anything.

I am all the parents who had to bury their kids at a young age because of gang violence.

I am all the brutal police officers who were taught that just because they're black or Hispanic they will never amount to much and are violent.

I am all the raped girls who were treated like a piece of meat because of their looks.

I'm sorry is my skirt too short, are my boobs too  big, is my ass too fat for your eyes?

I'm sorry that God blessed me with beauty but that doesn't give you the right to treat me this way.

I am hopeful that one day my little brother can walk down the street and not worry about getting shot.

I am hopeful that I can one day walk in the night without worrying about getting raped.

I am all the disabled kids who are bullied because they was born different.

I am all the people who committed suicide because they felt like nobody cares.

I am the little girl or boy being raped by someone they know.

I am the inevitable.

I am history.

I am change.

I am racism, which was created due to ethnocentric and nationalistic feelings.

I look around me and I see people not black & white.

I am the poor.

I am the corrupt government who doesn't tell us much because words and history is too powerful.

I am freedom.

I am all the people who kept quiet because nobody listens.

I am spoken word.

I am silence deep within the cracks of every cry unheard. Deep within the lives of every story untold.

I am you, human, alive, love.

I am everything people fear to be.

Selma has awoken me.

And I will not rest until our story is told.

Until we can no longer be ashamed of who we are but instead embrace it.

I am the trail of tears.

I am every slave beaten because not enough cotton was picked.

Because they refused to bow down.

I am Rosa Parks.

I am Michael Brown (please don't shoot).

I am the women raped by cops,but are unheard because officers are above the law.

I am survival.

The greatest lessons are the ones you don't remember learning. The ones civil rights leaders tried to store within us.

Selma is here.

I am you and you are me, and we are humanity.

Deep within the cracks of this corrupt government.

Deep within the cracks of this place we call home.

Deep within the cracks of all the untold stories.

Our silence will no longer be controlled.

I will silence no more.