People Like Me

A month after I was born, in 1955, Mother told me Of the beginning of the bus boycott Because a woman of color Refused to give up her seat To a white man. And that was the year Father stood and fought For my rights. And he went to jail And the house was bombed, But father won To let me sit where I wanted Because back then People like them didn’t like People like me. When I was two, in 1957, Father formed a group To protest peacefully Because he thought What people like them believed Was immoral. And in that next year Father got stabbed And he led quiet protests That mother told me I was too young To ever remember properly. But I still remember How people like them used to treat People like me. In the early sixties Between the ages of five and eight Father led more movements And I remember Those lonely nights I would wait For father to come home. But Mother told me to sleep anyway Because he was out working late And would come home soon. But I knew he was in jail again For fighting for my rights And my brothers’ And my new baby sister’s. And it was then that I wondered why People like them didn’t like People like me. And it was in that year of 1963, That father gave his famous speech And talked about his dreams About how we were all equal And should live in peace. There was a march And the people applauded his words. It was then that I smiled Because he was my father And I knew he would protect us And I was proud to be his daughter. That was the year I wanted to fight with him To keep people like them from hating People like me. But then came 1965, And “Bloody Sunday” Brought tears to our eyes. That was the year I turned ten And we got the Voting Rights Act. It was also when I knew That father was fighting for me But that he was also Fighting for everyone else Because now some people like them Were also fighting For people like me. And it wasn’t until April 4, 1968 In the year I was supposed to turn 13 That someone decided My father should no longer live. And the news used the word Assassinated As everyone mourned his loss And that was the year That Mother told me To keep my siblings safe And that someday they would understand And Mother continued to help people And I knew that I would do what I could To keep people like them from oppressing People like us.