(To be Heard)

So it seems like every day is cold and bitter

Darkness surrounding, overwhelming us

Oranges and yellow turned indigo and black while I was always afraid that

One day I turned out black

Afraid that the hype was true

That the war going on

Was entirely new.

That little black boys couldn't breathe in a white girls direction

without it being misconstrued.

Afraid that my melanin could prevent me from getting a job

or make a snow-faced mother clutch her purse as I walked near.

From Emmett Till to Medgar Evers

To James Chaney and Trayvon Martin

God forbid I have pigmented children with an educated mind!

Because educated means threat

and threat means kill, and my momma always told me if someone hits you

you better hit them right back

But to hit, that gives reason and with that reason they shall take 

because you are nothing but a statistic in a white washed world

But if I was to have pigmented children 

How am I supposed to tell them that they could never be broken down

because they are solid?

As solid as the whip 300 years past or the noose silencing a woman's cries;

Maybe, they are as solid as the sign saying "Coloreds can't sit here"

To be honest, they might even be as solid as the plaque depicting Rosewood, Florida being burned to the ground

And if you haven't heard about it

Research it, look it up, there's even a fucking movie.

But the fact of the matter is, they're not.

I will not lie to my children's faces and I surely will not let them believe

That there is justice when their isn't!

I will tell them to watch how fast their hands go to pocket

And how fast that officers hand goes to gun

Because one bad move can replace your ebony pigment with red

And there are some things no mother can ever be ready for.

So dear future children,

Please remember: To be strong, to be kind, to be polite, and that you are only as solid