At the Starbucks

I am looked at with such hatred.

My men and women have put me with the dogs and the cats,

Not part of their world.

My bystanders and gawkers either stand or stare

And fair just ain’t really fair.

It has gotten heated,

The anger is real.

I’m not fooled, I know what’s really happening

While the people are shocked and I know the deal.

It is humanity-gone that I see, it is humanity-gone.

The ignorance is there and it’s not dead,

People silently knowing and they’re filled with dread.

It has gotten heated. An end is coming

I feel it is here.

There is no peace in this world

Unless I disappear.

I am hot in this hot world this world

Whose furnace is a never ending fury.

I am Black, and a man, standing proud.

I am a person who has been let down by this crowd.

Who will save me from this hatred that

Is everywhere I turn

Here: where I am still left to burn,

Just because of the color of my skin.

Right now. I need you to hear me,

Fighting for myself. Let my skin glow

Cause there is no way I will be whipped like a hundred years ago.

You get me?? Making history in this Starbucks today.