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In honor of the month that is hushed on school speakers

Torn out of the history books

Dumbed down with empty proclamations of peace

And ignored like white privilege in a country club

I give you, the new, the improved, Black History Month 2018!

In this month you will see the cookout at its finest

The aromas of soul food we fill every kitchen every night of this month

We will blast our Music as Loud and explicit as we want

We will rap along to King Kunta

Sip on lemonade as we bouncing around

This month there will be a Black out

#black men smiling

#black girl magic

#blacktivity

And twitter will be where we plan get-togethers

And our first one will be seeing Black Panther

And best believe Black people crowded in a movie theater watching a movie about a black superhero with a majority black cast while jamming to a soundtrack for that movie produced by the Kendrick Lamar will be lit

Also this month it is important to note, any racism, colorism, or sexism, or anything of the sort will be pounded into a tight little ball and hit out of the park with hot sauce because

And I can assure you that

Today, and every day… we got time

The Black delegation will be more prominent than ever with two time Ivy League graduate, Michelle Obama as our president

This month don’t expect us to sit back quietly in toxic spaces,

And don’t expect us to move either

You see this month we reclaiming what was taken

This month we reclaiming our time

This month you gon see less of cultural assimilation

And the last thing you’re going to see is cultural appropriation

Because you see this month is like New Year for the black soul, baby

This is the time you start to see little black boy and little black girls blossoming into the unapologetically beautiful people they should always get to be

It is in this time you see black girls embracing their natural kinks

It is in this time you see black men tearing down the toxic hyper masculine wall of which they’ve built up and you see them embracing each other in brotherly love

Because “for the first time (we) (will be) feeling the effects of black self- pride” – Malcolm X

This month

Is OUR month

Black history month is about more than the past, it’s about the future

A future where we will have done everything there is to be done

A future where our bodies are no longer target practice for an officer’s gun

A future where black mothers do not weep for their black children yet born

A future where black people don’t have to unlearn the whitewashed mentality of physical beauty

A future where my existence is more than a political statement

A future where black peoples worldwide are no longer surviving in this world, but rather where we conquering it

A future where we no longer need a month because history will include us

“We will not be satisfied” as long as black blood flows in the streets of the inner city

“We will not be satisfied” as long as gentrification takes place in our neighborhoods

“We will not be satisfied” as long as mass incarceration takes the place of modern day slavery

“We will not be satisfied” as long as I keep having to explain to you why I am unsatisfied with the oppressive systematic destruction of my people

“We will not be satisfied” as long as you keep giving us 28 days for something that should be celebrated all year round… no I will not be satisfied.

 

 

 

 

So even though, this month may not be celebrated by schools who talk the talk of cultural diversity

And even though, this month is only 28 days long and smack dab in the middle of winter

And even though school curriculums don’t even take the time to educate its students on black history and its relevance

You know what, it’s okay

Because let me let you in on a little secret

Black people have never, and will never need the validation of others to know their worth, to know their history, and to just be… us.

You see in the words of Maya Angelou “I got my own back”

So, if at the end of this you’re thinking “Well where’s my month”

Let me be the one to tell you personally, you probably already have a month and just have never bothered looking into it until I’ve just mentioned it, OR it’s every other month

Either way, Keep this is mind that the revolution will not be televised, oh no baby we live

 

 

This poem is about: 
My community
Guide that inspired this poem: 

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