I confess.
I once struggled to relate
to black on white hate
when I was nestled in the Caribbean
where we take a second look
seeing a white woman than we do a black man,
’til I realised the way they suffered and struggled
was something I’d never fully understand.
I confess.
To thinking we were all black
while some were dropped off in the Caribbean Sea
and others travelled further west
on their way to this AmeriKKKan dream
but it was just a scheme.
They were robbed from the motherland
forcibly stuffed on ships like sardines in a can
made to believe that they were less than.
What was dream for some turned into a nightmarish reality
that the colour of their skin made them targets of inhumanity.
I confess.
That never once, like they do, have I had to watch over my shoulder
or be given the talk to “don’t stay out too late” as I grew older
Our white population didn’t grow bigger
I never had to hear the word nigger.
I admit, yes.
It made me wonder
if I would ever be hostile if someone called me nigger.
Like what would I be expected to do? Cry?
I won’t lie: an ignorant mind
lacking understanding of the hefty history behind a single word
one I would hear but never heard.
I confess
that yes
when cellphone videos and body cams captured the lynching of people who looked just like me
I started to realise
that there was something boiling within me the day Trayvon Martin died.
I may not have experienced prejudice
but something broke within me every time this sentence persists:
I CAN’T BREATHE!
I CAN’T BREATHE!
I CAN’T BREATHE!
I CAN’T BREATHE!
I CAN’T BREATHE!
I CAN’T BREATHE!
I CAN’T BREATHE!
I CAN’T BREATHE!
I CAN’T BREATHE!
I CAN’T BREATHE!
I CAN’T BREATHE!
I CAN’T BREATHE
I confess
that what was once lack of knowledge
has turned into anger
since I recognised that we live in a world where all lives matter
expect those with charcoaled skins
oversaturated with melanin.
Where stop and frisks have turned into my HANDS are UP DON’T SHOOT
and yet you still wonder why they loot
and behave uncouth
when the world has seen the massacre but won’t accept the truth.
You have planted a seed of hate, AmeriKKKa;
don’t act surprised now that it springs forth fruit.
Dear Black Brother, dear Black Sister:
You matter.
Your black life matters.
#400Years400Words
#400Words
#400Years
!
