by ChiTeen Lit Fest
One
By KLevana (Keita Morris)
Tomorrow’s promise a brand new day?
We have fought
For what?
We wanted to be free
Now we are the only ones holding ourselves captive
Our slavery is giving into everything that sounds easy
Thank you society
For trying to prove to me it will be easier to be anything but Black
Models bleaching their skin because their not seeing the beauty because showing natural melanin like Lupita wasn’t even an option
Thank you society
For making Black look so dirty
As if the only way we can make it to the top is to please everyone but ourselves
That we will do anything to be famous
That we could only shake our behinds instead of standing behind what we actually believe in
Ourselves
That we are that desperate for fame
Is that what it takes?
That we are like crabs trying to escape a barrel we keep pulling each other back down
But where they lying
We crying for rights when we don’t even treat each other right
We are quick to put bullets through heads like it would solve the problem
So how do we expect any race to treat African Americans any better
As a people we make the world go round but everyone is taking their turn Gunning each other down
We have failed ourselves
We were to fulfill the dreams of Martin Luther King
But yet we are filling more prisons than schools
No more great things on the news
but what if the news was always filled with our rights instead of our wrongs
We must fight our demons and fulfill our purpose
Musicians,
artist,
teachers,
doctors,
lawyers
and nurses
But No
More bodies dead then researchers
Fighting wrong fights instead of searching for answers
What about the cure for cancer?
Problems not being solved
Are we happy with who we are?
Ancestors were Strange fruits hanging from trees but
kids are tracing bodies on the the street with chalk
Isn’t chalk for playing games like hopscotch?
There is no difference in the storyline only time
We are dying
Black like the never ending night sky our culture should be never ending.
Let’s remember our past is the reason we are privileged with the way we are living
Is it possible that we could at least strive for perfection and make the devil angry
we could win no we will win
if we can become one
One love
One heart
One world
And our generation that will motivate the next generation to rise like the sun and stand
As ONE
We will stand as one
We are tomorrow’s promise
Because this is a brand new day
