They say “make America great again”

Again? As if there was ever a time in which America was great

As if there was ever a time in which being shot dead in the streets wasn’t a black man’s fate

As if there was a time that culture did not justify hate

As if there was a time when their land was their land, and their god was their god, and their race was their race

But oh wait they say, this is not about race, don’t make it about race, why are you all so stuck on race when you all pull the race card you’re the perpetrator of a system that’s long been erased

Erased they say, they say why do we bring up race when racism has been erased…

erased, as if the occurrence of a black man hanging from a tree has been erased,

as if a black woman being judged to a different cultural standard has been erased,

as if my lips weren’t ridiculed but now praised on Kylie Jenner’s face,

as if the colored signs adorning the windows of restaurants have been erased,

as if the attempted genocide of entire people has been erased!

As if the continued gentrification of communities and homes has been erased!

As if the demonization of culture and self-love aren’t common-place,

as if the enslavement and the effects that still linger in our neglected hearts has been erased. Yeah that….

That’s history now.

History, the study of past events,

History the study of our countries past events,

history the study of our people’s past events,

HIStory, but whose story is being told?

They ask why we’re so stuck on race, but it is they who used race to validate their claims.

To validate their claims to people’s land, to validate the chains shackled upon negro hands,

to validate the murders of people they want to forget, to validate the system so even their own won’t fret.

To validate the death of Bland in her cell, to elude the truth so their progeny may sleep well

WHY are y’all so stuck on race??

Because you made race the history of America

A dark cloud of gas and oil that still hovers over this country today

Because history the study of our past events, still affects the lives of the people you tried to keep as prey

Because it is 200 years later, 200 years since you cut off our hands and feet and told us to run,

Because black men and women are still searching for self-love they’ve been taught to find in the people behind the gun

Because we’re still being lynched in modern day streets, from swaying in the trees, to painting pavement with our red streaks

At the hands of our oppressors, dressed like officers, judges and professors,

the new attire for Klansmen isn’t white as we’ve seen

as we scream our cries go unheard because our race still does not allow us to be seen as human beings

The simple phrase Black Lives Matter is met with opposition

As if other than rights for Blacks there’s an ulterior mission

Because we have been watered down to accessories to amuse and benefit white society, but yet they say that’s history now

Well if that is history when has America ever been great.