Solid
Location
(To be Heard)
So it seems like every day is cold and bitter
Darkness surrounding, overwhelming us
Oranges and yellow turned indigo and black while I was always afraid that
One day I turned out black
Afraid that the hype was true
That the war going on
Was entirely new.
That little black boys couldn't breathe in a white girls direction
without it being misconstrued.
Afraid that my melanin could prevent me from getting a job
or make a snow-faced mother clutch her purse as I walked near.
From Emmett Till to Medgar Evers
To James Chaney and Trayvon Martin
God forbid I have pigmented children with an educated mind!
Because educated means threat
and threat means kill, and my momma always told me if someone hits you
you better hit them right back
But to hit, that gives reason and with that reason they shall take
because you are nothing but a statistic in a white washed world
But if I was to have pigmented children
How am I supposed to tell them that they could never be broken down
because they are solid?
As solid as the whip 300 years past or the noose silencing a woman's cries;
Maybe, they are as solid as the sign saying "Coloreds can't sit here"
To be honest, they might even be as solid as the plaque depicting Rosewood, Florida being burned to the ground
And if you haven't heard about it
Research it, look it up, there's even a fucking movie.
But the fact of the matter is, they're not.
I will not lie to my children's faces and I surely will not let them believe
That there is justice when their isn't!
I will tell them to watch how fast their hands go to pocket
And how fast that officers hand goes to gun
Because one bad move can replace your ebony pigment with red
And there are some things no mother can ever be ready for.
So dear future children,
Please remember: To be strong, to be kind, to be polite, and that you are only as solid