discrimination
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"Hush
hush"
The silence kills me
Pin drop. Cold and haunting,
It claws at my throat,
screeches gainst my hollow ribs,
tears my bloodied heart apart.
My mouth opens.
Under The Bridge In Del Rio, Texas USA
Under the bridge in Del Rio are stopped, stuck, stationed
The history of Black People,And all of our People should be celebratedYear-round: every day, week, month, and decade.The celebration must go on unabated,All the time. The first couple,
The least racist person is a racistThe least fascist person is a fascistThe least criminal is a murdererThe least sinner is a big sinner.
Blaming the white men
Is the idea, the insane ideas
That many of you have in your eyes
The Sum Being called N-Word How many times? Being underestimated because I am a Black womanSeveral timesSnubbed because I am BlackToo many times Ignored because I am a womanLots of timesA look of surprise and a frown when I say that my mother read
As a Chorus of Angels, May you rest in PeaceThe Almighty God will render you JusticeHe will welcome you all in His KingdomWhere there is more Liberty and Freedom.
These are not events that took place very far in the past
These are obviously ongoing racial gaffes and contrasts
Where human beings are bombarded and mistreated
Betty M. White was an ingenuous comedian
A hilarious lady and a great actress
However, this classy quasi-centenarian
Was ahead of her time. Nobody could mess
The nonstop negative news or publicities on Haiti
Hurt tremendously and disturbingly
The relentless or constant bashings of all Haitians
Hell in Haiti, Hell in Hispaniola
Hell in Haiti, Hell in Santo Domingo
Hell in Bohio, Hell in Quisqueya
You would have to see or witness this to believe it
These horses were smarter than the border patrol agents
Because the smart animals avoided charging these poor migrants
This is not a recrudescence of racism
In America or in the world, but rather
A continuum of malfeasance, antagonism
And hardcore cruelty of the systemic horror
Of Course We’re IGNORED... !!!
Those Whose Art Is RAW... !!!
When It Comes To Views That DEFINE The TRUTH...
About How It Is When You’re One Who THINKS...
And Has DARK SKIN And Does NOT RESTRICT...
Ya Know I Used To Use Dots...
Or What's Called Ellipses To Connect My Scriptures...
But Now Use Squiggles To Connect The Lyrics That I Sit And Scribble...
So I DO Connect Dots With Rhymes I Jot...
Now I Know Folks Are Saying That Black Lives Now Matter... !!!
But How Can This Be When This Only Happens...
Once Black Peoples Lives Are Flushed Down The Crapper... ?!?
NOT FUNNY I KNOW But You Must See The JOKE... !!!
Well Wouldn’t You Know It I’m A BULLETPROOF Poet... !!!
BULLETPROOF Flows That CLEARLY Show...
That It’s Really NOT Wise To Try To Deride...
My Poetic Lines And BULLETPROOF Rhymes... !!!!!
... " The Politics of Things "...
Now DON'T Let The Title Confuse You... !!!
This Piece Is About How People ABUSE...
People of SUBSTANCE Because of POOR Judgement... !!!
By This What I Mean Is That People Now Seem...
Okay So It’s CLEAR That The Ones They DON’T Like...
Are Us DARK SKINNED TYPES Whether Women Or Guy...
It’s CLEAR That Most FEAR When We Start To Draw NEAR... !!
And Most Who NOW Are CLAIMING To Be Down...
Imagine if you could change it
Imagine if we could turn the page
Imagine if we could burn the past dark ages, black messages and escape from all those tight cages.
They're NEVER To Be FORGOTTEN... !!!!!
The Sodden And Down Trodden...
By The ILL Gotten... ROTTEN... !!!
Enslavers And HATERS... !!!!!
FAKE Claiming... “ Bravers “...
I stared at the colorless newspaper that sat in the dispenser. Another headline about our president. Since when did life get so fucking political? You can’t go to school and express your opinions without someone pummeling them down.
Tell me Jesus for whom the bell tolls?
For the warrior standing vigil at the LAC?
Unaware of the bullet that may come
Killing him but killing the dreams of his kins too
Waiting for his arrival back at home in village
HATE
When I look at you
Its the heavens at war
Angels struck by demons swords
See the devil cloak in black
My nightmares coming real
Please don't hurt me
With the sharp flying
Beautiful black nurturing Mother,
Throughout history there is no other,
Tolerance or Intolerace, two sides of the same coin are both deeply embedded in our DNA
We were tolerant when Nirbhaya went through the capital shame and Asifa, a nine year old was brutalised
MAN These HOSTILE Environments REALLY NEED RETIREMENT... !!!
From WINDRUSH’ Scandals To... Black Lives Battles...
These Environments RATTLE And HERD Like... CATTLE...
Manic by nature, recurring on paper
Therapists lose hope, increasing the dope
Drugs flowing free, needles, pills, killing spree
Blood Spackle the walls, as heroes continue their falls
Cutting through the dark
It's a cold, it's a dark which dwell in my shivering heart
My fears make me chasing through the losses I bear,
All these pieces which are falling apart.
Spreading my lashes outwards to the sun, moon and stars.
Connecting bodies as a rhizome,
Emerging here and there, lost in nowhere.
Moulding rhythms, rhymes, tones, flights and falls between the words.
There Really Are Some Quotes...
That Come From Some White Folks...
That Now... Get Up My Nose... !!!
They KEEP CLAIMING That They KNOW...
How It Is For... OPPRESSED Black Souls... ?!?
I’ts not that I’m insouciant,
I just can’t find the shape of tongue
To inform you of your ignorance;
To tell you the ways of the world,
In a moment or less.
What does it mean to be American?
It means slowly getting rights to have them stripped away again
People will contrast the Time changes of Then versus Now
It starts with a girl who gets raped & gives birth on her way to the land of opportunity
She’s A Lot
You’re right.
I am A LOT.
I’m A LOT of a woman.
With A LOT of layers.
A LOT of personality.
A LOT of dreams.
Hey you, come join our squad
You’ll be so great, the audience most definitely will applaud…
...For us. We’re a team
You better believe we’ll shine bright and gleam
So What Cause Is It ... ?
That They REALLY Stand For ... ?
Because Nowadays I'm Getting IRATE ... !!!
Due To FANCY Talk From Those NOT POOR ... ?!?
About ... " How they help, and can't do more ! " ...
I've Landed In Philly But it AIN'T Been ... " Jiggy " ... !!!
The Same Ol' Same Because of My RACE ... ?!?
NO Time To Embrace ... A Different Coloured Face ...
UNLESS You've Got CHAINS That Affect How You Behave ... !!!
The white woman at the DMV
Stares down at me
16 years old and in line for my first I.D.
I take the photo twice to make sure it comes out right
.... "Yo, for my anger settle,
.... Man give me a treble !
.... Wait, i've got to mingle
.... So, give me a single
.... in fact, i'll take a double
.... cos' this may start trouble !"
Silently in the back she sits, everyday in every class,
Waiting for the bell to ring like a spilling hourglass.
Her name remains anonymous to all except the teacher,
The ... " GREAT DEBATE " ...
Would Seem To Surround This Thing Called Race ... ?
It Makes Some FROWN And Open Their Mouths ...
About The Ways This Debate Is ... Swept AWAY ..............
This is my attempt for you to understand
what it is like to be a black man.
This country and world that sees a criminal,
and sees my future as nothing but minimal.
Allow me to paint you a visual
Unity in Diversity
Separation.
Rampantly ruling the modern world.
Black.
White.
Muslim.
Christian.
Countless wars waged on misconceptions and prejudices.
LISTEN LISTEN ... Middle Class England ... !!!
Come On Now ... !!!
It's NOT Immigrants Bringing England Down ... !!!
It's Your Own Government That's Causing FROWNS ... !!!
Is it Such A Crime To Speak Your Mind … ?
Because It Seems To Be If You're NOT WHITE ... !!!
I Hear This Said So MANY Times … !!!
"Virge, you scare folks with words you rhyme !"
Are You AFRAID of What You See When You look At Me ... ?
Well Can't You See That This Is How Most Racists Be ... ?
If You're AFRAID ... Because I'm Tall And Black ...
Why Be Like That I'm Just A Man ... ?!?
“Are you okay?" they ask."Yeah, I'm just tired" I answer.Just tired of work pilling up.Just tired of stress.Just tired of not being able to sit in math class without having an anxiety attack.
Hiding from other children
Once a precious treasure
Glistening dumplings
Seafood soups
Marinated meats
Tempt breaks my heart,
As we are forced to part.
I abandon myself.
London Has Been Said In A .... " City Guide " ....
To Be A PLACE TO SEE ... !!!!!
But You Should Recognise ...
That Prices Are HIGH Even For A Short Train Ride ... !!!
" Love Thy Neighbour " ... For Those Who Don't Know ...
Was A 70's Show That Used Racist Jokes ...
To Show How It Goes With Some English Folks ...
Freedom of speech
Our very first amendment
But the one that is squashed the most
If it’s first isn’t it the most important
We're not say,
Right may not be often too right
Sometimes the wrong becomes the right
Other times two rights in unison become not so right
Here we have a Mr right who thinks might is right
His right seems so riotous
What if we all walked with our eyes closed?
Would we lose our social standards or would we find new ways to call each other ugly?
Would our skin tone still be juxtaposed?
A country once united now stands divided
Red; the color of the black mans blood that stains the streets
White; supremacy controls a country known for equal opportunity and the free will to be who you are
So what
Might I ask
Makes us boys
And girls
Why can't we just be us?
Why must we be male, female, straight, gay...
What is a girl?
What is a boy?
You may simply answer
The gender you were born as
Or your clothes
your looks
Have you ever felt a knife cut
From your neck down to your ribcage
Almost piercing your heart
And it feels like you're being pulled apart
When in fact
This may very well save your life
My curls showed my story
I was never a mixed child
But my skin was lighter than the rest of the girls
And my curls couldn’t shine brighter
They’d get on my nerves
All sad stories start the same
Kinda starts a while back
On a bench you could be asked
“How does it feel to be black?”
They didn’t tell you that cherry cola was wrong,
but they let you know it was.
They said that only the sick minded drank it,
declared from a broken and cracked pulpit
Hello world,
Im a kid who hopes to change it one day.
Hello world,
remember me you killed half of my family.
Yet, I still want to fight and change everything some day.
Hello world,
How is this news in a country where most of the youths don't know where their next meal is coming from?
I wish I would have made friends with the monster under my bed,instead of building a prejudice with the atrocities people had said.All the years I spent, running to my bed,
I grew up with a carefree view of the world in my youth
I didn’t change until I realized the hard-hitting truth
I started caring about issues in politics and society
Constantly thinking about figuring out a remedy
Tripping over wires of
The mental lies
Society tells us to hide
Behind a disguise
I am an American citizen
Born and raised a southwestern Virginian
A member of the USA's dominion
Yet people are still of the opinion
I believe my vote doesn’t matter.
You’d rather register a person with a gun license
Than my student ID number.
You say you need a picture, which I have,
When you look at me, what do you see?
I'm a girl who's full of Humanity.
I'm someone who fights for what's right,
And does no harm so I can sleep at night.
Do you see who I am? Do you really see,
Its taken three years for my skin to harden
Watch it turn from rice paper to steel
I used to be friendly as a sign of submission
But now I stand toe to toe with those I don’t even reach the shoulders of
I remember it like it was seconds ago.
Anxiously,
Waiting in the hall for my group to be called
To awe a table of discriminators
And teach these other girls a thang or two as if I was an educator
Segregation based on race,
Racial inequality is a disgrace
Everyday the world goes by
Blacks are mistreated: that’s no lie
“How are you gonna pay for college?” they say.
“There’s just no way.”
“But look at your cousin who’s a traveling nurse.”
“She carries millions of dollars in her purse.”
I have a journey in mind
What can be sweet and kind
About this world in which we live
What does this morning give?
tell me the difference between you and I while
society explains to us that with our own eyes
we're to expect greatness from wealth
while the poor focus on being fly
BUT WHY?
tell me why
Breath of marble
And how could we continue
to ignore the nature to us fraternal,
in the black martyrdom without land,
of the crucified migrant to the mast
History Changed But Fate Stayed the Same
The world can be cruel sometimes,
But bare with me, it’s true
ABCs
I remember when I first learned my ABCs.
A stands for apple
B stands for bird
The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight
And let that page come out of you
Then it will be true
I wonder is it that simple?
In the midst of all darkness,
you persist to be better,
you persist to overcome adversity.
Your conviction in hope allows you to believe
in the inevitablity of infinity.
After everything you have achieved,
I’mma a caramel covered dream, bruised from within.
An educated girl, who speaks what she thinks.
Mama calls me beautiful, but my enemies call me weak.
Humanity is blessed with a gift
Of different cultures, different ideas
Of uniqueness
But are we really that different, you and I?
That we don't deserve all the same rights as you do?
I wasn’t made to beautiful
I’m not some flower to be admired
A perfume for you to smell
I don’t have a stem for you to pick.
I wish I could warn you
How many times,
Do we have to die?
How many times,
Does our blood have to fall?
How many times,
Will mothers bury their children?
You know when you wake up in the middle of the night and you choose to not wear your glasses?
When your throat has become raw to point of tasting blood and when your eyes are painfully dry,
I will cry, scream and shout for you.
Why are we to be content with our role in this country?
We gave you what you asked for.
When will our government hear our plea?
I'm just the wicker man.
Burning in the fire, flaming pyre.
Who's the one to blame when things go awry?
Just me. Scapegoat, dry eyes, sore throat.
I can't scream, it hurts.
I am an activist because women have no say, because kids think abuse is normal, because suicide is a game; a twisted version of a competition where killing yourself is a form of entertainment.
I don’t know much about corruption. She thinks her daughter is corrupted. Ask me, I know she’s finer than a dime. Oh, she thinks her daughter is corrupted.
Wake up, America
the girls are crying, souls are dying
brothers in neighborhoods, broke as
hell but they’re trying, their utmost best
against an unjust system that
I'm standing at the bottom of the world,
Looking up at the top
Begging,
Pleading,
Crying
For someone to drop a rope
So I can climb up,
Because I'm slowly drowning down here,
Look around, what do you see?
So many different shades of colors
Each with a face and a different story
Constantly judged by appearance and the way we look
But let me tell you who I am because I'm not an open book
The scratchy stubble and broken dress straps
she's sent plummeting, my Cinderella
The sorrow and shame spliter her like cracks
Crimson stains the backs of the angel's hands
I was white bread, sticking to the roof of his mouth:He was all bones and warm brown skinWe leaned into each other,
To whom it concerns:
To everyone who has taunted and teased me:
For the color of my skin.
For the texture of my hair.
Regardless of:
what we look like,
what we wear,
who we choose to love with care
We must come together on what makes us the same
misinterpreted by social context and ignorance overlooked and shunned
its brilliance is all too commonly mistaken for hate feared by those who are weak
but if you could just open your eyes and truly see
I was born here, but I didn’t ask to be.My parents thought this place would be amazing. They saw a future of peace and love;Little did they know, it would turn out crazy.Where no one loves me, knows me, respects me;I wish this could be a dream, an
You're you
and I’m me
There’s no one else I’d want you to be
Why can’t you say the same of me
I came flying out
You came crashing down
One word
SEAL
What does that mean to you?
To me
SEAL
It stands for
SErious
Exceptional
Astounding
Love
for Humanity.
A true seal
Is ready to lay down his life
One word
SEAL
What does that mean to you?
To me
SEAL
It stands for
SErious
Exceptional
Astounding
Love
for Humanity.
A true seal
Is ready to lay down his life
"how much is too much"
i ask my mirror
whilst i cake on the makeup
too light for my skin
they dont want me because
i dont look like them
i am the alien with
my brown skin and
I fight the darkness of the heart
The hidden and dangerous part
Closed with a bolt, local and key
The secret of forgotten past left to be
Lost, there is no way I see out,
Deepening darkness creates my doubt
I do care, shouldn't you?
Of a war torn world
Where your race and class rule your life
With hatred at every border
Children losing their childhood
Wondering what tragedy can possibly come next
The raging political climate makes me feel
like water is boiling underneath my floor.
Shouldn't we be done "deciding" arbitrarily
which bodies get rights
and which bodies to put into building projects,
There was a newspaper headline a few days ago
‘America Is Weeping’
All I could think was
So you chose to join the party?
Pretty ladies with a handsome man
Flock and squawk nonsensically
Are silly and full of mindless fantasies
The man is powerful
He can do anything
Beautiful lady with a crowd of men
Pretty ladies with a handsome man
Flock and squawk nonsensically
Are silly and full of mindless fantasies
The man is powerful
He can do anything
Beautiful lady with a crowd of men
We are not living under the third Reich,I march in stride with cogent sign in hand.
This is what a Democracy looks like.
We finger through causes, plug holes in the dike,
There goes the pop shop,
on the corner of 42nd
with pop rocks,
where the Candy Lady beckons
Don’t tell me I’m not gay.
The “phases” are phrases you like to throw out
When you’re angry face goes to the riots to shout.
How dare you call me out on a “fault”
Like there’s somebody I am going to assault.
I used to be afraid.
Afraid to speak my mind in an unkind world
That shut my mouth for me before I even opened it.
I learned to sit down and shut up
Let's have a race,
Just you and I.
You run at your pace,
And watch me fly.
This race is fair,
I start here,
And you start back there.
Is that clear?
This race is clean,
A shiny, new, bustling city.Full of people.Each with ideas.Each with thoughts.Each with emotions.
But then It starts.
Child,
You are ignorant.
Ignorant to the horrors of our world.
Hatred.
Evil.
Corruption.
Destruction.
No,
Is it so detestable
The way I look?
Am I disgusting?
Can't you see my humanity
I am
Unique
There is no one else
Like me
Yes, my skin looks like this
It matters not
They are some of many billions
Some do walk-ins, some do sit-ins
One eats plenty, enough for four
One is but a raw, empty core
I do not decide who I am, for who I am is decided by another
Some may think I strive to harm, but some may see me as their brother.
dear distraction,
don't show your shoulders
don't wear low shirts
no open-toed shoes
don't wear tank tops
don't wear skirts
no sandals, that's only for dudes
To Humankind,
It was not a human hand,
That rolled the planets into spheres
And placed them side by side.
It was not our fingers
Don't pretend to sympathize when we can see the greed in your eyes.
You say one thing, turn around and say another.
All you speak is lies.
A child constantly arguing who is right he's never wrong.
I have always thought the Spanish language was beautiful
Passionate, romantic, lovely Spanish
Sounding as graceful as a butterfly wing
Dear Mr. White,
Do you remember the fear on the faces lit up by the tiki torches you carried, and the way that kid's mom begged you to
Please
not shoot her little girl's daddy, but you did because he was black?
we are people, not objects or products, not apologies or excusesoften dehumanized and abused, as if we are not your sisters, mothers and daughtersmen have the audacity to mistreat
Love is love.It cannot be contained;Love is love.It has no boundaries, no laws;That the government tries to press on us;No social constraints;That others turn their backs at lost causes;
My mind is an ever-evolving ball of guilt and shame
Every thought twists and turns, leaps and lunges, crosses and curves
Every time I catch one two others take its place
I’m only sixteen
Everyday we play danger with our lives. Smoking, drinking and partying with drugs. Tryna be a Tupac when in reality we just some low down wanna be thugs. We not shooters out here..We just should've, could've, would'ves in the hood. A NBA player to
They say black lives don’t matter cause we out here killing each other.And when they see him all they think of is a thug.Another brother who’s gonna rot in the gutter.Get his picture ready for the newspaper.Tell his mother her son ain’t coming bac
Dear Black son:
In school you pledge allegiance to the flag
every
single
day.
“Liberty and Justice for all”
But something just doesn’t seem right about those words.
Dear Mr. Trump,
I feel like I’m living in a required reading novel,
I’ve been hoping it’s A Wrinkle in Time, but it’s looking like 1984.
Please stop goading North Korea, please.
in my art class, this color soiled itself, through the way it crawled from the
ignorance of people with fair skin. like
the teacher, spewing phrases like “drab,” “ugly,” and
Teach kids!
They tend to learn.
Why make school a prison?
Teachers should only get to teach.
Teach kids!
Do you know how it feels to feel alone?
I mean, really feel alone, not just to call someone and they won't pick up the phone.
Not just to be at home and hear a pin drop.
It’s not okay
You know, it’s just not
It’s not okay that I can’t just be me
You say that me is all I can be
But, then, tell me why I can’t be me when I’m with thee.
I count the stars,
splattered across the black marble counter,
waiting for something.
Waiting for the light of morning,
waiting for some meaning,
waiting to see something more.
I am a dandelion
Wild and free
Not to be noticed upon first glance;
It seems I lack the chance
To belong in a boquet
They look on in disgust
With selfish and hating eyes
What’s Healthy?
Having all kinds of friends is healthy.
Enjoying ethnic festivals and food is healthy.
Always respecting people is healthy.
Do not judge me.
Do not judge me by my skin.
Do not judge me by my eyes.
For I let those words sink in,
those painful lies.
Do not judge me by my clothes.
Do not judge me by my ability.
You came unto me
Because you love me
And because I love you
I will protect you
And because you love me
You will defend me at every opportunity
And because I love you
Mom, I’m gay
I’ll talk to you later.
I’m sorry (but not really),
I’m in love with a girl.
She is stunning,
My heart is full.
Fire
it's everywhere
it's inside it's outside
some are strong and some aren't
fires are put out everyday
by water
and people
everyone has fire, some flicker some roar
White walls
Question my worth because you can
then drain my essence through your fingers
I am sand
I am sand.
White walls
They don't understand
To live the American dream means to be the one living in the family house that you own
Debt free
That you paid with the money that your white ancestors swept from my black ancestors hands
The phrase,"But you're ..." makes no sense
Just because I am, doesn't mean it applies to me.
Yes, I am black, with natrual hair, but that doesn't mean I like rap music.That is not me.
People are curious by nature When I tic in public I get an ocean of judgmental eyes pointed at me A few people even come up and ask questions Feeding their curiosity Why do you curse? Why does everyone with Tourette's curse? Have you tried
Why do we fear thunder?
Thunder can’t hurt you
It’s just a sound.
Why do we fear gunshots?
Gunshots can’t hurt you
They’re just a sound.
Why do we fear screaming?
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful black queen,
Genesis, they called her.
She'd been through more trials and tribulations than you've ever seen.
Her innocence, stolen.
A white man, with no decency.
My skin
This here,is my skin
And I love it,
well ast least now I do anyways
But I grew up hatng it,
Society always bringing me down,
Never getting a break
because of me skin. I,
All around are people, too
Busy to
Care about anything except the moment they are in, too
Distracted to notice that they are not the only ones that
Exist. They do not have the time to see the world
Bright lights and glamor, money and glitz
A beautiful dancer working in Delhi.
Bewitched by her form, a powerful businessman
Fails to see where her heart truly lies.
[read with sarcasm and rhythm]
Right now, we fear the seductive and dangerous night,
Trudging and dragging
In the scorching heat
Gravel and dust blows
Across their feet
A woman holds the hand of a child
"Love wins" and it still rings true,
But the headphones go in and people watch cat videos on Youtube;
Freedom of speech where you're free to speak
If the words fall in line, otherwise they turn the other cheek;
A dangerously beautiful display
Of wild devotion and the will to act
Has moved the souls of tiny men today
To change the world, to make a Faustian pact:
They paid for freedom, each their own, it seems,
America the Great, or is it really so?
People crying and dying, realize no means no.
Rape culture, please do not touch me down there.
Terrorists? They're just people, don't be so scared.
Unity is
Nowhere to be seen.
I only see racism,
The bigotry and prejudice.
Everywhere, there is hatred for
Diversity.
“O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave”
How much of that can we say remains?
Everyone scared of scaring the people that need to be saved.
Dear America,
Why is it that I’m over $40,000 in debt with student loans and I have yet to make $40,000 a year?
Dear America,
Why is it that my blackness alone is a reason for our police to shoot and kill?
America the Lost
When people say “America the Great”
They are almost unwaveringly supporting
An America of Hate.
make america Great again.Make America Great Again?Was it ever Great to begin withThe United States of America Was hardly
Look, what do you see?
Do you think I judge you
Like you do me?
There are things I wish I could do
But feel helpless when I'm around
America.It is known asThe land of the great.But as days go byIt brims with more and more hate.
50 stars
The beauty of the white on blue
Surrounded by a sea of
Red
The stars show freedom
A light at the end of the tunnel
Hope
Yet they do not capture the essence
I pledge Allegiance to the flag
for the DIVIDED of AMERICA.
A place your free and knowledge is key
but black hoodies couldn't be more scarier.
I pledge Allegiance to the flag
Crying.
Constant tears.
Cruelty as far as the eye can see.
How come nobody helps me.
How can nobody see.
I’m in pain.
The world is big, the world is crazy
But in this world, you can’t be lazy
Discrimination is the problem
If we can fix that then maybe we will be saved
No more war no more hate
The Forsaken American Dream
Stars and stripes shine so brightly in the night
Red and blue lights, ready for a fight
Stolen Ancestors in chains, chains
In the land of the free
America the Great
At keeping
Gun violence alive
America the Great
At avoiding
The hungry and deprived
Oh, say can you see
The violence
The rallies
The death
We tell the world it’s freedom
But it is blood that paves our streets
It shines in the sun
Mocking gold
A plethora of people from everywhere have seen it unfortunately, but will they ever feel it, live it, breathe it, or know it? I know I live it and am a nominee, but have not physically endured it - thank God.
I see trees of brown
Wilted roses, too
I see them die from me and you
And I think to myself:
What a terrible world
Simply stunning
stars on a block of blue fabric
blown by the wind,
shooting
left and right
like the bullets between
our soldiers
From day one, boys are taught to treat women with respect.
These boys then watch their fathers vote for a man who claims you must “treat women like shit”.
We the people
We the people divided
We the people alienated
We the varied
We the broken.
We who break each other down
and hide behind the pieces.
We who have bled,
Is there a contradiction –
In the predilection
to compare?
the hour, the life, the moment?
When in sweet countenance, the sand
becomes a fragrance and drips, measuring
we are Different
a family with yellow skin, dark brown eyes, broad, flat noses
we are Different
waiting in line for the U.S. Customs and Border patrol on our drive back from Canada, a family vacation
America,
A country that's known for its supposed greatness
America,
A country that's known for its presumed freedom
America,
A country that's known for its "many oppurunities for all"
America is number one!
You’re right, we are number one;
Number one in military spending.
Number one in people imprisoned.
Number one in discrimination.
In prejudice.
In arrogance.
My heart bleeds stars but the blood is striped,
and my heart pulses with war hymns and psalms
dripping with Betsy's fears
Instead to cover vets like newspaper blankets
A knock on the door late at night
An unexpected guest
Terrible circumstances
And an uninviting host
The guest is asking for simple things
A corner to sleep in
Perhaps a glass of water
My Country, 'tis of Thee;
Sweet Land of Inequality,
for Thee I weep.
Land for which my brothers fight
Land where rich men are always right,
Sweet Land of Bigotry,
Pride of my heart.
Sometimes I wonder what it’d be like if I was white
I believe my life would completely change if I was white
I wouldn’t be closely watched as I walk through a store, if I was white
i stand among the people
and cannot help but wonder
how the manner in which we think
halts our spectacle of justice
Oh say can’t you see Ms. Liberty?
You should be bending down on your knees,
bending over backwards,
Begging Please
Begging that your babies stop being shot in the streets
I’ve always been an outsider looking inThrough television screens, the internet, everything,Guyana is and always will be my homeBut America is where I need to be
War hungry yet peace seeking.
Assault rifles for protection.
White privilege in a country built on immigrants.
Home of the brave but afraid of innocent Muslims.
America is violence.
America is a land, “where all men are created equal”
But what happens when those men are people of color, Islamic, gay, or female.
It’s recess time and the school playground is filled with laughter.
The kids are reciting tongue twisters like the pledge of allegiance.
It funny how the CPD claims that every new hiring is a step closer to securityBut they’re not even securing us.Betty can look outside her suburban windows and see white snow on asphalt
a sickness is not cured
by wrapping a thin blanket
around the sore throat
that exposes injustice.
a symbol does not hold
more value over a person.
an object that requires a steady wind
“Oh say! can you see
By the dawn’s early light.”
A land of inequities,
And people cowering in fright.
Masses of refugees
Come home to this sight.
Oh, America the Great! Where do I start? What do I say?
Oh yes, the country where you had to wait long for your rights because you are gay
Young kids following the media, wandering ever aimlessly into their demise
America, a country baptized in blood and built on the backs of those who wouldn't know the freedom she promised until far after her completion.
We are the Foundation but,
The pigment of our skin determines our fate,
Whether we're worth a second thought before you attack,
All people are created equal!
Our constitution states it, and so should I.
From north to south and east to west,
Everyone on earth should say it
All people are created equal!
'Merica
Is the old man who stopped and turned
To snarl at my mothers beige skin
In the dairy aisle without shame
It is the voice in my head saying
I'll never be able to hold my girlfriends hand
Hate.
Intense or passionate feelings of dislike.
Feelings that rip apart friends, families, nations alike.
Today, it is a feeling of honor among this nation.
We live in a society where defiance of authority is insubordinate.
Where the human race individualism comes correlative.
To perform an action that the people see as unethical,
Yet we struggle in a world that is identical.
Born in 1999,
a Northwest city.
Three sisters and three brothers,
parents with no college degree
and one income.
But what do I know,
of the riots,
police brutality,
My thoughts are too loud to
not let out,
But I don't
know what to
write about,
the rhymes spout
but they all sound the same,
they fall from
the clouds where
my soul hides,
In America, we are free
To do what we wish
Thus, with joy we cry
And oh how we pray
That freedom has not died
For if she dies we are lost
I still feel the slap of disgrace in humanity and
I will still feel the grip of xenophobia
It feels like water up my nose when I can swim but
I Still Can’t Breathe
White hoods
Confederate flags
Burning crosses
Callin’ us “fags”
Vicious and violent
Even if they can’t reach us.
But we don’t stand a chance
If those who could help don’t show up,
I am proud to be an American!
Living in the Land of the Free
where I can
take joy
in who I am.
A citizen to liberty
"He's just a guy."
Just a guy,
just being a boy,
What's wrong with that?
Let boys be boys.
Don't be so uptight.
He just got drunk.
He just did coke.
He just took the car-
America is pretty great
that I will admit.
Freedom, justice, liberty
We're all entitled to it.
But America is changeable.
We need some help, in fact.
There are many problems we face here.
I am what you call a latina
Just another mexican niña
I am what you call a pansexual
Once again another ignored label
America the Great
Dear first language,
I have written to you today to announce a list of grievances you have committed against me
My Constitution, My Bill of Rights, my haughty Declaration.
1) Devaluing me
Once greeted me with open arms,
Now they're reaching for their arms.
A country made just for my kind,
They're actions now seem not so kind.
A safe haven for those who were persecuted,
Dear Mr. President
By: Princesa A. Santiago
Dear Mr. President
thanks to you this country has never been greater,
America the beautiful,
built on the blood,
sweat,
and tears
of those who did not survive
to see the country they helped build,
sweeping some coast to coast, sea to shining sea.
Land of the Free
As a whole, we have never been free.
The only people who are free happen to be white.
Minorities have been treated like animals and unwanted vistors,
To a country they were born in.
Melanin Stained Skin
Jeraldyne Norman
Melanin stained skin
Everyone’s staring, glaring through me
Watching each and every step I take
While I feel that we should remember the past
learn from it
mourn it
grow from it
No one else remembers how.
So we drown
America
the "land of the free"
so they say-
but how is this true
to everyone but you
if we restrict those
who enter the
red, white, and blue.
The earth is fragile
We the people.
United we stand!
Oh,
That's right..
United we stand,
Conditionally.
United we stand,
If you are heterosexual
If you are christian
Once our flag flew bravely high
While our dreams reached the sky
And we were all one.
Now too often does our flag droop
As we suppress our own, group by group
We are all alone.
I write this poem in couplets,
To let you know that what I'm about to write is ruthless,
I am of Asian descent, of an immigrant family, through and through,
I was born here, I'm nothing new,
America is a beautiful hypocrite.
It offers greatness,
but only for the ones that are worthy.
The mothers
who break their backs and fend for their children,
only to find their hands come up empty;
America isn’t new
America isn’t great
How could a country thrive on hate?
Unemployment is high
Education is low
How much further down can our country go?
Fear not, our future can be preserved
All my life I had to fight
All my life I had to fight
I fought
My family
The people I thought were my friends
Even that fool down the street
Sometimes she gazes at the world
outside her glass cage and reminisces on
how insignificant she is
in a world that can only neglect and belittle
I was built up like
The great wall of china
I am strong, powerful, impenetrable,
Fortified heavily until nothing can hurt me.
But like the great wall of china,
I am a barrier between realms
America the Brave
America the tarnished
Amerca the ignorant
America the lost
Lost.
Fight for freedom?
Fight for equality?
Fight for Love?
"With our heads pressed to the wall
they'll try to end us once and for all
because of the things we pray we'll
have to pay for it each passing day.
They'll expect us all to fall
I am a Banner Singer.
I know every note and every rhythm.
At every game, under the bright stadium lights,
I sing.
No one is prouder than me,
to sing of my country, for my country.
That great flag flys high above us, it says freedom for all
Freedom for all has some terms and conditions though
Must be of a light or fair skin tone
Must be of a christian denomination
Must be a man
Jazmine, I hope you remember to open this time capsule
To read this poem, and tell me if our country is still a haggle
To live in because of its unfair system
The country where you get dirty looks for being a victim.
“When freemen shall stand” is a day
Far away, a day strived for but
Missed, distant from us, fleeting.
Freedom is not a tangible thing:
It cannot be touched, nor held, nor
When I say BLACK LIVE MATTER, this is what I mean;
Imagine me before a wild uncontrollable fire with a fire
Extinguisher in my hand, it is all I have to beat back the
Flames that threaten to devour me. When I say,
We are the same within our hearts
But we are of different kinds.
We play different parts,
And have much different minds
Porcelain Doll hidden between
thorny leaves and puppet string
on forgotten dusty shelf
coerced beneath the
Looking Glass Self –
A torrent comprised
of inveigle words - acceptance.
I’m laughing, smiling,
Dancing like I own the world at age seven.
Stars handpicked like strawberries for only my eyes to eat
Nothing could tear me down.
Not everything is okay. Fact of life, people. And more and more I look around and see people try to redefine "okay." Or try to figure out the way the world is best run Or what's the difference between messing up and just having some fun There's no
I normally don’t like reading about political opinions in poetry.
It is not a place for poets to duel with the pen; it is supposed to be a place of peace, of tranquility.
There's a group of people, living in silence - in the darkenss
Many are aware of their existence
Many are not
Who am I to shine light on them - shine the truth
It makes me sick to the stomach
The world is changing.
For better, or for worse?
Last year people seemed to overlook me
In my surroundings I felt cursed
What did I done wrong? I asked
I received no answer, so I wore a mask
America the Great?
No, America is hate.
Divided by supremacy
yet, we're called "United States."
The unfortunate reality
but I still have faith
that we'll make it through together,
More happen each day.
A student made to feel inadequate.
Killing their hopes and
Endangering self esteem.
A plea for help, then a decision made.
Couragously stepping up to
Help those in need.
This is the evolution of our generation:
Documentation of instant gratification,
Social media exploitation,
Gender roles and misrepresentation.
The Amerikkkan flag with its colors so vibrant
Red for the billions of victims they silenced
Blue as the oceans we crosed
And as white as the policemen's skin responsible for the people I lost
There's nobility in a lost cause,
Lost at sea with no raft, no way out,
But fighting the waves without a second pause.
Wind gushes all about, wood's groaning like a pig snout.
When people grow old
They can easily identify a period of their lives
Where growth came easy, where smiles were abundant
Little girl, little girldo you know who you are?
A beautiful stallion in Gods backyard
Little girl, little girlDo you know what you can be?
The president, a lawyer, or even a captain of a ship at sea
Seventeen years of life experience and I'm still not qualified for the job, because everyone thinks I'm either too young or too dumb. Pressured by society to look thin and tan, but we can hardly face each other man to man.
From conception,
we spend the next nine months
wrapped in a cocoon
of our mother's protection.
Our cells
come together to form
Back Pains at the end of the day, worth it cause the check's getting thick. struggled to understand why my mother sacrifices,tolerates,and creates just for me. we have the same nose, we have the same hopes, we don't belong.
This darkness of mine is not worthy of my home’s beauty
And you care not, for in you there is no darkness at all.
You know not of the rolling hills that I sat and longed for mutely.
I remember you was conflicted
Misusing your influence
Sometimes I did the same
Abusing my power full of resentment
Resentment that turned into a deep depression
Wake up!
Rise above hatred and become unique!
Make a difference by stopping the racism!
Let me tell you about a young African-American girl stopping her fellow white classmates from being racist to her.
Knives thrust deep within the backs of others;
Smiles that keep igorant minds at bay;
Words that break barriers and bones alike;
Deception and destruction and acts of strife.
In a world so empty of hope.
My alarm goes off
The sweet sound of the ukulele jingle wakes me from my slumber
As I embrace my gray plush blanket,
I hit ‘dismiss’ and consider remaining in the warm, cozy fuzz of blissful sleep
Because they didn’t like me, I would walk into class in my clothing that is different from what everyone else is wearing, terrified that someone would point me out and laugh. My makeup is heavier and darker than everyone else’s.
As I toss and turn dreading my alarm sound, I think.
If these were my ancestors, they'll be up in a blink.
See they couldn't get an education or they'd end up dead.
Humanities bible
Mind tricks they present and we swallow
Programming complete
Were so use to the poison its impossible to get sick
Their word is gospel
Babylons spokesmen
The world is a garden
Where the positives and negatives dwell.
Where beautiful things can happen;
where caterpillars morph into precious butterflies,
RED is the violence our kind faces
a discrimination that surpasses
religion and races
An ORANGE tinge outlines
our scars. A reminder of
Injustice comitted this June,
in an Orlando
gay bar.
PART I:
just.
one.
breath.
For that is all it takes
-In and out-
To escape the chaos
and relieve the doubt.
Does beauty fade from my skin if it's too dark?
Well if beauty is only skin deep, judge the color of my heart,
The hue of my soul.
And if you look inside my heart, you should find a hole.
I never understood how a city could be divided in two.
Nairobi City. The city of two. The rich and the poor too.
This is where you succeed if you know who to talk to,
We've been fighting for equality for hundreds of years
My ancestors had to shed blood , sweat & tears for me to be here.
The paths for others was clear but ours had a lot of debris,
What was my crime officer?
That led to you pulling that trigger?
Was my crime pulling my wallet too fast?
Did I not raise my hands in the air fast enough?
What do you think when you see that girl walking across the street?With her head held down, eyes forward, feet flat on the ground, the hijab covering her head full of disparaging thoughts?
On the occasionally sunny day,
when it does not rain
The Smiler walks out into the blue of today,
and bike rides to the city
The Smiler is one who,
sees with open eyes
Black is not a type of character trait
I'm tired of our nationality being raped
Constantly we are mistaken by our identity
Yeah she's black
She's always walking around with a head full of naps
They say that there is no more discrimination
Then why is all the killing of Black's a repetition
Watching all my brothers die, it just makes me sigh
I dream that the country I live in will love me
Like I have loved it.
I am grateful
But how has my country,which I left everything behind for been grateful back
By fitting me into a group, calling me a rapist
Black lives matterAll lives matterBoth are true, but who's killing who? Not just murderSilent murderOf hopes, dreams, crushed by circumstance. From povertyMore povertyThe cycle pulls people back in. Arrived as slavesRemained as slavesTo blind, sup
We both have history.
You had ancestors that were slaves at one point,
I had ancestors that were slaves at one point.
You had a whole movement for your freedom, now we're considered equal.
do you see her?
a girl trying to survive
this world carrying opinions of
her race and gender
on her back?
do you see him?
We dye our hair crazy colors.
They call us “ghetto”.
They dye their hair crazy colors.
They call them “hipsters”.
We twerk.
They call us “ratchet”.
They twerk.
Hello from the other side.
A darker side of life where you are the last brown crayon to be picked in the box.
no matter what you say or do
it will never be
enough
not what they're looking for
so your feelings,
they're ignored
they're a lie
just like you
just because you're a liar too
We live in a world where we still get judged on the color of our skin,
And people don't even bother to notice what is within.
We live in a generation where we are stuck behind a phone screen,
Yes, I know.
You and I, we have suffered through so many speeches,
Dusty, crumbling words about bullying, discrimination, how kids can be so cruel.
But we know, you and I, that we would never commit such acts;
A system plagued with innate discrimination,
is justified by the masses of the nation.
Mass incarceration of minorities,
shows genocide is above priorities.
And then what is it that we see?
My breasts are a burden
To myself and sadly society.
My breasts are a burden
Because when I wake up in the morning they get in the way of me seeing my feet.
My breasts are a burden
Sweat runs down my neck as my hands begin to tremble
In a world that doesn't appeal to me
Who am I? Who am I meant to be?
They said I could never be anything, that I could never be successful
Cold Frosted Bitter
Meaningless to you, no?
Because you're so Perfect Golden Saintly
But I'm a Monster Villain Outcast
They say he is a product
Of his environment.
Stastics show he will
Reoffend,
He will be regurgitated
By the prison digestive system,
Come in as ground beef,
Shit out, repeat.
The place I call home -Jessica Jazmin Michaca Silva
I come from a place where families are always united
I come from a place where music is always blasting at every corner
Many people see equality as something that brings races togetherWhen in reality it adds a brand new fatality to the people you don’t like, and it’s not even a fair fight.I always hear people say“The whites oppressed the blacks”Or“The blacks are op
Every time I look to my watch, on my wrist,
I see the scars that remind me of my past,
The cuts that haunt my dreams,
The memories that will forever be there,
Reminding me that all I was in life is an failure,
I was told that my friends were no good.
Single parent home, shattered family values,
This was no Leave It To Beaver production.
I was told that my friends were no good,
Thousands of immigrants coming from Mexico and
Syria. Hateful racism is all we have planned –
Remember the feeling of being new to this land.
Sickening sights of xenophobic protest
Walking down the street, my mind as clear as the baby blue sky,
"Hey, look at that girl, she's one of them!" says one angry, aggressive guy
Now my mind is not clear, it is far from pristine,
I love the sky
I love outer space
I love you
And I love the human race
I hate society
I hate egos
I hate discrimination
And I hate the unknown
I hope society changes
"We are all the same,"
they say.
They lie.
We are not the same,
you and I.
We are different, two sides
of one coin
And while they say,
"You are equal"
they mean
She was black,
And he was blue.
The other green,
And one red, too.
They spent each day,
Concerned what they had,
For it made black turn dark,
And blue turn sad.
Green became sick,
Pretty brown skin, girl you know those boys love you
They say you have a “fat ass” so you should show them all a little something
No need for modesty, just show your body, be sexy
We are a "friendly city";
So proclaimed the big white sign.
Please stay as long as you would like,
He walks like he has some place to be,
hurried footsteps resounding through the empty hallways.
He keeps his head down, watches his feet, as if that will save him from stumbling.
All I need is my culture.
The blood of the Meshika flows through my veins
Know that my ancestors were not the Aztecs,
For that name was coined by the European imperialist
I find it peculiar That the patients in God's hospital look familiarI feel like this is Alcatraz, a display of the insaneThe asylum has no change, am I to blame?Same first-world suburb issues that could be easily forgottenAnd why does God's undefi
I’m white, Caucasian,
Dutch, Norwegian.
I have no month
To celebrate this background,
But I have had 18 years
To learn about my people
My people—
Who are not just white
I have been beaten, broken, and blamed
I have been disregarded and ashamed
but by the digging through the light of the untamed
So rich in flavor, natural and raw
It's no clue no one can withstand my
Exploding, mouth-watering taste so pushed to the side
They leave me a waste..
"All Special Needs kids need to burn in hell"
I laughed.
It's funny when education is wasted on people like this boy.
I laughed.
It's funny how he is so ignorant to his own flaws that are shamed deep within his mind
Anything you can do, I can do betterI'm sick of you telling me I'm dumb WorthlessNothing.
I'm sick of you telling me I'm a nagUseless.
What color am I?
The color of my skin is supposed to define
My color is my barrier
What color do I have to be to be intellegent?
What color do I have to be to be beautiful?
To be racist
Is to discriminate towards a race.
To feel superior due to your exterior,
To believe that others should feel inferior,
Just for being them.
It’s being prejudice purely for pigmentation,
A woman says no, “I will not sleep with you,” and a man goes on a lethal shooting spree and kills the neighbors.
Imagine this huge castle- and in this castle, you’re the king. Or a queen or whatever. But there’s nobody to serve you- and yet you’re happy to be alone and rule a world entirely your own.
They encircle around, hearing
Watching as the music stops playing...
Some laugh, some may point,
But whose fault is it for the loss of knowing?
Ignorants they are for not seeing
Another child.
Another friend.
Another son.
Another daughter.
Another neighbor.
Another cousin.
Another mother.
Another father.
Another lover.
Another classmate.
To my Country I am a citizen
but to my people I am a foreigner
They see me but they only see
fighter jets and burning buildings
Perhaps we were just hopeless dreams
Of a forgotten mind.
Perhaps we were just misplaced anger
When we were supposed to be kind.
Perhaps we were just forgotten wishes
Of a younger child’s soul.
Somewhere beyond the rainbow
Beyond where streets are paved in gold
Beyond where freedom’s gospel is quoted in stone
I am not a number.
I am not another data point in a meaningless statistic.
I am a human, flesh and blood;
With a spirit like a lion
And a hopeless wanderer’s heart.
Handball,
It's my passion, it really is
And I hate it when people hate on it
They say things like is it even a sport?
Why do you play? Doesn't it hurt?
I pray the rosary.
It was recommended so a simpy
by some man in robes claiming he represents the Holy.
But he didn't have an actual answer for me.
Instead he insists to have faith, keep praying.
My race, the color of my skin shouldn't affect how you view meWhat you should be looking at is that which you cannot see
What am I?
I am human.
What are you?
You must be confused, since you cannot clearly identify me.
You mean that the color of my skin does not give you a clear indication?
Aliens. I believe in aliens.
I know they are real because I am one.
I know I'm an alien because human stare at me.
I know I'm an alien because humans often tell me I'm different.
Girl : Why can't I have this job?
Boss : I don't like your hair, I said,
it is too red.
Girl : Is that a problem?
Boss : It is not normal,
you should come more formal.
I am a Black Girl.
I am another individual in society.
I am a Lost Black Girl.
Trying to find my place in this world but I always
end up heading in the Wrong direction.
But I know one thing
They are the focus,
They have colors of wonder,
They reveal a glow,
They reflect a meaningful soul,
They are your eyes.
It tugs at two corners,
It comes in many shades,
It uncovers radiance,
My people, my race, my heritage.
I am a rapist. I am a drug addict. I am good for nothing alcoholic
That is how one person labeled all of my people.
My ancestors.
“Canciones de un Pájaro sin Pies”
En una isla,
Un hombre dio a luz tres hermosas aves de su cabeza.
Triste y muriendo él les dijo esto:
Eres hijos de una madre inmigrante, hijas de agonía.
Is my skin the only part of me
that people are willing to see?
Wil it be the one thing they need
to sentence me to rest in peace?
Psychotic (adjective); crazy, mental, reckless,
Out of control, violent, strange, scary-
You throw around the word psychotic as if it won't hurt
Kiss me, kill me, make me, want to die.
Burn a hole, right through my insides.
Pinch me. Punch me. watch me as I bleed.
Take my heart and rip it from my spleen.
"Liberty and Justice for All",
or so they say.
These words seldom ring truthfully
Every time
I try to love my nation
Another black teenager shot dead in the street,
We live in a world where opinions are wealth.
Money is power, and power is stealth.
Power wipes out the people with concerns.
A man he lay in a pool of blood
his dreams and goals all shattered
just because of his color, skin color
his life was taken by six shots.
His family mourned for days and months
Filters show the insecurities of those who want to hide their flaws, change their reality.
Colorless is how people should appear to a police officer’s view
Offender’s skin shouldn't make a difference in the end its true
Colorless is how people should appear to a police officer’s view
Offender’s skin shouldn't make a difference in the end its true
Sometimes, I get tired of white men on screens
I get tired of being told to care about what they believe
I get tired, of no one listening
My voice is loud
How do they so easily turn the dial down
The Skin I’m in
The Skin I’m in doesn’t mean I am covered in sin
Or that I am corrupt from within born into a life of violence and rage.
That because of my skin tone I am an animal uncaged.
Raised by fear, fueled by hatred.You believed without question,That you had been told the truth,
Leigh Duncalf
February 15th, 2015
Power Poetry Slam Scholarship
What I Carry
I carry the crushing weight of Responsibility.
I am a very humble man
I do everything I possibly can
Discrimination needs to stop
There is no race who is on top
Red, yellow, white or black
We are equal, thats a fact
The killing needs to cease
I grew up in the suburbs
Always being told that I was different
I grew up in the suburbs
Always being told ways to change
I grew up in the suburbs
If I said I was a leader would you follow. If I said I was inspiring would you listen.If I said I was a Christian would you believe me.
#NoFilter, I can’t be her
Not actually a girl, prefer to be my own
Version of self-expression, my decision alone
I don’t wear the idealized pink skirts
Sexism and racism in society irks
Bleached hair, sleeveless shirt,legs covered with a not-long-enough skirt.She’s bad, that girl.Rotten to core.You don’t have to get to know her,just look at what she wore
I wake up to a sea of white.
Is this what society is preparing me for?
Being marginalized as "that black girl".
I expected more.
Perhaps my standards were too high,
A gentle hand is far more fair
Than a fist raised in violence
A understanding reaps more rewards
Than ignorance and intolerance
Our skin is different shades of brown
Why argue over the same color
I pledge allegiance
To the flag
I remember the day
My best friend said
“I think I might be gay”
Expressing how I feel
sometimes confuse me a great deal
Can I understand myself?
Or better yet can you?
I dont always say what I feel
But when I do I keep it real
Anywhere any place
I shake his hands,
Yet my toes are beneath where he stands.
He’s been stomping my toes for hours,
Pacing on them as he explains why his belief, should be ours.
Any longer and my toenails will fall off,
Fat. Ugly. Emo. Gay
we've all heard what the haters say.
they act so kind right to our face.
but then they talk crap once we're replaced
by yet another hater (who hasn't really seen)
America: Land of the Oppressed, Home of the Cowards
I am sick of our society
I am sick of the inequality
She spoke loud and talks with a voice that unheard of
she spoke loud and theres no face revealed
A girl is hiding, hiding behind that curtain
That curtain right there, I know I am certain
That is her, that girl hiding behind that curtain
She is shy and uncertain and bullied eveyday
Do we not bleed too, or are we the only ones to blame for spilt blood?
Are we not a land of many peoples and pasts, minorities and majorities, harmonious and chaotic?
there is something wrong in a world where we pour ourselves out to
strangers on the internet
but our best friends dont know our torment
and there is something wrong in a world where beauty is only skin deep
When I came to this world
I was but a blanket of snow
Clean and unmarred
It’s hard to keep my snow
Fresh and clean
When others taint me
With dirty footprints
That make me feel less
I don't want to be thrown in a box, Shoved in a closet and kept under lock.
I don't want to be labled, and carefully put in a cabinet, only to pop up when needed in action.
I stare at the mirror,
Trying to understand why everyone hates me so.
The people at school whispered and laughed.
The adults sneered and turned up their nose.
Surrounded by echoes,
A lovely day,
Dull yet gay,
For a peace
Prevailed.
But all was gone
In the blink of an eye.
I burned the American Flag.
Literally.
I burned the American Flag and I recorded it on video.
Society disapproves
Of how I feel.
It opens wounds
That will never heal.
Our bodies are the same,
But our love is too.
To our hearts it isn't a game,
Yes I'm black, that doesn't mean I'm vulnerable to attack,
I'm just like you, a human, red blood, emotions and a moving figure,
war, there is war everywhere in Iraq, Syria, and even in the U.S.A, recently there has been an epidemic of police bashing. A seed in Ferguson was shot to death by a police officer, which sent a fire through the field.
Do you know what it’s like to be left out of the crowd?
Do you know what it’s like to have no friends?
Do you know what it’s like to feel like you are your own best friend?
If you are Caucasian, Asian, or of Middle Eastern persuasion
everyone wants to be black for the occasion
You wear saggy jeans and you come off like this
Do you really know what its like to be black and dissed
Does the color of my skin fill you with fright?
Have you genuinely been fooled by all of those absurd stereotypes?
I'm merely a friend when mommy and daddy are within eyesight.
My friend is a rainbow
When the tears pour, he’s there
His presence is a promise for better times
He makes me glow
He listens to all of my fears
Being there…well it makes me feel fine.
World packed with cruel hate.
It’s written in their fate.
What can the people do?
The worst part—the revulsion isn’t new.
A body in the street
but no one knows how the small child sees
his brother dead facedown
now he will be remembered as a corpse and the child a statue
Is this what we wanted
I am incapable of self-identifying.
Everything I'd claim, you'd think I'm lying.
How can I say I am "made in America,"
when I am a product assembled with
Black & white
Why fight between us human
Why racism compare to color ?
You might be white or black and nothing difference between us.
I found a weed in the garden
and called it
"a beautiful flower"
but they smacked my hand
and called it
"disgusting"
"a pest"
"undsesirable"
and pulled its roots from the ground
Quirp
Whore
Asshole
Loser
Bitch
You spit splatters of wavering whines
Your words ringing through my spine
Judgement reflects from your eyes
A name is so pure, with no meaning behind it
The people and stories are what truly define it
No matter how long or confusing the spelling
The name is not on which we should be dwelling
19602014Makes no difference to meHistory repeatingWhether youFire hose meRape meBeat meLynch meGun me downCan't control the center of the problem#IfTheyGunnedMeDown
I've grown up around strong women. To be specific, I've been surrounded by strong black women.
That doesnt make me strong though
This made it hard for me to find myself. I wanted to be like them
Feel the heat, feel the heat;
Let the souls of the damned surround;
From the first and the last;
Feel the heat of their fires abound;
Free from the system we crave;
To explore the sensual magic we've found.
I love my dark skinMy dark….dark skinI embrace every inch of melanin that I possessFor my dark skin is that of a goddessMy dark skin, it layers…. intelligence
Hated onAnd beat uponBecause the way they live Is "wrong" Who are you to take the role Go and take another's soul
Love and hate, lies and fate. A line divides us through sex through race. No one should be angered for how people are made.
I've made it through,
the hollow tube of hearts and minds,
Both fake and true.
I constituted that I won't care,
holding the feelings inside I bare.
What it contains I cannot say,
Love
Love them,
Love them with no excuse,
Love them with no exception,
Love them with no prejudice nor hate.
‘Love one another’
He said…
Steps echo
Across concrete rough as sand.
Cries pound through air cold as ice.
I search for the source,
In darkness it lies.
Entering the bleak alley,
I am silence among mayhem.
Why should I have to become a statistic?Something never dreamed became so realistic!In the game of life I drew the short stick
I know the guys always say the same old line.
"The makeup compliments your eyes"
Honestly your personality compliments your mind you one of a kind.
No matter how much makeup you apply you can't never hide what's inside.
Wall street looms above you as you takeyour walk across the graduation stageyour walk down the aisleyour walk around the neighborhood,draining you with the fangs that they call debt.
Normal
It was being nice and standardizing yourself to fit in
But there she sat in her worn out old navy boot legged jeans
With her eyes on the board and some ink machine in her hand
You're shattered. You're broken.
Not thinkin' anyone knows.
You trudge on, resent all, for the pain from the stones they've thrown.
But there's this secret I'm letting out. You didn't know I was here all throughout:
Speak
My life was like a loaded gun
Waiting for someone to use me
Waiting to be pointed in any direction
My reflection was silver bullet clean
My look was mean mugging me
Why does he talk so white?
They ask with such confusion, such disdain, such arrogance
As if the color actually gripped him by the throat
Poor kid, he wants to be a businessman during his better years
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder,
Are the standards of today a consensus?
Does everyone really agree as to
What's out and what's in
Glamour versus sin
Too fat versus too thin?
What is the connection
When around the melanin
Feels electric
communication
i feel his pain though he does not speak
i feel her envy though she smiles sweet
Black is the secret kept inside me
Cold and lifeless where none can see
Gray is the line upon which I tread
To lie or to tell? A choice I dread
White is my soul which none have touched
I know what you’re thinking,
Here goes another Muslim.
Preachin, teachin tryna change the way the world sees them.
But I’ll make this quick.
I’m NOT a refugee
Born in the south next to American Babies
To some, everything comes naturally.
Money, fame, is recieved upon birth.
I am not one of those people.
My parents are not famous, nor are they rich.
We originate from Colombia, the land of Cocaine.
Do you hate me, do hate me for whom I’m attracted to
Well, its not my fault, I was born this way
I can’t change it and I shouldn’t try
I’m gay and I accept who I am.
I had hated myself for so long
My sisters and I come from a land of harsh sun where our culture and spirits live.
A place that contains so much more beauty than one could ever witness in a lifetime.
Slavery is "long gone", but the mindset still lives on.
We are all "family", even I am your sister, but they sure don't treat me like one.
Though some refuse to admit that reality of the situation,
Rushing to the ebony beauty store,
Shooting like a swift cannon,
I gaze upon stunning mahogany cosmetic brushes.
I reach the vine of goat-hair bristles;
I pluck the highest one with pure excitement.
I live with no sense of identityBlack-Female-Gay-They all represent meBut being stuck in a mundane placeGasping for air and spaceLeft with this double-sided face
Her eyes have witnessed horrorsIn the darkest of nights and the brightest of daysIf you'd look within them deep enough They would give all her secrets away
They ask me why I write the words that I do,
What are my intentions?
To be heard
In the seemingly inescapable noise of societies chaos and noise pollution,
I Live In A Generation Where Brothers make fun of others because their hair isn't a certain way or because their shoes are not of a popular named brand
Everything i've been through in my life.
I wish i could have just sprout wings and just flew away
Every single time i've been hurt
Looking down at the earth
I wish i could have just flew around
Hey, guess what?
Yeah, I have something to tell you, hypocrite.
I'm a human being!
Oh my goodness, did you seriously forget?
Oh no, darling, this is no illusion nor a trick.
I am a human.
Walking down the street,
You hear the sounds of a six shooter go off down the road.
You duck just as scared as anyone else,
All you wanted was some gummy worms,
But they’re not worth your life.
Push me down again,
I dare you.
Shove my head down in the sand.
Make it so there is no air.
So that no words can be spoken.
What would be new?
Do you feel that?
The cold chain wrapped around your wrist.
Holding you close,
You can’t move.
Do you hear that?
The sound of the wind rushing by your ears as the world stays silent.
Bleeding nails,
Pull yourself up on that ledge.
It’s just a little bit further.
Hell isn’t the bottomless pit they always talked about.
Once you catch yourself you just start climbing,
Birth
The offering of a free slate for life
A temporary state until death
The final resting place
We grew, year after year, to accept the idea that one day
We would be on our own
I started to think about the sun
That hot blazing fire in the sky
Destined to bring the earth to her death
Every movement
Every heartbeat
Every breath
Gone
We all have problems
different though they may be.
But if you tell someone their problems
don't matter—
that they were sheltered so
If there's one thing that disgusts me about the world today it'd be the lack of acknowledgment of wrongs
This country is the biggest offender especially when its main goal is based off of legal tender
How was I supposed to know it was so bad to be educated and black?
Do I really intimidate you to the point of you trying to hold me back?
All I've tried to do was make something out of $5 and a dream,
Why do we hate, when we are from the same creator?
Why do we criticize and judge, when we are under the same blood?
Why can't we be friends , when we all sin?
Why is a question that everyone face.
Discrimination,
Please.
All you want to do is hate and they give you something to hate on so you hate.
Hate is a powerful emotion.
It drives people to do stupid things,
Have you done something stupid?
Growing up I never saw color or hair types or differences.
I never knew that Suzy was different and not like me.
But as kids we always ran together and played together.
We would even take naps under the same tree,
The story of a corrupt society
The alcoholic priest preaches about sobriety
Religion brainwashing people
Children sexually abused in the steeple
Diatribes against discrimination
Of hate that plagues a nation
Once called United but now, separation
Kicking and screaming against ghettoization
But our shouts are all silenced
By the hands of commanders
I know what you’re thinking,
Here goes another Muslim. Preachin', teachin'
tryna change the way the world sees them.
But I’ll make this quick. I’m NOT a refugee
Born in the south next to American Babies
The streets are filled with me,
The streets are filled with you.
its difficult to see,
its impossible to understand.
the band,
the band of brothers.
of whom will die and kill,
faces grey
carved with hate
heads shaven like
a landscape stripped of vegetation
and left to the barren ground
acid eaten faces
with small hard dark eyes
figures devoid of the touch
Don’t give up just yet,
We all go through hard times
I don’t want to say goodbye,
And I care so please don’t cry
But when I stand here with you,
I see what could be so true
My skin is whiter than the snow that kisses the peaks of the mountains
My roots are more knarled than the roots of an aged willow
My hair, my eyes, my mouth
None of them are ordinary.
"I'm not racist but…"
"I'm not homophobic but…"
"I'm not sexist but…"
The truth is, you are,
And saying that you're not
Won’t help stop the war.
You’re not the one stopped
Black, White, or Brown
A color shouldn't define you.
Actions should define you.
People being stereotyped
People not willing to look past there ego.
Instead mock and torture.
Why do people judge me?
They look and see I decree,
But never open their eyes to
Think of the person that is underneath.What truly makes me, me?
She is the African-American
Who puts her fist up and shouts...
"IM BLACK AND IM PROUD"
she is the definition of beauty
that when the sun touches her its like a kiss
skin so smooth you have to touch it.
Only thought It would be a typical night going to the store
Some candy and tea nothing less nothing more.
Hoodie on. Innocent as ever. With racism as the weather.
No reflection in the mirror
Because society doesn’t see me
No confidence in my life
Due to boundaries in my community
No money at the bank
Cause I never get a raise
Only sorrow in my eyes
She walks past staring faces and judging paces,
her confidence tested in gentle places.
the outer surface is just so rigid,
A world once of simplicity
Has fallen into a mystery
From chaos and destruction
Humanity could only blossom
Then it became a commercial enterprise and they were changed.
They ate what you ate even when their insides rejected it with every taste
If I had the chance to change one thing
To a better world, this change would bring
The eradication of ignorance for discrimination would be key
Freedom from this cage in which we keep
Beautiful, lovely, top of the social class.She has all these friends who hold her up and love to watch her fall on her ass.In every pyramid she’s on top,Make sure you don’t eat or else you’ll pop.
Changing
More than your clothes
More than your appearance
Start with yourself, and look deeply
Inside
Leading
More than yourself
More than what's expected
Racism, a form of xenophobia ?
have you seen the media?
the innumerable racial discrimination
I am constantly faced with the question:
"What are you?"
Because I am not White enough
To sit with the cool kids
But I’m not Black enough to chill with the crew
"What are you?'
In the Great Book, it says not to judge. Yet we do,
Everyday.
We are taught as kids to live by the Great Ten Rules. Yet,
Change the world any time,
does sound fine,
all I need is the mind,
and the word world to be defined.
because my world is changing all the time,
my brain flexes and my life is realigned,
If one child had not been taken -
had not been shot,
had not been slain -
if one more child had remained standing,
think of the heroes
she could have named.
If one child had told her stories,
Living in a town with less then 10,000,
Creates an environment with little uniqueness,
Cookie cutter, cookie cutter, cookie cutter,
Everyone is the same.
How do we become unbiased if no one changes the game?
You look at me
What do you see
Do you see the stereotypical "double negative"
Or a young woman just trying to live
I'm just the same as you, you, and you
Made of dreams, aspirations, and potential too
It's that time again
that same Box again.
That tiny square on every test
that taunts me and says:
You don't fit in here
You don't fit in anywhere
Your skin is too pale, you non-Chicana
I don’t know the cure
The pain of a secret
No one can know
It changes everything
But will they respect how I am
Who I am?
When is the time right to let out a secret?
It’s important.
Job programs are being created for those with exotic skins.
I am white, where are my programs?
There are no scholarships for being white.
I am lesser, but I am told everyday I'm greater.
I was awoken this morning through the morning light
Todays the day I can feel it in my bones
The 14th amendment didn’t work I know
But the 15th will I must have hope
Hope,
There is no better race,
Everyone is of equal taste
In the eyes of God.
It doesn't matter what you are.
Asian or hispanic,
White or black,
People are all the same.
I’d like to change a mind.
Not minds.
Just one, not plural.
Make it just, make it kind,
Shock his rural
Brain. That’s as closed as a crypt
To bits of “understanding”
And getting what I’m saying
There they are, you see them
Society judge them, but do you?
Do you see what society tells you to see or what you want to see?
She doesnt like to dress fem
Is this a problem, does it hurt you?
Red, Yellow, Blue, Green
Flags are nothing but color.
Caucasian, Indian, Islander, African
Skin is not the issue in particular.
Trans, Gay, Straight, Bi
We are all the same.
ink flowers peeking
beneath my business suit blouse
why must they judge me
I want to live in a world without hate
Everyone who is muslim is not irate
If God is love then why are there religious wars?
The amount of fighting since ancient time soars
Disregard the color of the skin that you see on each person,
Forget that they are either male or female,
Who are they? Are they someone who lives a daily life?
What does it really matter?
Why are there still people out there that just love to hate?
Based upon the color of their skin and their race
Every individual possesses different traits
Is it even possible to change these people's ways?
The leaves on the treesFall every autumnIf they can fallWhy can't I?
I'm drifting downwardsAway from youIf someone doesn't snatch meI'll be gone.
If I could change one thing
It would be so that the world could stop hating.
It would be so that the color of my skin,
The religion that I practice,
The people whom I choose to love,
Imagine a world,
Filled with love,
Filled with understanding,
and filled with compassion.
Why hate?
Who cares?
It's none of your
business ma'am.
Don't raise your kids
Then hit another man.
Level out
Then love.
Through the trees
I see
the world changing,
the slash-and-burn rhythm
of the falling grass
and the burning weeds.
Through the window
I see
the world changing,
Two eight-year-old boys meet.
One of ebony skin,
One of cream.
After hours of frog-catching at the park,
Their fathers see, and take them apart.
Why can't we be friends?
Waking up in a room,
With not even a pair of shoes.
They stripped me down,
Took me from my town,
And here I awaited my doom.
This dream that haunted me often
From the outside looking inI spy the winds have changed,Through the window I seeAll the things deranged.
Why does it matter if my skin is darker than yours?
Why take my land away from me and leave me here suffering with an empty soul?
At least give me clean water in return,
rip open my head and yours,
Oreo
To think a childhood could reincarnate itself in mockery
Oreo
that's what they call me
Oreo
because I'm too black to be white, but not black enough to BE black
Oreo
My heart aches as I tell my tale
A tale as old as America itself
How my parents came for a better life
Condemning themselves a different kind
A kind of people misunderstood
At the sound of an alarm,
We wake!
At the smell of a brew,
We wake!
At the turn of a key
We move!
On our path to fortune,
We dream,
Yet, at the sight of the homeless child,
There’s a faded, torn pictureMy grandma lovingly tapedOf the day she stood in front of old AbeAnd with thousands of othersCheered for a dreamA dream full of hopeThat we wouldn’t see
If i Had The Power to Change.
i want the,
the power to change lives around me
the power to change the cities that surround me
the power to change the wind in my sails
If I could change one thingIm sure what it would beI would push countries togethereleminate boarders, I would open their eyesand make them forget the colors.
“Terrorist!” he yells,
as the young Muslim woman passes.
9/11
“All I needed to learn about Islam, I discovered on 9/11.”
Islam
They look at the color of my skin
See ink running down my limbs
And the illusion is set in their minds
Suddenly I have a new face
They spit words out
Calling me gangbanger
the walls we put up to protect
May deceive what's really correct
Perfection is not a goal in reach
That's something the schools can't even teach
But I'm the black kid who swallowed the bleach
Judgment.Discrimination.That’s all I ever see.When will come the timeWhen we see each other equally?Appearance.Identity.Criticized constantly.Why can’t we live in a world
Who are you to judge who I love?
Who I kiss and who I hug?
Why are you judging who puts a smile on my face?
Would you be happier if the one I loved was a different race?
To change discrimination
To really make all equal
Men and Women
Women and Men
Earth would be most peacful indeed
If the change of discrimination would come
The world would be peacful
A young child was I, innocent and free,
with my best of firends a boy named jack.
we were young and like all, carefree
only one difference he was black.
At the local corrnerstore we were the same,
If I could change one thing
I would end discrimination based on race.
It's not about our skin color
We're all the same.
Colleges ask you to state your race
But why does that matter?
We’re all separated apart,
By one small characteristic,
A silly, foolish, crazy reason,
One that should not matter.
Skin color divides into many groups,
Whether you’re as white as snow,
“Asian” used to be a thing of beauty,
But now there are images of labor—
Simply that is our soul duty.
But we, just like all, are humble neighbors.
He’s stupid, she’s ugly, they’re weird
Judgments we hear and face everyday
Some hide who they are, living in a facade
Some ignore the voices, but slowly are dismantled
I, the student, seized on a night of cold,
Booked and found guilty, for reasons unknown.
Immediately, my freedom was sold,
Despite my friends' pleas, I was all alone.
Later, while I was brutally tested,
what makes us human?
eyes, ears, arms, brains
but there's something more.
we breathe
we love
we dream
everyone of us
skin color
money
nationality
Questionin innocenceNeed tuh cleanse n replenish dis effed up conscience.Hoodie up, arizona n skittles in his pocketsSuspicionLife taken away for foolishness of self defense?
Turn a misonception into your greatest lesson
break away from the crowd and make an unfamilliar impression
Prejudice
There is so much prejudice in this world,
I wish that I could just make it all disappear.
Just because someone is different from you,
Kill yourself
States the loud, infuriating, voice that
I to want to listen to since you have so desperately told me to do so,
an abundance of times.
In a time where blacks were less valued than dogs
before Martin dared to dream
before the Scottsboro boys wished for freedom
Emmett Till had a face
A beautiful face that dared to rebel
There is no quiet place
inside of my head
everything between us seems dead
I can’t help but to think there is no sun
Adversity what does that word even mean
Does anyone know?
I think the last man to feel it
For years and years I sit and I learn. About the stories of our past but the real stories I yearn. I hear of an America that is powerful and great. But I don't hear about the America, our state, the Hate!
Ba-bum…Ba-bum
The core
Of my inspirations
Beats
As it demands
To escape its
Cave
Yet it loves
Me
It loves the
Hollow
Box
Wrapped in
Silky, smooth
Today I offered
My glasses
To the unfortunate soul
Who was chosen
To read what was on the blackboard.
So pale he was,
Like a vampire,
That unfortunate soul.
You have no excuse for your cruelty
Hypocrites
You think you are superior
Because of your intelligence?
That is one quality. one aspect.
Is that really all that we are?
What blame does a color hold
For its mere existence
Why can’t it be paroled
From chains of cruel resistance
What harm has faith instilled
The justice system is supposed to make everyone equal under the law
But when you go before a jury of your peers
they judge you based on your skin, race, religious , gender and economic situation
Discrimination.
This nation.
No matter the class or station.
Unjust.
Unfair.
How I feel with this load I bear.
Prude.
Jesus Freak.
The labels they stick on me.
I have these scars from you.
And I don't mean just you
I mean everyone including you.
I'm too big.
I have an eating disorder.
I ache from depression and battle anxiety.
I was always taught to value education,
But how can I value something that generalizes students of color with biased limitations
And failure as the only expectation.
I am tonight’s DJ.I am neon strobe lights having a seizurein warehouse storage rooms. My music floods
This world is bitter cruelAnd I was a foolA fool to think I could change a world of coldThat I could change it into something bold
How can y'all be stuffing your faces knowing that the children of Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Africa, Bangladesh, Syria, Lebanon, and etc.. are starving?
What is difference?
Why does society dislike the different?
Who is to say what is differrent?
No one is the same
Yet, we all want to be like someone else
No one is equal
yet everyone is equal.
New cities
are built on the ashes of the old.
The ruins
caged away
like a wild animal
like they could get out.
That man with no teeth you laughed at
What if he was your brother?
That pregnant teen you judged
What if that was your mom?
That person who asked for a dime that you turned from
“Asian” used to be a thing of beauty,
But now there are images of labor—
Simply that is our soul duty.
But we, just like all, are humble neighbors.
Here I am, color of sand
I am your darkie.
Your raisin in the sun.
Your guide to trendsy, urban culture;
Your go-to-girl for the 'black perspective'.
A pawn in your game.
You smile in my face, spewing your venom.
And I smile,
Why stress over them, instead why not god bless 'em
earning minimum wage probably is a struggle,
but giving students Fails so quickly on the double
In school we get through the names that try to drag us down,
That try to hurt us, to define us, to limit our potential.
We let them be the weight that ties us down,
The noose that we strangle ourselves with,
Only going in circles,
talking,
getting closer,
intimate as we may.
Never touch,
meetings are rare and far in between,
feelings that fade fast but come back strong,
My lungs don't work well, but my brain does,
And with my brain I dream and dream!
In these dreams I can see my future.
However, my brain does not sing.
I sang for you - or was it for a grade?
America the great is what they sayWhere my children are shot down every dayWhen all they want to do is playAmerica the great what does this mean?
I wouldn't open up to you if I could...
I wouldn't give you a chance even if others say I should...
Two different mind sets,
Many different sets of beliefs.
All geared towards developing young minds.
Alas, there are some students who don't share this desire.
Who think there is no way for them to make a good life.
Nationality from the South
Separated from the U.S
With a giant wall
Go back home they say
Go hop over they say
This is home I say
I belong here I say
Nationality from the South
Sitting on a park benchAn amazing vantage pointSeeing the world pass by Listening carefully to every noiseHear a mother and a child, a husband and wife
I may be dark but I am not stupid.
What you expect based on my skin color,
The Pit Bull friend or foe
Mans best friend or no?
Bread a killer or a devoted companion.
The gentle giant to some,
A murderer to most.
Powerful, Intimidating, caring all so true,
A smile whispers upon your lipsA rare sight I can only glimpseHolding fast to days gone byI feel it all beginning to dieNo more shall I feel your kissOr look into eyes filled with bliss
People are hated, harrased, and killed for things they could never change.
Things like sking color, eye size, place of birth, and sexuality.
Nobody chooses what they look like and how the world percieves them.
As we started in this school,
This place where we would learn to use life's tools,
We also began to form our views
Which, through push or pull, became askew,
Young peoples' minds turning to hate.
I do not wish to say a damn thing to you and your hypocrisy
Damnation of existentialism driven by your thoughts of “true” Christianity
Scrunched face and squinted eyes
Everyone's views are different
And I completely understand that.
But why is it legal to drink alcohol, which when you have it in your system and drive can cause deaths,
The lunch bell rings, and not a minute too soon
My stomach has been growling ever since noon
Didn't get enough to eat in the morning, guess it's my fault
But as soon as I set foot in the lunch line,
The dark colored eyes that hides inside
holding the mold to every fiber that was once a destructive storm through the night.
How do we transverse, move, breathe, converse?
You who never cease, Breaking the heart of another
keep taking another piece, as if it wasn't a bother.
night and day goes by, as that child you bully,could very we'll die.
7.046 billion people in the world
1,200 students at the average high school
So many faces in the world
So many people that are passed by
What would happen if there was a chain reaction?
Thou camest like lightening through a blue, clear sky,
Like a strong wind through the trees as I walked by,
Like fire consuming my heart, leaving my body sighing.
that night i will never forget what happened only me and you the only two witnesses for proof of the night you took my life the unexpected fight i gave for my life but i still lost it without one sight of help i felt you following me step by step
Curiosity becomes a whisper
and questions remain unanswered
WE are drowned in our own famine for knowledge.
I am that HijabThat cloth, that fabricThat symbol, that fearIn people’s eyes
Why does she wear it?
In a street he waits and staresWondering who will strike todayHe whispers secret, silent prayersHoping they will be at bayThey hate him for his beliefsThat religious men should lead
I want to ask you
if there is some connection
between the religious pendant on your wrist
and the dark skin that it halos.
I want to ask you
if you can feel the collective sigh
Our principal hates the things we stride for
From equal love to sense of style
No Sir
You will not quiet our souls
We will rise and stand for what we proposed
No Sir
You cannot silence our mouths
As I sit and think of why certain things must be.
The anger, the confusion, which oh how frustrates me.
We are blind by the emotional disconnection, when I witness such cruelty.
Yes, I am fully aware that my cleavage is exposed.
No, I do not care.
Yes, I know that it is against school dress code.
No, I do not care.
You claim that it is distracting to the class to be “indecently exposed”
We all wake up everyday thinking of our future
We all get up and go to start our every day adventure.
Young moms get up tired from their babies crying all night
Going to school thinking everything is going to be all right.
My future is decided.
My skin color defines it.
My skin color is it.
This is what I am told,
An "invisible" label I have to bear.
A pathway guides me to what I have to be.
When I am twelve my cousins
ask why I never go to church
Because I don't believe in God
I qualify a Judeo-Christian one that is
they gape the lack of God
new in the way a thorn is
Different x5
You see I am different
No matter which way you...
Swing it, write it, or say it
Say it, write it, or swing it
Different I am
An educator, a spectator, a listener, more like a spectator who is the mediator behind the desk everyday and you think to yourself how do they get through the day.
Walking home like the world around you is like it's supposed to be
Then you turn around and see...a murderer
But you didn't know it at the time
That this would be the last line
...You walked and the last time
I never understood,
why physics needed to
be known by everyone.
Why it mattered, its
significance, its purpose.
Raised by the vernacular, but taught to adapt.
Thug life…never ran after her, I kept my moral code intact.
But what do they see…
What society has painted individuals who look like me to be.
White walls overcrowd with gold chains explicit language and tattoos
Pant sdrag against concrete
imprinting a woman's son's blood
Cool metal lies against thick hands
attached to a monsterous body
Struggling to be understood
Communication with no voice
Assuming he's not making the right choice
His body a prison, his mind a saint
Can't escape
Blood- boiling desire, useless dreams
(Read top to bottom)
I am part of a dysfuntional minority,
and I refuse to believe that
I can change people's views.
I understand that it is difficult to grasp but,
"guns kill people,"
is a lie, and
If only we were color blind…
The hurt,
The pain,
The feeling of being the undeserving, or
The inferior would disappear.
To be one cast out from society;
Walking the road as a waking echo,
trying to live hidden in the shadows.
The flame is diminished, and we are silent.
WORLD VIEW
analytical debates
shows what a person hate
its sad to see what we don't appreciate
I just hope eyes open before its too late
all we need is love
How can you judge me?
Do you know me or my story?
How can you even judge me?
Have you ever walked in my shoes?
So, how can you judge me?
Have you seen what I've seen through my eyes?
The world today is filled
with
hate
violence
discrimination
guns
weapons
and pain.
On top of that,
there are people
who don't care.
Who think they are better
Take a look inside my life I bet you think it's perfect no strife but its actually the opposite the constant consonant of a continent that's how my life is when you look on the other side but it feels like there's nobody by your side it's tough.
I see through the looking glassA lot like Alice didBut I don't see what she didI see painI see sufferingI don't want to see moreBut I doEverydayMore people cry in hungerIn pain
My brother
Make your legacy live in history
The past of segregation lingers onto our present communities,
And its comedy is somehow becoming our young brothers and sisters
you see..
I never understood what was so different about LGBTQ people that they got treated so differently
I never understood why sometimes my uncle had to hide who he really was from society
No color is more beautiful than the otherBut, I'm "pretty for a darkskin girl"So, I'm always separated from any other.
If Love is so sweet,
why do we remain sour?
If Love is so blind,
why do we discriminate?
If Love is so beautiful,
why don't we share it?
If Love is so divine,
why don't we chase after it?
We as a people are capable of so much
We must use each other as a clutch
We as a people must rise to the majestic heights
So we can fight this battle like a medieval knight
Black, Black, What is black?
I am African-American now thats a fact
Being a person of color does not differ me from others
My ethnicity is of many shades, like leaves changing colors in the fall phase
Heat, sweat, & bitterly cold.Creaking windows and doors.Old chairs, old tables.Stained carpets and floors. Broken shelves and fixtures.Missing pages and books.Did you get the homework?
Lost inside a world
that really doesn't exist.
Nothing more than fake history
that we all seem to understand.
Though we don't understand it
and we don't want to accept it.
But we do.
the Girl with the Red Hair, the scowled lips the Pretentious curl,The sun's grace, but as fierce as snake venom.Tongue made of butterfly wings and unspoken dreams. I watch from afar,
Diversity: we are all different
Diversity: we are all individual
Without Diversity we’d be the same
Everyone would like only vanilla ice cream
Made of Steele
made to clink together
made to keep a race back
foever ? made to seprate
us and not bring us together.
There seems like there's no sunny
weather, cloudy skies and
Bulit up on a lie so how would
you expect us to survive ?!
Clenched with chains like
a beast who can not be tamed
Not knowing that we where the
First to be crowned king
The darkness consumes me,
Taking over like a poison I can't control.
Mt dream is to be free,
To take control of my heart and soul.
Trapped behind bars, day after day,
Ignorance is not bliss.
Ignorance is shattering.
Ignorance is cruelty.
Ignorance is isolating.
Making friends is easy,we're all friends on the playground
We all share the same toys,in tag no one is left out
Time to go to a new school,it's very exciting
Why is it that in today’s society we are still not all looked at equally?
Why is it we get judged or profiled by our age, sex, and ethnicity?
Tattered and torn.
Beaten and scorned.
Rejected, neglected,
Abandoned when born.
Surrender and yield;
Potential concealed.
Abused, misused
Wounded, now healed.
Underestimated.
I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
REAL NIGGAS, define as a man who pack heat, but then dead on the street.
REAL NIGGAS, make love to a women and leave with no return, but another person scar and burn.
The land of oppurtunity
The land known for dreams
Paved with gold in its streets
And love in its population
Acceptance and fairness in its government
A melting pot of cultures
He was my age when he died,
a boy who would now never grow up.
I don't know what it's like
to grow up hated and feared
by simple minds and closed hearts.
I don't know what it's like
-> I first crafted this verse at a deeply reflective point in my life. My thoughts were on the past actions of myself and those close to me, and I began pondering the driving force for those actions.
Tell me how you feel when the wind gets strong enough to blow you over.
Why do I try?
Taking in everything that's happened,
How do I forget?
It'll blow over and everything will seem fine,
Let’s take a journey through time:
An unborn nation,
Develops from thievery, greed, and opportunistic visions…
Swish, swish, swish…
In search for new territory.
Bang, bang, bang…
We are the victims, and mind control is everything
Our visions must take us beyond who we are to who we must be,
But of course they’re making it impossible to see…
See they open our minds and capture our memories,
it wasn’t my choice
i want everyone to know
i didn’t want to do this
but They grabbed me
They threatened me
They told me
my family would suffer
i had to protect them
Dreaming is what got me here.
I used to dream that all the power would be in my hands,
but here I am pressed against the ceiling
this cement ceiling.
You fed me words
that made me hunger,
She's beautiful.She drinks, smokes and parties all night every time she can,No one has truthfully told her she's beautiful, She thinks she's not worth it,
I sit here, thinking heavy
My young brother, no intent of harming any
Walking with a hood on is that a threat?
But with his black skin many scream death
Skittles, tea
What harm could that be?
After full contemplation over the bology of humanity I realized i am stuck with the ignorance of my generation,generating the belief my blood is different ,My skinMy accentMy demeanor and stature
Organ of immense size,
enterance and barrier,
we are a people
obessesed.
Color, clarity, cut,
that's all we see.
Peel it back,
throw it away.
Our hearts all beat,
Dear Son,
Recognize your power, strength, and courage.
You have the drive and the power to achieve great things.
And then there is power ascribed to you.
Where is the help?
Money is the focus,
The goverment may cause money to disappear like hocus pocus
While the children are left helpless, hopeless
No arm, leg nor brain to grow,
World without hate
Is one without fright
One where the darkness
Is diminished by the light
One where all people
Are happy at peace
And discrimination
Has finally ceased
Terrorism Isn't Me
There is one thing that has been bothering me
That I must address
It bothers me
Facing Adversity
There is one thing that has been bothering me
That I must address
It bothers me
Just like a pest
I think involuntarily upon a distant shore,
That placard of choice is miles away –
Sweet child, I wanted more
Than tranquil hope speckled with a superfluous sea,
Gaspard knew before us all of the tremulous roar
We’re built,We’re born,We love,We scorn
The worldThis placeThe people,This race.
One thought,One kind,One hope,One mind.
The Nigerian Hierarchy
If I drove a Lexus instead of a Honda
Would you agree?
Would it be vice versa if
my skirt landed above the knee...
It was a question that plagued me even in my dreams and begged for a reply
Why haven’t we changed?
Obscure, it seemed it was, when a stranger approached me
Do we let ourselves get consumed within our personal nations;
A victim of our differences by nationality?
What about the genetic equations of our emotions,
And the resulting masterpiece of our emotionality?
Don't look at me
For I am different
And I am told
That that's not okay
Don't listen to me
For I am stupid
I am told this
Everyday
Don't care for me
understand me
don't overlook me
yet some people prefer to underestimate me
but i'm over that
she's misunderstood
she wants to be Ms. Understood
but she has really bad relationship issues
understand me
don't overlook me
yet some people prefer to underestimate me
but i'm over that
she's misunderstood
she wants to be Ms. Understood
but she has really bad relationship issues
A prophet crossed the white line
And he did not eat a swine.
Disgusted by booze,
He kept out the Jews.
After that he drank palm wine.
My hijab is my identity. It covers and protects me.
My precious skin not to be seen by any eye. What ever happened to women being shy?
What the fuck have I become?
Do you see the world that surrounds us?
Do you see the hate in all their eyes?
And when you look back,
Do you see that same hate in yours?
Our children are dying!
Delinquents with damaged egosWhat lies behind a smile?A fragile soul cracked like shingle tileAs the cold wind blows
We are but black and white
The letters that we write.
The colors leeching from our pens
destroy worlds and breathe sins.
My love for you was endless, like infinity times infinity;
but that's too much I might just stress.
I gave you my heart and my soul and
what I got back was lies and deceptions with other people.
Skin,
Epidermis wrapped around the inner bones
to perform life.
Skin,
Barrier to the outer adversaries
Of nature.
Skin,
A continuous uncomprehensive
Victimization from
Three out of four was the turn out.
Growing up in a single parent household,
College Park, Ga 30349 was my hood until my mother found a way out.
Moved us quite a few times, then we hit Henry County.
break out
Of bounds; set the standards around
What others cannot
Trouble inbound; bein followed
Back to the roots, the home,
the starting point
disjointed from the hip
I am from the dry desertthe sands that dance in the windI am from the heat of the sunthat warms our heart at the time of warI am from the coldness of the winterthat settles in our hearts during tough timesJust because I'm a Muslim and and Afghan,d
Can anyone become successful?
Black or white? Boy or girl?
Indeed, it has become quite stressful
trying to make a difference in this world.
We try not to discriminate,
but some come from generations
And after the storm
We will rest in long moments suspended.
We will walk with grounded steps
On familiar land,
And trust our feet to lead us home.
We will dress ourselves
PrejudiceHateSo wrongWhat gives you the rightTo decide who I love?What gives you the rightTo detest me for my differences?What tells you that it's okayYou tell me I'll never be loved
I always thought living in the west meant I lived in a bubble. That my world was one free from ongoing civil conflict, Free from brother and sister fights were parents forgot to step in.
That is,
Until I learned to read.
There comes a time when we all hold a responsibility
For what the world is and what it could be
But we often get trapped in our own reality
Concerned only with the well-being of our families
We want to change the world.
We sang it together in crowded basements.
Declared it so loudly that the world may be forced to hear us.
But they didn't.
They are broken, shaking, bitter and lost—
I know it well.
I have been standing in the dark
Shadowy corner of my cave,
Shivering in the mildewed enclosure.
I have scraped at these rocks
There’s something called ignorance in the black community
It replaces the love, care and the unity
The power our race once possessed
The world is so broad and wideFull of the imperfection only one could define,from the slashes here and there that lies up on one’s body, it’s hardly fairStanding As reminders of each scar
Being gay?
They say it's a crime.
They say it's a birth defect.
They say it will change over time.
I want to know who "they" are.
I want to know what gives them this right.
Langston Hughes’ mama told him “Life ain’t been no crystal stair”
Well, I reckon it be the same way for me, too
No crystal stair ever showed up for me,
Gay, straight, black, white
Who has the right to say what is right?
We all love, we all laugh, we all hurt just the same,
Regardless of color, gender, or name.
I’m not an exceptionTo the ruleYet, I try so hardI’m like one grain in the sandA particle in the skyI’m nothing but a spectacleYet, I try so hard
I write for the moment,
I write for the pain.
Everytime I've been bullied, harassed, and full of disdain.
I write for my teacher who told me to pick up a pen, because of her I write for the children,
the women,
36- 24-36
The measurements of perfection
The ideal hourglass figure;
Big boobs, skinny waist, wide hips
I have come to the realizationthat as a woman of colorI will one day havewith the bittersweet blessingto give birth to a beautiful black baby.Only the third timeI have labeled somethingbittersweet.
Eyes are not meant to view darkness
Lamps, lights, fire, flashlight, candles
Illuminate what fragile eyes cannot handle
Ignorance in over use of the many senses,
Magnificent is our existence, and eternal is our light.
We may sing and dance forever in our inherited Evergreen Might.
Violently impeded by an inner night, against doubt, pride, and greed we will put up a fight.
They have always asked us a question
Judged us like a book cover
And they expect us to answer
We’ve been through harsh times
Of discrimination because of our skin
Words.
Whether you read them backwards
or read them forwards.
They are still only words.
Racecar. Kayak. Level.
They are still only words.
Whether you say them with meaning
I’d like to say I grew up in the “happy medium:”
Between marches, riots, and fights in the pursuit of Civil Rights,
And the fall of those two towers when the plane went right through them
sometimes
I lie alone on the grass
under a grey sky
in the dead heat of summer
and I see before me
the future
stretching out as far and as gloomily as the sky
and I wonder:
It’s price is great,
But we have it now.
All through the lives of many,
Depression, oppression, work, work, work.
We have endured,
And so we have earned our freedom.
Society.
A wicked, judgemental group of people.
From discrimination to gay rights, we are still people.
We eat, breathe, love, laugh, and live.
Doesn't everyone?
Stereotypes reach farther corners than simply gender, race and sexuality,
but who would ever even think of starting a revolution for a group of kids that aren’t taken seriously?
PREJUDICE is prejudgment towards any person
It is why in the past it led to owning perpetual bondsmen.
It can also be the reason of jealousy
Prejudice equals sexism and bigotry.
Enthralled by your unbounded beauty
That I admire all seven days a sennight,
It is me that you do not see;
My heart pounds madly at your mere sight.
Although we descend from people of conflicting histories,
In I walked to the class we call history
Ready to learn something about me
Heart skipping beats
Stomach leaping forward with a foolish anticipation
And sudden as the forces of gravity
It’s all ripped from me
Paper holds no prejudice,
unlike an opionionated conversation,
paper can make readers colorblind,
it can recieve little abdication.
Writing can make a poor man esteemed,
Just because they are gay, we shouldn't take our right to get married away.
Walking down the road, hand-in-hand with their loved ones does not affect anyone around them.
Look! Look! Look!
Brown, hazelnut eyes
Shutter and shift accordingly
As long, unorthodox lashes brush away dust mites
Teeth yellow growing green
Tongue hairier than the green goblin's spleen
When you think of islam, what do you see? A group of women covered modestly. Dressed in cloth that covers the body. Men all smiling and hugging profoundly. Praying to the One and Only Almighty. Giving charity and helping our friends.
Asians can't drive, and Mexicans make trouble. You will get shot by a black man who will rob your home and steal your vehicle. All Mexican immigrants are illegal. Asians can't speak English to save their pathetic little lives.
why is race important
or color looked at first
in this world of screwed distortion
the racial slurs they hurt
They say life is like a vow, something that is meant to be broken.
They say death is its predator, but yet life was meant to be its conqueror.
The traitors of the past were never washed away
They have procreated and created the haters of today
They continue to feed of negativity
And deter you from accomplishing any relative impossibility
I am not the sway of my hips, i am not a fully figured women with a nice waist and sweet lips. You can compliment me on the texture of my hair, compliment me on the color of my skin. But to know me is to know the person deep within.
I concur.
If it's against my religion,
it should be illegal.
And while we're passing laws,
let's make divorce illegal,
and premarital sex,
and tattoos
and drugs
and alcohol
I am Congo
Looked upon with disgrace
They tried to erase my race
We were betrayed and put on slave ships
Slavery was money, so there were no friendships
I am Kenya
I see this means so much to you
You’re afraid that it will touch you
But why it’s just my skin
It carries no thorns to prick you with
It carries no knife to stick you with.
It’s just my skin.
The media with their statistics goes on for days
No man should be older than 25 these days
Every black girl should have ‘bout 2, 3 maybe four babies
White man responsible for wars & doing every black crazy
The church stood on one side
The street on the other
And I was the illegitimate child
scorned to no acceptance
Bound to redefine the limit
that could not be reached
Forced to hide in the shadows
Hijabs, Prayer rugs, Tasbeehs, Salats, Bows, Pilgrimage
I started with my creed but I forgot to say Bismillah first
Because in the name of God, the most gracious, most merciful
I fought the will to live a tragedy, to sacrifice pain and wear a smile no matter what.
A fool amongst wise men.
A liar amongst the blind.
A friend to people who have not a clue of the person I am.
Looking through a black girls eye
What do you see?
Ignorance is not uncommon
It’s everything it can be
Looking through a black girls eyes
I see pain
Pain that cannot be changed overnight
The march of feet
stays in rhythm
with the pulsing beat
of club music
more intoxicating than
Jaeger, Jack, or Amarula.
Years of trying to gain this.
To make you understand.
Your hair, eye color, and skin may be different.
So does this make you human and me an animal?
No I as well have the characteristics of a human being.
Society is blinded
This world lost its vision
People saying God
Forgot his own religion
Hand over your heart
To a flag that needs revision
It just doesn’t add up
We’re all products of division
My mind speaks louder than my mouth
Overloaded with plans and memories
Trying to figure out a way out of this mysteries.
I wish I could rewind
And empty this mind
I guess that what we call life
The patriarchy
Self-congratulatory
of its own bias.
The working women
Polishing her glass ceiling
weeps for potential.
The conservatives
attack her choice as murder
But her life counts too.
But I love him.
Of course I do. I love him more than the world.
But that isn't real love. No. My love is just a phase.
A test of my parents will.
Because why would i love him? I'm only a boy.
It's time to stop restricting those/ and unchain the chains around your cranium it's/ been locked inside that mental cage.../ bird sings if you let it/ get some lessons/but schools won't teach it to do so/necessarily/ true so, true say/ aaaahh/ op
The Dementor you have
And the Dementor I have
Have stopped us from solving
Hungers from deprived ones,
Diseases not worthy to spread,
Revenges too unimportant to do.
One day, you and I should
America. Land of the free.
A land where you can get married based on the gender you were born with, but not based on who you fall in love with.
America. Land of the free.
Hello
My name is Ashleigh
I am a 19 year old African American female that was born in December
Not only am I trying to succeed in beating out the statistics
I am also proving that I can and will be something
Feeling discriminated
emotions cumulated
all my feelings
to begin eliminating
people from my heart
for underestimating that I’m also a human being.
With a traffic state of mind I can’t seem to find a friendly distraction to ease the pain of the twisting kaleidoscope known as my heart.
I have a voice;
Strong and loud.
Can make people listen,
People in the crowd.
I know right from wrong;
I'm not sitting in a cloud.
I'll scream till you hear me;
Scream really loud!
I do not understand.
No hello to people on the street.
Keep walking, keep walking
Don’t make eye contact
Shit, are they talking to me?
Keep walking, keep walking.
We are cold individuals.
If I was straight I wouldn’t be writing this damn thing
If I was straight I wouldn’t need to hide my basic humans needs
If I was straight would you still dehumanize me?
Take away my rights and claim there “not meant to be”
They say to sit down,
want me to shut up.
They say I'm too young,
I can't know.
Tell me I'm ignorant,
I'm naive.
But I am experiencing,
right here, right now.
He didn't even know me.
he passed me by like a river's torrent
smoothly, he grumbled, "Nice shirt FAG!"
Hate tastes like bitter juice
And feels like raging fire
Hate engulfs the vision
With resentment and revenge
It strikes as harsh as a lightning bolt
When Zeus gets called a liar
There has never been a harder time
To be a woman with my complexion
Okay, sure, once women were property
They couldn't vote
They couldn't drive
But you know what?
They too were considered a minority.
All is calm from where I stand
Purple and pink flowers sway in the breeze.
What should be a good time is no longer.
Those flowers were destroyed by tanks,
as was my faith.
My land no longer exists.
Clandestinely cascading--
The entire, pitiful, centerfold
That I consider to be a sympathetic heart
He says he's replacing the Confederate Flag on his desktop
With a picture of Me.
I proceed to wonder if I should explain the irony of this,
Or let him roll over comfortably in his quilted ignorance.
Weakness in my soul
held down form bold moral convictions
A woman is here to be sold
Is what the merchant says to gain attention
Despair is heavy in the air I can smell the discrimination
It takes real eyes to realize the real life
I used to see blind until I realized the real lies
I lived in a utopia where love was our core
But that’s when I was four, now the thought is nevermore
I promised I would only talk of true love if it really existed.
I promised myself, when I was young, that I would only love someone if I knew they would never break my heart.
I waited so long for that person to come.
Fill my seams with lots of dreams
Like Martin Luther King did
Walk down avenues
No need to be in school, at least not on this special holiday
Because of that man
That man there, we can do near anything
I am a girl who loves a girl
And believes in the Bible too
There’s a fight in my head
It’s not a fight to the death
It’s a fight to realize who
Knows what it means to love.
Man shall not lay with man
Like the earth beneath a popular tree, life is shaded.
The existence of knowledge stands firm and strong,
yet, some and many cease to acknowledge the light peeking through its leaves.
Discrimination
Five syllables more venomous than a rattlesnake bite.
More painful than a little girl not getting her kiss goodnight.
We all know what it is,
Yet we act as though the impact is nothing.
Forgetting is the fire that burns down the building
It is the one drink that flips the car
Forgetting is the trigger on a double barreled shot gun
A tec9
A rifle
And a pump action shot gun
The time passes by
unnoticed is it leaving so fly
it happens so quickly
like the change that happens in or world
from friends to enemies
Is it because we are not alike
why?the media changes who we are
Since the founding of this country, we talk about equality
But really it’s hard for me to see it
There’s still racism, sexism, fights against sexuality
So where’s all that spoken of equality?
We are all one
but we live as if divided
we share the same pain and shed blood for what we belive in
Yes we all have issues but let us not incorporate that into violence.
When my hips make like prayer books,
and I have a son
I will tell him:
my father is weak
but doctors mistake it for heart disease.
Those doctors are fools.
They don't know of the lack of childhood
Death knows not the difference -the boundaries- between youth and the aged;
It knows not the faces of color, race, or religion.
Death knows not the deeds of the Good Samaritan and the failures of the old withered man.
I’ve got a noose around my neck,
And a fire outside my door.
I’m about to dangle in my distress
I’m on the 107th floor.
They say:
Stay there, we’re coming.
We’ll be there soon and,
Nigger, to me, sounds like nooses and hangings.
It sounds like, "Whites Only," and "No Coloreds Allowed."
It sounds like, "we shall overcome" marches -
like overcoming was the only thing my people knew how to do.
They say choose your battles carefully, but our side of the starting line was chosen for us. Pick by some biased hand in advance, with no perspective for the past or future. We were held hostage in the present with no escape but survival itself.
Once upon a time there was a man with a dream of peace, a dream of unity, a dream of equality, a strong dream.
After the storm comes the rainbow,
Vivacious colors splitting the grey.
After the clouds shines the sun,
Shining light through the tears of the sky.
Storms are alive, in you, in me, in the world.
Here we are
Here we stand
We are living out God's own plan
We are the children of the dream
I don't need another new year to start a change
I am a change
The school from which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. received his doctorate, Boston University, is, as its name implies, located in Boston, Massachusetts. This city is located in liberal New England.
(poems go Love, a feeling, a sentiment, a knowledge....
I love her.
Her scent. Her feel. Her touch.....
She awakens me, and frightens me, as she lies next to me.
My hand through her her hair.
Don’t cry little one,
All of this will be over.
Tomorrow will be a brighter day.
Can’t you see it?
Don’t worry little one,
Change will soon be coming.
All the fight is worthwhile.
Can’t you feel it?
(Devin strolled in the house open the door to let in his buddies and the cold
“Hey nigga’ , this sandwhich grows mold.”
Devin replied quite bold,
“Nigga’ please, I bought it yesterday.”
My splattered blood dries
over the newly cemented pavement
where my head collided,
after my back got soaked and bruised
from the fire hydrant
cause I'm fighting the tyrant
of segregation. You can crush
Today is the day for change,
Eyes up, Signs high,
Voices loud,
Jim Crowe has no hold anymore,
Chains are crumbling,
This is a revolution,
We are more than 3/5 of a man,
We are human,
On my hands and knees I pray
For this world to see a new, brighter day.
Not with the eyes of humans we should see,
But with the eyes of how it was meant to be.
The valleys and hills, tumbled and tall,
With ants that scurry up the wall.
The red ants march, bold and pride,
While the black ones live in lies.
Castles built under the ground
Is it the motion in which we move?
The slip of the tongue,
The dialogue that foreign language so happily sung,
Humans are all symmetrical rhythms full of bumps and cracks.
Imperfections and private fears,
Let me break into your thoughts,
I’m a mindbomb, ticking time bomb.
Seven years I wore the the veil
shielded myself and kept pale
news shunned like yesterday’s mail
happier than my previous trail
There is little that makes sense in this world,
But justice is something I understand.
The equality of all men,
And the celebration of each other.
A boy sits alone in his closet.
Enmity splattered walls.
His heart, so open to love,
is beginning to wither and fall.
But what, I should think,
makes him live in these walls,
is a secret to me,
Bars, the social norm
Keeping us in, keeping them out
When will it end
This nasty game they’re playing?
But we wont back down, no
The blood fueling our bodies with oxygen
Is the same. We all feel the pain.
“Let freedom ring!” Cried Jim Crow
Movements and martyrs,
The power in the moment
of the voice, long ago lost -stolen- Found again!
X marks the spot
Support. Strength. Faith.
The belief in a better future.
Keys to action.
Keys to reaction.
A dream. A leader. A desire.
Keys to revolution.
Keys to change.
This is me, this is who I am. This is my life, this is my business. I respect you, and I respect your choices.
Respect mine.
Love is love,
It’s black and white.
People are people,
And these people don’t fight.
But there’s a long road ahead.
(poems go here) They did the work we didn’t want to do
We could not be in the same room
It was illegal for them to have a say
If they even tried it was almost like they were thrown away
This went on for 400 years
What they were called…
Negroes. Stupid. Ignorant. Less-than. Inadequate. Niggers.
What they really were…
Citizens. People. Mothers. Children. Husbands. Workers. Human-beings.
What they endured…
I saw upon a dying street
Beneath the trees' barren
Humiliation,
A young man
(who reminds me of my grandfather)
Raking all the leaves
Into a sad pile
And laughing,
He sets it on fire
Represent
The palm of my hands is the palm of yours
Represent
They represent these United State shores
Comes the tall ‘n mighty stovepipe hat
One of the world’s greatest diplomat
Black or white,
colors fade to gray,
we stand together,
United as one,
nothing can break determination,
no one can stop our stride,
equality is one small step,
Two little ones hand in hand running
In the bright golden morning over Washington.
Their counterparts dancing in the Pool of Reflection
They were leaping and wheeling in the calm morning sun.
If it wasn't for the magic
when this universe was born-
the gravity that held it down
the sun that kept it warm
Racism why is it even here
all it does is bring us tears
Whatever happen to a world of peace
its time we bring a new life lease
We stand in unity to raise hope
so that we may live in a place of harmony
We Stand as One
Walking the streets to feel complete
No more segregation
We have now formed a whole nation
With a man that had a dream
That lead the movement to be free
We stand as one.
Flawless sun kissed skin
In infinite shades of brown.
Beauty Sculpted by God
Crafted in his favor.
Black boy
(Hook)
Last night
Night before
24 robbers at my door
I got up and let em in
Hit em in the head with a rolling pin
I tack a portrait of you to the classroom wall
--You--
Gorgeously lit in the the frame of a window
Appear in the grays and blacks and whites of the photograph
Peering questioningly at all who view You.
So is that who I am?
To be stereotyped just from my interest.
Is that who I am?
The one who's labeled just for being me.
Shush, don’t say a word, just let it happen
The boot doesn’t hurt that much, and it’s cleaner then people make it sound.
It’s easier just to let things happen.
Right?
We were once a people.
We taught together.
We fought together,
For freedom.
Our people won.
Black teachers, doctors, politicians.
The sky was the limit.
We were family.
Daddy was always there.
It is the year 1896,
And a black child born
In rural Louisiana
Sometime in 1865
Has just had her
Thirty-first birthday.
She should be happy--
Her newborn babe
Is healthy and although
Shuffled by,
Tossed and tied up without a bat of an eye
Thrusted into a life that was unseen
Depicted less of our mean
Voice unheard, some sort of strangled silence
Shuffled by,
Tossed and tied up without a bat of an eye
Thrusted into a life that was unseen
Depicted less of our mean
Voice unheard, some sort of strangled silence
This word burns as it rolls off my tongue ,i can feel my ancestors being whipped as the 'r' forms on my lips i can hear the cries as soon as the 'a' drops out my mouth ,this word hold so much power it hold the tears of my genealogy it's been the
There goes that ribbon floating through the air. Her dress flowing in the breeze. She's curious, she wants to go, no violence does she see. "No, my child, you must stay here. For surely that's not for you.
To sit back and watch
That is not how I do it
I stand up and say aloud
I am who I am
A gay man
I do not hide anymore
I do not let words define who I am
I stand amongst the crowd
To sit back and watch
That is not how I do it
I stand up and say aloud
I am who I am
A gay man
I do not hide anymore
I do not let words define who I am
I stand amongst the crowd
When you see a rainbow after a storm
You can’t escape it
It illuminates there in the sky for all to see
Each color together in perfect harmony
Now what would a rainbow be
I am an African American, Truth Be Told. Riding in a car in a nice neighborhood on my way home, Truth Be Told. Stopped, harassed, frightened by the local police because I was in a "suspicous" car, Truth Be Told.
At first just yelling.
Spiteful cries,
Words like cleavers,
Got under her fingernails,
and the mahogany skin on her cheeks.
And then the stones came,
an ambush,
penetrating deeper
African American did not have rights
All of them suffered from the lies
Until Martin Luther king Jr wasn't afraid of heights
He stood up and put his foot down on there civil rights.
The story of then,
The story of now,
and then the story yet to be unveiled:
Tap-tap. Tap-tap. Tap-tap.
Yes I am angry. But you wouldn't know.
Staring down at the floor, how could anyone tell?
I clench my fists. Tap my foot.
I smile. I say "yes, sir" and "yes, ma'am."
One heart, one mind
All of our fates, intertwined
Campaigns, rallies all for one cause
Because we as a nation, belong under God
Who made man in his own image
Gave us the power to make our decisions
It is 1960 and there are two drinking fountains.
Colored on the left, white on the right.
A young black girl shuffles her feet forward slowly in line.
They drag along the dirt and make lines in the ground.
I am pale as the moon in a sky of darkness
White against the shadows of the night
His skin is dark like a moonless sky
But his spirit is forever bright
America would not be America,
Culture would not be Culture,
And half of us would not Be here,
Without Our Civil Rights.
Do not disregard me,
for I am still the same brother with which you stand in arms with.
Forming chains to stand against the infringement of rights and ineqaulity, alike.
Every day and every night, we rally for the same end.
Nobody gone hold me down
I am a man and constantly getting put down
In this world I am surrounded by hate
You take one look at me and discriminate
Paying me the lowest of the lows
Hands planted on her lap, looking at the wrinkles
Reminds her of the days she spent on her knees
Watching the houses and the trees
Looking so young but feeling so old
She does her daily do’s
Stirring and pouring
I am not just a number for you to process
I have feelings.
Nothing you say can change how I feel.
Just because you think you can shut me up with
words
hate
violence
secrets
It was on an icy morning when
I hurried back inside --
To grab my coat and money --
Then I scurried back outside.
Why you so surprised?
You thought change was gonna come
But let me explain something to you
History repeats itself
And it’s just a matter of time
Before you’re back in the fields.
Why am I so different?
Confused by the color of my skin, I am ashamed.
Though He says we should love everyone, but one does not love me.
I am in pain.
I was judged before I even came out my mother's womb
I was counted out and scorned despite my inner beauty
All thanks to Jim Crow
Thanks for your ridiculous laws based upon my ethnicity
Years ago a flame was lit,
a world divided, all people split.
Moves were made by those daring few,
some from bus seats, some from a pew.
A line that divided was intentionally crossed,
DISCRIMINATION, that is a word that sliced deep into the hearts of many, pouring out the blood flow of confusion and a sense of deception. Just because my skin is brown and hers right beside me is white, we're different?
I was raised to hate the black man,
To spit as he passed me in the street.
I was raised to hate his wife, too,
The woman I never thought to meet.
For hundreds of years the black man has been crying
with inner tears, striped from his manly dignity and
identity, his self love has been ripped.
Who should define my race?
Is it the man who auctions my ancestor from a stand
and then lynch’s them on poisoned land.
Who should define my race?
Is it the person who label’s us because of the color of
our face.
The Black man stands strong on the slave block being
ridiculed and torched similar to King Jesus.
Living in the forlorn world of slavery, being
discriminated against by some of the white
race- due to my colored face.
Because of the pigment of my skin, they do not see me
Since I am "different", I am separated
And although they give many reasons
I know that it is not because of
My hair, or the way I dress, but
Yell at me, throw stuff at me
I am allowed here
Don't point over there
Just because a word separates us
We are the same
The sun began to set as little Johnny trudged on
three hours ago he found out that his mother was gone.
Dead by water maybe dog or cane
but all johnny knew is they didnt even know her name.
Executive Order for no order,
Was a citizen now, an enemy
all after a day that lives in infamy,
Hawaii, California, West Coast, no longer.
so called just desserts, in the desert
The Civil Rights Movement,
A time of lament
For the many lives lost
That stood up without a cost.
A voice for the people was what they all yearned
But many refused to rebel to avoid a worse turn.
When Obama won they said it’s over. He won. He’s in.
I say no. One triumph does not erase past sin.
The pen has hit the paper, the paper has been passed saying in the United States of America, slavery no longer lasts.
My Bones Ache
My Hairs Grey
My Pride is Gone
Can I Rest Now?
You Ask For My Seat
I Say No
My Hands Are Cuffed
Can I Rest Now?
We fight For Whats Right
Boycotting Transportation
They sang in solemn tunes,
Their voices sweet and tender;
'Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.'
They had come a long way to get to that day;
Prejudice shook their right hand,
When February rolls around, I think of all of them.
The brave strong men and women, who fought for my freedom.
Not just Martin and Rosa, Little Rock too,
But all those unsung heroes, just like me and you.
Our forefathers bled for us.
They took the pain of being
different away.
They fought against the
stubborn who would never
allow black people to have
rights.
We take for granted the freedoms we have
The biggest freedom of all to some
Are civil rights and liberty
African Americans will stand on my behalf.
We often do not look back at the past as if we were there
We all think, but never speak
Our heart says one thing but our words say another.
We try and try but we always conform
Don’t be someone else
Be yourself
Be the person who stands up
This sistah would like to say
That finally Revolution is on its way
Dig, my People?
Just as the "New Negro" replaced the "Coloreds"
Black is replacing the "New Negro"
Shoot,
Sweltering day
Solution: ice cream
Fell into unwanted trouble
Pain splattering across my back
Anger biting my arm
I hear laughing
Nothing is funny
The pain they felt
I cannot imagine
They fought for rights
With such great passion
They fought for right
With all their strength
They fought to be equal
To fight this hate
The fight for rights
The pain they felt
I cannot imagine
They fought for rights
With such great passion
They fought for right
With all their strength
They fought to be equal
To fight this hate
The fight for rights
They stand tall,
They stand proud,
Sadly they fall,
Within a big crowd,
On that day in ’65,
In that month of March,
We watch as some die,
In the midst of a march
Clink...Clink...Clink
Can you hear them?
Clink...Clink...Clink
Can you see them?
Clink...Clink...Clink
Can you feel them?
Those chains
That everlasting bondage that keeps us unchanged
If that mysterious man of old awoke
What tales would he tell?
If that mysterious man of old awoke
What praise would he sell?
Growing up, all I ever heard was how the "white man" would keep us down.
How all they ever wanted to do was see me frown.
How I was suppose to accept this as life truth
and never enjoy the fruits of my youth.
I left the Home, a shabby lumbering shack,
Taking only the clothes on my back
And the chime of Symmetrical thoughts,
And walking with Ambitious steps,
Trampling the Dirty paths, and
In a time of hardship,
Many fear the fight,
Many face the fight,
Going day by day struggling,
Many face the fight,
Trying to ignore the ignorant people,
Many face the fight,
I love my civil rights,
It helps to keep state laws tight.
The 13, 14, and 15th amendment,
How dare you try to suspend it!
It protected my heritage race,
Guaranteed freedom in any place
A whistle to myself,
I whistled a song,
A song about a woman,
frightened by the black night,
frightened by what she don't understand,
she calls upon the daylight,
and then it comes,
A black woman, Rosa Parks,
Refused the white man's way.
To the police, the driver narks,
to jail she went, and got bail anyway.
The Montgomery Boycott sparks.
Boycotting the buses, day-by-day,
I see what your scared of,
that thing inside that you want, the burning fire,
te desire for change,
you thought you could do it alone but your just one,
thats what the doubters say,
Can you hear them
as they sing?
The whispers of the wind?
Can't you hear them,
And their song?
Wanting him again?
They seek the one,
The truth he brought,
The truth of which we've lost.
To control your slaves, make them hate each other,
And guaranteed, they will continue to for the next hundreds of years or even thousands.
Has slavery really been abolished?
I felt connection there,
my yellow skin flashing in stark contrast with
the black in my right hand,
the white in my left.
Darkness was all that was there
Black, the color of a rising movement
Hate, the feeling that overflowed the nation
White, actions patterned with violence
Hope, fuel for peaceful end to hate
Darkness was all that was there
Black, the color of a rising movement
Hate, the feeling that overflowed the nation
White, actions patterned with violence
Hope, fuel for peaceful end to hate
There once was a man who said, "I have a dream."
This man's dream was to be more than what he seem.
To not be classified simply by color, but to be equal by each other.
I warned that boy
I begged him please
I told him not to blink an eye
I told him not to look their way
I told that boy so many times
You are not white
And by all means I know
It shouldnt matter much
Lost soul
Lost faces
One Color
Lost Races
Here but not in existence, just traces
Draws warnings on these spaces
Knows but doesn't feel
Wounded but never healed
Eyes open or close they see
We as humans, only asked to act upon our gift of living
Throughout the abuse and torture
We still find in our hearts, the spirit of forgiving
Watching our people experience genocide
Contemplating suicide
Uh. Uh. Agency. History. Word. Here we go:
United States, United States
Tryin' to show the world its pretty face
But 'merica's history ain't always a pretty view
Open Zinn and Russell and let's review
The power of inhumanity,
Oh how it sickens the remedy
of true empiricism
and how it swallows the color of a tender rainbow
I love your brown skin
I can't wait to see you again
Again to see your brown skin
Marred by the stormy weather discrimination
Oh you know I love your brown skin
Some will call you a yellow bone,
People being treated unfair,
Being judged for their race,
For racism is cruel,
This is why we now have Civil Rights,
Freedom for religion,
Freedom of speech,
This is why we have laws,
Superior? Infereor?
What are these words I hear?
You assign them to races,
To put them in their places
The riders are teachers,
The marchers are leaders,
The man they all look too,
Is a Baptist preacher.
She sat in a chair,
Not willing to share,
To stand for her rights,
Without being compared.
I see the photograph: you -- black, beaming, full of bravado
off to fight a war on German soil, not of your own making
the light is incandescent, against the barracks in the company
A century before,
Not quite a distant enough memory
brother fought brother
on an all too familiar soil.
Some say ignorance is bliss, but I dare to disagree;
I say ignorance is what the eyes are afraid to see.
On the outside you may think these people are friends through whatever;
The Bible reads
"All Men Are Created Equal"
So why do you detest me so?
My heart beats
My brain thinks
I have emotions
Just like you.
Why do you treat me so differently?
I see on TV
Why does skin color matter?
We are people, arent we?
Black brown or white
We differ but its alright
I've seen my people enslaved by these monsters
I haven't seen them escape very far
Still trapped by their masters, or the ones that claim they are
And they've been hypnotized by those damn cars
Chains chafe my skin
My blood mixes with the sweat upon my back
Both rivulets running down and racing to the dry dirt
My burden affixed upon my shoulders
As I walk down the street
I see children playing
innocence.
They don't care about you're
race, gender, or difference
acceptance.
Why won’t it change color?
I try so hard
To scrub off the darkness
That will never go away
It brings so much trouble and shame
They stare at “it”
Define me through “it”
But I am more than that
Silence sweeps over the cotton fields of present day Georgia
As gentle winds tickle the cypress and the pine.
Streams ebb contently in their beds.
Who would have thought in such a beautiful place,
During a horrific war
That divided our country in two
Abraham Lincoln freed all African Americans
From their chains of bondage
I am a product of the Earth, much like you.
My people blossom in the motherland, soaking in the bright sun.
Our vines weave around the rough terrain, entangling in each other
We grow in these dense fields.
Look around you,
Do you see
All those wandering souls just waiting to be freed?
The boy watching the popular girl, too scared to approach,
Lest he be tormented for wanting to be close.
I had a dream, he had a gun.
I asked if I could sit, they asked if I could run.
Without justice there is no peace, they say “I have justice so is there peace?”
Life is peachy, but its's got a little fuzz
the inside is sweet but there's no hidding what's above
pick it up, set it back down, show it no love
Looking only at the surface, not what it consist of
Civil rights are right, right?
Yes, indeed they are right,
because it say so in the phrase,
don't have an eyebrow to raise,
because civil rights are right.
Discrimination. We all thought that was gone after the Civil Rights movement.
However, today's generation faces a new type of discrimination.
That discrimination is on who you can love.
We say equal opportunity for all,
In today's world, we hear about the civil rights movements in history class.
We think, "that was so long ago, does it even matter now?"
Most teens only think about our country now, not it's past.
Together we soar,
Together we strive,
Together we are great,
Together we are alive;
But not today, no,
We have lost all equality,
Judgments and discrimination,
Create a growing fatality;
The search for a new beginning
Is lost in prejudices of the past.
A civil war is fought, a nation torn apart, for what?
A new hope, a new start
That instead is once again lost and
It's like this
so quickly we miss
what things we try to remember
the things we have forgotten
and so I look on over the lives of those age has forgotten
This is a Rise^
For All of Those who have Died
in order to keep the Living Hope Alive
This a Rise^
For All of those who wear a disguise
There's no need to hide
Oreos. Zebras.
There are jokes about both
That are funny to even the most welcoming of people.
When two races mix,
Two races so different as black and white, literally,
Judgment is passed,
Don’t walk on Sunrise!
Don’t look in our eyes!
Don’t shop where we shop!
Cut cane and don’t stop!
We're marching for our freedom and rights
Picking up a righteous fight
The streets are paved in black and white
So join us as we march for our morning light
By the way things used to bug me
is not the same way it bugs them
but with euality and equity it bugs us all now;
I know i wasn't able to do things they did
but now i can do what they do
here they come, riding on the two buses that would have changed the world, here they come, the freedom riders here they come.
Greater peril awaits thee if a choose to fight for us
For I am not liked – my natural devil formed in birth.
So they say.
A cry arose from the crowd
Then came another
A sister, a brother
Shouting above to be heard, be proud
What is truth? What is justice?
Turns are taken
Voices shaken
You, they, are equally us!
Death glides in on a wave of shadows.
He stands silently, gazing o’er the crowd.
There are Blacks, Whites, Asians, and more.
The people are blind to the threat in their midst,
Dream, Dream
That's all I ever knew
I have a few
Dream, Dream
Don't you see
We are one, not three
Dream, Dream
My skin is dark
That doesn't mean I need a mark
I had a dream last night that turned into a nightmare,I woke up still asleep and walked to school full of fear.The kids gave me weird looks and I didn't know why,
Rosa, Martin, and I
We agree, see eye to eye.
Ain't we all equal?
Ain't we all people?
Susan, Sojourner, and I
Also see eye to eye.
“Ain't I a woman?”
Just as good as any man?
Imagine a world where no one cares how you look like.
Imagine a world full of peace where everyone loves you, for who you are,
Whether you are gay, colored, or believe in a certain religion.
I was born into a world
Where people judge.
A world where people can't
Really ever be themselves.
And those who are different,
Are prosecuted with no regard.
The trials happen so fast,
I can't keep up.
I'm sick of my own voice
blaring in my ears,
screaming, distorted, through the T.V.
Female middle class white noise.
To be a woman in some ways more masculine than man
To be a tree whose efforts bear no flowers nor fruit
To be uninteresting, unattractive, and unloved
To be showered with compliments and praise, and,
A battle scene,
A terrible war.
Does this seem familiar?
Has it happened before?
In the midst of the battle,
Both sides losing ground;
At the same time, on each side,
A man is hit down.
What is wrong with our nation?
I don't know why our lives revolve around discrimination.
We have our share of freedom but just a little taste.
We abuse our power by putting others down.
Left and right you hear people mumble your name.
That feeling like everyone is staring at you.
You know what happened is totally out of your hands, but still you feel guilty,
like the word wealth
my true nature is hidden
behind
Digital image or lyrical gimmicks
The fiddler collects winnings
when the starved jack pots
though
ein
by
jeden
Do not put down my ideas,
Just because you do not agree;
Do not shun me,
Just because you refuse to see;
Do not attack me,
Just because our thoughts differ from each other;
We already have a bad rep
It's been going on since the beginning of time
But I will not take this no longer
Because now it's time to stop
No friends
Only enemies
Like a pride of starving lions
They wait
For me to walk through those doors
They attack
Viciously with their words
I am cut deep
Not in the flesh, but in the soul
Why should beauty be hidden under the surface?
Why doesn't society let it rise to the top?
It refuses to show all its people that
It's there, but it's there, and won't stop
Judgers rip me open like a patient during surgery. My glands, brains, and heart exposed, I'm vulnerable, they make me feel vulnerable, completely helpless and useless.
I am no longer the beautifully tinted woman that grew up between the tropical trees and vines of the most alluring forests.
