It Didn’t Start Yesterday
Part 2: Processing This Week- May 29, 2020
(If you haven't I encourage you to read Part 1 as well)
I learned that I can’t expose myself to everything that you see
What I watch will have a more drastic impact on me
I have to protect my mind, body, and soul
Because of the years and things I’ve seen has taken its toll
I can’t see yet another video and I don’t need to see it in order to fully understand
It won’t teach me anything new about this here fucked up land
We live in that we call the U.S. of A
And no matter what folks try to say
Its been fucked up since that very day
When they kidnapped us and brought us ashore
Placing us in shackles as we fought to endure
To preserve our humanity no matter how much it was denied
Holding our heads up high while our souls silently cried
Chanting and saying see me and let me breathe
But we’re here again, figuring out how to grieve
The death that came as he kneeled and took his life
Reminding us of the kneeling we did that caused so much unnecessary strife
Causing people to lose jobs as they tried to take a stand
And call attention to the injustice birthed here in this land
The seeds of racism are birthed right before our very eyes
But yet still you’ll call it fake news and pretend it’s all lies
You’ll try to reframe the narrative and say what he did
You’ll drag up all the dumb shit he did when he was a kid
While your past is under lock and key
Because of that not so tiny little fee
Your parents paid to make you indiscretions go away
So you can pretend your record is clean up until this very day
Somehow you choose to ignore the 400 plus years of mistreatment that we’ve had to endure
While you protested the injustices cause you had to cancel your extravagant bon voyage tour
While my people are dying at a much higher rate
You stormed the cities with your machine guns at the governor’s gate
You did so without fear and believed it was your right
To open and carry so you did it in plain sight
But all he did was pull out a twenty-dollar bill
And you ignored him even as his body grew still
Do you recall the 108 years along the middle passage that alone could fill our hearts with rage
But then there was the 246 years in captivity at what point did you think we would not engage
You call it a riot but I call it a revolt
The only difference is we aren’t riding on a colt
We’re standing on the 101 to disrupt your normal way of life
Disruption is the only way to quell this century-long strife
But you revolted from your “oppressors” cause of some tax on tea
We revolt cause we just simply want to be free
You riot and demand we return to do your nails and hair
You seem unbothered by the impact on our lives this pandemic is more than just a scare
It’s bringing to the surface the 400 plus years of injustices that have tainted the air we breathe
Yet you won’t even give us peace and simply let us just grieve
And mourn what you just did this week
You tell us to forget as you pretend to be meek
There’s the 150 plus years of illusionary freedom marred by laws to keep us in our place
Because you never believed we belong to the human race
You used your bible you did it then and its fucked up how you do it now
As you cry to have your doors open so you give your humble bow
And spur your congregation on
And end with a rejoicing song
To thank god that you can gather again
That’s not god but a ideology manufactured by men
That continues to perpetuate a white patriarchal supremacy
As you call Black Lives Matter some type of communist conspiracy
And then you praise your White Christ as you forget from whence he came
It’s that twisted theology that makes us have to yell and say: Say His Name
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