The backs of Blacks have been for mounting, stabbing and kneeling.
Their bodies for branding and beating.
Their souls are for diminishing.
And their wills are to kill.
Their minds are to trick.
Their features are to fix.
Re-write their history.
Dismiss their bravery and resiliency.
Use the color of their skin to determine their aggressiveness.
Or as a green light to take advantage of, or put limits to their freedom.
Walking through the neighborhood – They can’t be up to any good.
Any driving through is a potential drive-by.
They should not have Rights to equal opportunities in life.
If they drive a nice car, it’s likely to have been a steal.
They don’t belong in the corridors of Ivy League.
All are thieves, born athletes or grew up in crime-filled inner cities.
They are poor, do drugs or are justifiably behind prison walls.
They’re not innocent so others can defend their attacks to them as self-defense.
Incidents against them can be justified once the instigator is White.
Believed to be less.
Not just in terms of intelligence, but in general.
Which has influenced many of America’s systems.
To house and propel injustice, inequality and toward anti-democracy.
To favor those deemed supreme and of lighter shade.
Others are of lesser worth so they could be underpaid.
Lower positions suit their grade.
That’s been the “reverence” shown to African Americans.
That’s what’s been sold – making reality of people’s perceptions.
So they must try harder to get by.
Every sigh they make, taken to mean they don’t appreciate.
Told to shut up and don’t move.
There are no picks, no Rights to choose.
We’re allowing you to stay, don’t be an ingrate.
But you can’t have an equal say.
Don’t come to our space.
Segregate, know your place.
That’s US, being generous.
Race norming, red lining, racial disparity in arrests, conviction and sentencing.
Their property taken away.
Their people massacred and slayed.
Deprivation of generational wealth.
Less access to care and improvements to health.
Stats show.
Evidence grows.
Refusal to know.
So year after year.
Death after death.
Failure after failure.
Incident after incident.
The message is being sent.