A living poem
No one is more reviled than us
They modeled their ideals off of our total opposites
They talk about us like concepts instead of real people
They erase our history and otherwise water it down
They worship hundred-year empires built with blood rather than study our tribes that have been around for thousands, or tens of thousands, of years
They come to our country and say our belief system is incorrect
They hate the revolutionary and love the pastor, but killed both of them and warped their words
They won’t accept that their own laws and actions contradict themselves
They minimize their own threat and maximize the minority’s, rather than improving conditions to improve safety for all
Our traits are desired, but not in ourselves
Even the way film is colored is biased against us
If we do something cool, they have to make their own version of it
If we invent something, they have to alter its use
If we speak up, we’re “uppity” or out of line
If we do something with emphasis, we’re evil, bossy, sassy, or violent
If we’re sick, we’re faking it or should have taken better care
If we’re successful, we show off too much
If we’re poor, it’s our own personal faults and nothing to do with the system that hates us
The last living slave was alive in the time of photography and video
This place can’t exist without cheap or unpaid labor, so they make rules that guarantee we’ll end up in jail, and make prison a source of near-unpaid labor
If anyone says most of this loudly enough, they end up dead
Yet we were here before, and we will continue to be here after
Prayers for a united Africa ✊🏿
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