Black
History month
Black History….Month?
Why do they think that giving us a month in the year will wash away the pain
As if the blood stains washed away from the time we were in chains
Like they didn’t use to castrate us, and hang us, and beat us in the street like it was a silly game?
Like niggas don’t get laid out in the streets by pigs every two days?
Suddenly, we display a quote in remembrance from a powerful black figure and go about our day
Like a Martin Luther king quote…..
Or….Malcolm X….
What about Garvey? Sojouner Truth, Angela Davis, Fred Hampton and the rest?
Why do they think that some sort of celebration of Black excellence would birth some form of change?
We’re more or less placed in a glass case like some animal on display
“Here, Black people! Look at your accomplishments!”
Let us remember that our greatness cannot be contained
Don’t get me wrong i’m not here to complain….
I’m just sitting here in disdain while i witness the accomplishments of my people become
Some silly way for you to be entertained
Don’t think i’m ungrateful, we have a whole month
Black excellence, in the same time that we remember a Man that owned slaves
And another that never freed them
Oh shit they were our first and sixteenth presidents!
Black history month, a moment in time for celebration of the brilliance of a people that do amazing things daily
We are black history month, We don’t need a month to recognize our brilliance
The stench of our ancestors’ greatness and pain seathes through our pores with each breath we take
We bathe in their struggles
Reminding us of how far we’ve come
Then we glance over at the calender and am reminded of how far we need to go
As we celebrate black excellence during this wretched month, let us remember that we as Black people are excellent during every waking moment of our existence.
And that our most impressive form of recognition comes from ourselves.
Truly yours.