by Yasmin Alemayehu
We beg to learn the history that shaped our ancestry, but “enslaved” and “runaways” are the only words that run through our textbooks
We try to find the leaders that shaped our past but the only name to ever come up is Dr. King, with a hint of Rosa Parks and a dash of Malcolm X
the outcome of untaught, unspoken, and the unknown past lurks within the minds of our young ones
As if slavery was our only history
As if segregation was our only past
As if prions and ghettos were our only home
As if we represented nothing more than captured property that the white man brought home
We scream “Black Lives Matters” and watch people ignore, insisting that we are simply using the “race card” and nothing more
Begging to be acknowledged, begging to be seen, begging to be heard
We scream “Black Lives Matters,” as we see Emmett Till, Trevon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, as we see ourselves
Where our history shaped the future
Where our stereotypes from the past created our present
Where our melanin creates a story that follows the idea of danger
Where our melanin is associated with words of “thug” and “drug dealer”
Where our melanin gives justification as to why
Our thoughts
Our voice
Our lives
Don’t matter
Yasmin Alemayehu is a first-generation American Somali. She currently attending GRCC but will be transferring to Grand Valley in the fall to continue pursuing Elementary Education. She writes poetry to be able to examine social problems.
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