mamablack

On a cold Chicago day in January 1900, journalist and activist Ida B. Wells delivered a speech titled “Lynch Law in America.” First published in The Arena — a liberal, Boston-based publication — Wells’ speech decried the American tradition of grotesque violence against the Black body through lynching. On Tuesday, we were reminded of the significance, and the urgency of her words. That night, actor Jussie Smollett a proud gay, Black man was attacked by two white supremacists

We’re not supposed to be here We don’t look like we belong here You’re absolutely right. We were never supposed to be here We were once where we were Where we were maybe not always safe But home Where we were not always together But we were known to ourselves Our tongues true and wrapping Around the cadences of our mothers blessings our fathers We knew the faces of our spirits How familiar the roads and roots winding waters and winds Shadows shiny but known No. You don’t know