Just Liberty
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 me.
And I am not supposed to be here
Because we were never supposed to be here
We were people then
As we are now
But then we were home and free
Minding the business of our selves
When they came
Snatching souls for scratch
Scrapping flesh for profit
Dropping dead weight
Anchoring generations
To heart disease, poverty despair
Trauma supplanting excellence in our DNA
Tears flowing through veins of ancestors
Hardening to the kind of salt that gives
Everything US of A its flavor
Police cut their teeth on our chains
Judges balanced scales on our books
Schools and doctors and robber barons
Combing our vaults and brains for treasure they have no idea how to measure
Once stolen
We have reclaimed
Once taken
We have given
Once home
We are now in a place
Where wherever we are
We are not supposed to be
And so we are policed
Slave catching has never ceased
Whether it’s coffee
AirBnB
Studying
BBQing
Dreaming
Singing
Reading
Walking
Driving
Breathing
Being
We are never supposed to be
We were never supposed to be
Here
We cannot belong where
We never chose to be
However
Even with no choosing
Even with blood diluted by terrors and tears
Inventing innovating advocating
Creating pioneering
The very definition of the
American dream
Burning bright
To offset the nightmare
Of this country
That has always patted itself on the back
While bodies swing
Babies scream
Trees bleed with history
Treachery
Villainy
They could have let us be
Decided to build their own country
Instead of pilfering humanity
400 years of torture and tyranny
After we fight, sweat and bleed
To be free
We assimilate, acclimate, adjust
Only to continue to be told
We’re not where we’re supposed to be
You’re goddamned right.
We are not supposed to be here.
We were NEVER supposed to be here.
You brought us here. We built your dreams.
We’ve asked for nothing in return
Just liberty...