To emulate
To admire
To learn
To defer
To study their ways
Their speech
Their heroes
Their stories
Not to envy, but to study
Strategies to make sure we’d make it safely home
Studying them was a part of our curriculum
As essential as Reading and Math
It was necessary in order to get by
To survive
Now, we know them;
Can school them
Rip their arguments to shreds
Dispel their myths
Analyze their tactics
Pinpoint their motives
See through their schemes
Trip them with their own fables
Reflect the God they claimed was theirs
Whose truth they altered to favor themselves
And oppress everyone they met
They never saw our worth
Outside of what we could do for them
Disposable we were
Always being told to "go back" from whence we came
If we dared to complain
About anything deserving of scrutiny
And those places and spaces aren't overseas
They're right here
On this soil, nurtured by us before their parents came
They've always been takers
Arrogant
Entitled
They never watched us
Except to terrorize
To envy
To slander
To be amused
To steal and corrupt
They couldn't see past our skin
To find the value within
That could benefit us all
They hated our resilience
Competence
Dignity
They wanted us to be afraid forever
Slaves forever
They feared us in ways we now understand, however
We share their surnames
And live in the branches of their shrouded family trees
Ripe with outlaws they'd rather not see;
Tales of horror they'd rather not believe
For the misery they wrought, and still fight to hide
It's retaliation they dread
That has never materialized
Odd that they don't know why they have nothing to fear
Yet they arm themselves against
The enemies they've created
Instead of living their lives, they've waited and waited
For the pain they visited, to visit them ten-fold
That's why they dread the truth might be told
But the dam has burst
Information flows like creeks to streams
Never once have they contemplated
The cost of their systemic schemes
To their own way of life and well-being
If they'd studied us they'd know why
Their longing for a past, wrought with their crimes
Won't work this time
We are not like them
We are our ancestors
Our weapons, though forged in love
Are infuriating to them
While they were dismissing us as lazy
Inhuman
Shiftless
Less than
We were surviving
Thriving
Achieving
Documenting
We are everything they said we'd never be
In spite of their deeds
We emerged from the ashes
The laws
The ever-moving goal posts
And when they look upon us
The see the worst in themselves
Evil sown by their forefathers
Filling the pages of their histories
Sealed in their souls
Locked up in their veins
Confusing their minds
Poisoning their children
Contaminating their lives
It is not hard to understand why
Guilt and shame drive them to want us gone
We are mirrors now
They can't get away from themselves
Their anger
Lust for war
Lack of empathy
They've been cultivating hatred too long
It's in them
It blinds them
They could be free
But "Forgive us. We were wrong" is not in their vocabulary
Their reasoning is senseless
Their countenances are marred
Their hearts are hard
And change is driving them mad
They'd rather die than hear the truth
Or allow it to be told
They boldly declare their sick states of mind
Every day they wake committed to ignorance
Wasting time and grace
Praising corruption and foolishness
Holding on to unrighteousness
Desperate to save face
What torment it must be to know the right way
But be so bound by evil
So tethered to lies
As to remain on a slippery path
That leads to needing help
From the very souls you despise
And gaining only pity, thoughts and prayers
As your legacy slowly dies
VRWc2021
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