Work Text:
To all my brothers and sisters around the world
who hold questions and queries of our black kin
I would like to take the time to give you the answers
that may not be easy to take in.
~
"Black people steal" because we've been stolen from our land and robbed of our identity.
"Black people are lazy" because we've been told that we can never achieve.
"Black people are ignorant" because learning English instead of picking cotton was a punishable deed.
"Black people whip their children" because we know our belt is more forgiving than the Master's whip.
"Black people are slobs" because we've been told that our ancestors were nothing but disgusting pigs.
"Black people call each other n****s" because that's the name we were left with after our titles as Africans was stripped.
"Black men are thugs" because we've been treated as wild beasts from hell.
"Black men sag their pants" because we've grown familiar with the painful nights in a jail cell.
"Black men kill each other" because the world of slavery is full of betrayal.
"Black fathers leave their children" because they're used to slave Masters selling them off.
"Black women are loud" because our cries of agony were always mocked.
"Black women bend over" because the Master would always bend us over after the sun had gone down.
"Black women want light skin and straight hair" because that's what our babies would look like after Master took our crowns.
"Black kids know nothing" because we've been taught that our history isn't worth learning.
"Black kids are ungrateful" because we don't know the fires our grandparents walked through to get us our earnings.
"Black kids are ghetto" because we've been taught that our future only holds hiphop and hair-styling.
"Black kids hate so much" because we've been taught to hate what we see in the mirror.
~
Black people are broken, that much is true.
So please understand, we don't mean to be rude.
Everyday we work to fix our souls.
We've made great strides, but progress is slow.
Please, have patience.
Please, have mercy.