nothing kinder-gentler
bout the way they treated
me back then
when I was ridiculed
cuz a my rich melanin
blinded by "if you light, then
you all right"
black folks back then
just wanted to
live white
the cry for desegregation
came ...
unGodly little children
called me out my name...
being better than the best
became our goal
to earn BACK OUR birthright
the slavery system stole
the memory of divisiveness
still etched in black & white
scenes of 'us' v. 'them'
engraved in my hindsight
born between two wars
watts/king riots survivor
afro-wearing sista
"REVOLUTION NOW"-reviver
at times like this I ponder
the paradox of then and now
folks hearts are still as hateful
kinder-gentler?
when & how?
Alyce, 2001
bout the way they treated
me back then
when I was ridiculed
cuz a my rich melanin
blinded by "if you light, then
you all right"
black folks back then
just wanted to
live white
the cry for desegregation
came ...
unGodly little children
called me out my name...
being better than the best
became our goal
to earn BACK OUR birthright
the slavery system stole
the memory of divisiveness
still etched in black & white
scenes of 'us' v. 'them'
engraved in my hindsight
born between two wars
watts/king riots survivor
afro-wearing sista
"REVOLUTION NOW"-reviver
at times like this I ponder
the paradox of then and now
folks hearts are still as hateful
kinder-gentler?
when & how?
Alyce, 2001