How do I celebrate?
How do I cheer
with masses of people?
How do I celebrate freedom,
knowing only half of me was set free today?
I can’t look up into golden stars
watch colors burst and boom
knowing my ancestors never heard
the click of the lock
on the chains that held
their black bodies down
until long after black cannons quieted.
Why
why oh why
do we let white chains with aging beards
Go on about freedom for all
when for years
and years
and years
they held us under the heel of black boots
As we watched them
Choke each of us with black gloves
our people that they knew
oh they knew they knew
had the soul in them to change the world
Why don’t we celebrate all the days
a chain of oppression falls off
each and every day a chain is dragged
off a hardened shoulder
newfound pride brings those held down higher
Higher
Higher
We only celebrate the day our chains changed hands
as new spindly finger wrap their way around
And tighten a noose
We only celebrate the day our chains
were handed to Uncle Sam.
Comments
I like the message of the poem, it's a very interesting point of view and it's very moving.
I love the line "We only celebrate the day our chains changed hands" because it's so true. America declared independence from one form of repression only to establish another.
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