Home
Young Writers Project
be heard
  • READ
    • Recent Table
    • Daily Read
    • Recommended
    • Recent Comments
      • Table-Users
    • YWP Newsletter
  • CHALLENGES
    • Weekly Challenges 18/19
    • Writing Contest: Invasive
    • Live Challenges
  • WORKSHOPS
    • Writing on the Roof
    • Events
    • Voices for Change
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • Anthology
    • Newspapers
    • VPR.net
    • VTDigger.org
    • The Voice-2.19
  • ABOUT
    • YWP is ...
    • Contact Us
    • Permission Form
    • The YWP FAQ page
    • Site Help
    • Community Leaders
  • Donate
  • LOG IN/JOIN
Previous Post
Next Post
Jul 26
rant/rave 1 comment
_BlackandWhite_'s picture
_BlackandWhite_

A Letter to Our Country

America

Land of the free

But not to those with melanin in their skin

Not to the ones who were ripped from their homes and brought to an alien country

Not to those who come here in search of a better life

Those beautiful people

All shades of brown

These people you isolate

You oppress them with your words and actions

When we are killed you silence your ears and turn your backs

You kill our men and boys

Rape our girls and women

You make us out to be monsters when it was your ancestors who stole us from our beds

America

This country of paper promises

When a black boy is the victim of police brutality you ask

“What did he do to provoke the officer”

When a black boy is caught doing something he shouldn’t

You condemn our whole race

You make jokes of our skin, our hair, our bodies

Yet in the media white women continue to try to look like us while white men lust after our figures

America

This diverse battleground

A country color blind to all those who don’t answer to

White

You cannot silence the voices of thousands

A race centuries old and ever aging

Our hair twists with the stories of our homeland

Our skin dark with the dirt our ancestors walked on the path to freedom

Our voices rich with the strength of music

Leaving hope for us all

Our lives are not a game for you to play with in your free time

We will fight to protect our children

Mothers should not sit in fear that their boys will not come home

Fathers should not blame a daughter for her clothes because the men on the street would rather treat her as a toy than

Human

Young boys, still new under the sun, should not ask a sister if he will be killed by police

We are a race long surviving

The end of us will not begin because you cannot control those who pledged to keep us safe

We are a people stronger than the hand you mean to crush us with

The tears of those you broke to build your country run through our veins

We pass our stories on

The younger generations carry our hopes and fulfill our dreams

The more you try to silence us

The louder we scream
 
  • _BlackandWhite_'s blog
  • Sprout
  • Log in or register to post comments
  • Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted: 07.26.18
_BlackandWhite_'s picture
About the Author: _BlackandWhite_
MSG / CONTACT
RECENT LOVES
  • Hockey Star
  • Sharkeisha
RECENT COMMENTS
Author has not made any comments.

Other Posts by Author

  • Introductions
    BooksMoviesPeopleShows Read more
    in poem 0 Comments
  • The Effect
    Red. That’s what I see when I look down. The angry words that drip red on my arm. Read more
    in fiction 0 Comments

Discussion

Comments

  1. aesythe
    Jul 26, 2018

    I don't know what to say. What power, what clear voice you have. In my head I felt as though I could hear this being spoken aloud with great passion. You say what you mean and mean what you say, without taking the poetry out of it.

    I have only one small note for you. It seems like such a silly little thing to worry about, but the lack of punctuation threw me off a little. You might benefit from adding some in (commas, periods, dashes) so that it is more obvious where you are intending greater emphasis.

    Thank you thank you thank you for sharing.

    • Log in or register to post comments
  • about
  • how to partner
  • for teachers
  • support us
​YWP  |  47 Maple St.  |  Burlington, VT  05401  | [email protected]  |  (802) 324-9538 
The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself. -- Albert Camus
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • Google+ icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Vimeo icon
  • YouTube icon
  • E-Mail icon