The text of the poem is available here:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46446/still-i-rise

What does it mean to be Black in America?  It means being angry, tired and scared.  It means being proud but not boastful, walking the fine line between loving your heritage and hoping that it doesn’t draw too much attention so that you are made to feel other.  It means, by default, being Other.  It means trying to fit in.  It means fighting against racism, all the while hoping that its subtle messages of inferiority don’t take hold in your heart.  
 
It means reconciling with the fact that you come from a legacy of people who’ve always worked harder than they’ve ever been given credit for.  It means keeping your eye on the prize, while every day struggling to survive.  It means wanting to leave behind something for your children with the hopes that they’ll have it easier, but every day being reminded that the past is always present.  It means being mother, father, worker and soul warrior.  It means believing in something bigger, even if that faith does not materialize in time to save us now.  It means hoping, praying, fighting, organizing and calling upon all the ancestors in our bloodline to keep going, moving, striving and changing until we achieve what is meant to be wholly ours: freedom.  
 
RIP #BreonnaTaylor #AhmaudArbery #GeorgeFloyd #AllTheFallen
 
You will not be forgotten. 

​They dropped peppers in the sand
And they started clawing at each other, tooth and nail
For scraps that were meant to keep them alive
Mothers killed their daughters
And fathers burned their sons
Because of the differences in their flesh’s tolerance of the sun
 
They picked up all the peppers
And everything was calm
Paradise in heaven was known to everyone on earth
Then they sprinkled salt
And all the fighting returned the same
Everyone thought they were dying for nothing more than rain
 
Then they stopped sprinkling
And all lived in harmony
All had enough of food, shelter, and prosperity
Daughters grew to be mothers
Sons grew to be fathers
And all the children grew up to be care-takers of villages
That lasted for eternity 

If you grew up in a community affected by colonialism and the belief in White supremacy, then guess what? Your people are probably exhibiting the effects of colorism, whether internally or externally. It's an issue that affects a lot of us, no matter how much we (don't) talk about it - from artists choosing the light(er)-skinned Latinas to be in their bachata videos, to the "red-bone," "yellow-bone" vixens idolized in hip hop videos (I mean I know, they're damn videos), and to who gets the Hollywood roles - colorism shapes our minds from the exit of the womb until we realize that we've been drinking the kool-aid for a little too long. 

I reflected after I watched Oprah's series on Dark Girls and Light Girls, and could relate to some of what the women were talking about, with regard to the complex of having light or dark skin in the African diaspora.    

It's time to get fresh water in our veins. 

~

Colorism​
Sounds amazing.
Blue
Red
White
Orange
Invoking the rainbow
All playing a role in reflecting colors of beauty against a gray sky
In America
It means
Light or dark
With no room for those of us in between
Or those who know what it feels like to be both
It’s so deceptive, like a worm in your food
You think you’re not affected
Until you realize
That you’ve been eating worms in your food all this time
Cutting off the dark parts of the banana for no reason
Picking out the darker pieces from your snacks because they don’t belong
Colorblindness isn’t the answer
Not succumbing to outside prejudice is
Knowing who you are
And that you are beautiful is
Without needing to feel better or worse than another
For reasons no one can control
Colorism
Is Beauty
When acknowledged for the right purpose
When it recognizes the uniqueness
Of a variety of hues
That glow and reflect
Brilliance
Across a gray sky 

*Performed by Jussie Smollet & the beautiful, socially conscious, Alicia Keys*

​I’m going to Birmingham and I will be reliving memories from the Civil Rights Movement.  I am here for a reason.  What it is, I am still finding out, but I know that life is too damn short to be hiding behind the curtain forever.  At some point, the lights will come on, and I’ll have to come out on stage.  

​Tbc...