"I can't breathe"

I made a call for the submission of poems for Africa Day just three weeks ago. Ironically, at the same time, African-American George Floyd became a victim of a racial killing at the hands of police officers in the US. This moved the pens of the following individuals. Please absorb, and where possible, enjoy.

Still fighting

By Alicia Lebrium

Like my father before me

I'm still fighting to be free

With everything in me

Hunted relentlessly....

I'm a slave

To this land of the brave

Caged

in this home of the free.

Fighting a futile fight!

Cause I will NEVER be white!

I march on in crowds

Screaming loudly

"My life matters!!!"

But if they can't hear me

Begging to breathe,

How will they hear me

Asking to live?

I march on and on.....

The road is rugged and long

My heart is broken but strong.

And I'm still fighting

With all of my might

For the right

To be me.

Like my father before me

Who was sold for a dollar

then chained by his color.

But he fought

And bought our freedom

Or so he thought.

I'm still a slave

In the land of the brave......

And I'm still fighting

This endless war

Terminally black

With no cure.

Valued less

More and more......

Afraid to go

To the corner store.

Lest they take my life

With a gun or a knife

Or their bare hands or knees

While I cry "I can't breathe."

And all that will be left

is my name.

And best believe

My color will be blamed

Like those before me

Who fought to be free.

Born black

Black

Black

Black

Black

Black

Gone!

I wish you didn't

Have to fight for me

Tell me....

How can i RIP???

When I died fighting

For a color I didn't chose

I died hoping I didn't lose

This fight.

And hoping that my soul might

Join the marching crowd

Behind of Ahmaud Aubrey

And George Floyd

Who were Slaves in the land of the brave

Then Freed from the home of the free.

Born black.

Gone black.

Chained to this color

Forever

Please Fight for me.

Don't stop fighting for me.

I Can't Breathe

By Michele Henderson

Can you hear me Mama?

I keep telling them I can't breathe!!

And I just can't conceive

Of what I did to deserve this!

Can you see them Mama?

They've a hatred so heavy

intent on crushing every

Vestige of my being!

Could I just be dreaming…?

But I'm gasping for air!!!

It's a horrid nightmare!!

It just seems so surreal.

What exactly is the deal?

Is this where I die??

Please no! Let me try..

to just take a breath!

I'm not ready for death!!

I mean I love you Mama

But I rather be with you much later

Cause I can't just leave my daughter!

Can you feel it Mama?

This weight on my back!

On my chest; on my neck!

On my soul; on my people

It's like there's no respect...

For my person

Pinned to the pavement

Flashbacks of enslavement

Whips and white hoods

And running through dark woods

Dogs in the distance

But in this here instance

I give no resistance

Someone tell me: What year is this?

Can you believe it Mama?

Is this what they call service??

Is this how they "protect" us?

Is this why they wear badges?

This is straight up sadistic!!

What are we? Just statistics?

Michael, Philando, Eric?

How blatantly barbaric!

No more! Please!!

Mama, I'm coming to meet ya!

I can't hold on any longer

All I can think of are my children

If I could just tell them...

one more time that I love them...

But I c..an't ... br...

The Call

Emanuel Haxey Salamat

I call with my magical ancestral voice

For the awakening of those who still wonder aimlessly

Within the mire of colonialism

To employ their inherited power of divine spirit

To heed the words of conscious roots

To seek the truths of wonders revealed

To believe the echoed waves of stubborn facts

To surrender to sounds of a new awakening

To minister the fire of an unwavering thirst for knowledge.

I call with my magical ancestral voice For the undefined march to a freedom call

To the glorious reality of an invincible chapter

To the determined lives of the 'no more conquered'

To the fight for glory that victory offers

To the ideal achievement of a new era

To the attained mind of hope, not despair

To the sovereign cause of a breed reborn

To the aspirations of a supreme birth.

And I call with my magical ancestral voice

For every square inch of African life And the noble vanguard of our heavens

For the unshackled pledge of independence

And inheritance bequeathed us by our forbearers

For the entwined Pan-Continental fraternity

With an avowed sense of dignity

And the right to self determination

For a never-fading star of continued aspirations

And no rest till this done.

I call!