Poems

Our very own books of history

The whole day’s experiences

Are often churned

In every person’s mind

For separation of

Hope from deceit and despair

Torn in the wrangles of

Dejection that come woven

In the fabric of aspirations.

Tested so by beliefs

Deeply-ingrained within

And etched on the mind

In conclusion of

What was distilled as nectar

From the poisonous perceptions-

Consuming thereby one of these,

While saving the other for the future.

This is how we all

Perpetually write

Our very own books of history-

Erasing something

From the mind occasionally

While retracing often

With the pen of prejudices

What was scribbled there already.

– Bimal Saigal

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I am black

Bold, Leader, Astute, Confident, Knowledgeable

“The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight

But they while their companions slept were toiling upwards through the night”

Did you know our ancestors survived being chained to other human bodies for several months at the bottom of a diseased-infested ship?

Quitting…that should never be on our lips

Does anybody know

That our ancestors were tied to bodies that were decompose

It nuh inna wi DNA fi quit

Nuh badda wid it!

“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery

None but ourselves can free our mind”

We need to change our mindset, it is in our ancestry

Mary Shadd was the first black woman to enroll in Howard University

Big up Rosa Parks and Viola Desmond

We can now sit where we will

Whether on the bus or in the cinema still

A wi dem waan segregate

Martin Luther King dun fly di gate

Wi need to step up to di plate

“I have a dream that one day” we will unite as one team

We are gifted and black

Let’s have each other’s back

And stop the attack

You may crush my self-esteem and beat me down

“With Your Bitter twisted lies”, but “Still I rise!”

Like a Black Phoenix from the ashes

Apparently, you forgot that my ancestors were from the Middle Passage

Look inna di mirror an speak tuh yuh “somebodyness”

An seh me is a prince or me is a princess

Mi is Black an Beautiful

Mi is handsome an black

An dats a fact

“It nuh matta weh yuh cum from

As long as yuh is a Black man yuh is a African”

“Nuh mind yuh nationality

You have got di identity of an African”

Shout it out loud

I am black and I am proud!

Inspired by Henry Longfellow, Bob Marley, Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks, Viola Desmond, Martin Luther King, Peter Tosh

– Sharon Johnson

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