A Black Girl's Song

My BlackGirl Song
By Robyne Landiss Walker


As a little Black Girl I
Shook my imagination to
“Who da, Who da, who think they bad?, ‘I do!”
Love the way those Black Girl games
Still
Echo in my ear
When people expect me to live in fear
Of my culture,
Changing the world
The song and struggle of a little Black Girl

My sweat, the juice of collard greens
Red dirt of my Southern Roots still stain the bottoms of my feet
My laugh is what makes those potatoes so sweet

Black American
African descent
of course I love my country,
But my spirit still craves my soul’s continent

Hair of wool like Jesus
Soul of majesty like Nzingha
Heart of lion like Sojourner
Courage of Malcolm
Sprinkled with the Will of Assata
If you don’t know of whom I speak
it’s a shame cause you oughta
ask the writers of your text books
Why they
Promote heroism
Print white supremacy and
Leave out the accomplishments of Black and Brown people
Like you and me

Those who don’t know their history
are doomed to live a lie

My history is not one of shame
It’s one of:
Struggle and Resistance
Love and Persistence
Art and Culture
Scholarship and Spirituality
The foundations of a Black Girl like me

Where am I from?
hmmm….how can I describe it?
My spirit is ancient
My soul passed through African dynasties
The oldest, greatest African universities where
the Greeks sat at our feet
and learned “their” philosophies

I’m from that land you can’t name
That city you can’t reach
The Blackness of my soul
A rhythm you just can’t teach

My mind almost drowned in cotton
I was reborn only to be knocked down again

Nights of terror sent me up north
Climbed over Seven Hills
Black Child being birthed

Where am I from?
Nowhere
Cause I’ve always been here
Will always be here
Humanity owes a debt to me
you see
This Black Girl Song makes the
Circle of Life complete

See I hate to boast
but the world seems to be confused

Draggin my name through the dirt
Nose turned up at my Nappy Roots
and Wide Nose
and Full Lips
My Black Skin is treated like a sin

I had to let you know
I am not fazed by your ignorance
European standards of beauty
will not get the best of me

When you hate me
You just hatin yourself, you see
Cause I be
the Mother of All Humanity