We Planted Roots

We planted roots
although we didn’t want to
because they snatched us
from our homeland—(uprooted!)
and put us in shackles and in boats
to travel across the sea—

We seeded the land
fertilizing it with nothing less
than the blood
of our forced labor
from their whips and chains
cutting our backs

We watered our seeds
with the tears we shed
wailing against
this inhuman bondage

We took hold in the ground
even when they separated us
ripping our babies from our breasts
yanking apart husband and wife

We sprouted upwards
even when they tried
to choke us out with the weeds
of their oppression:
with their Bible
their intimidation, their Jim Crow
their police brutality
their racist politicians

But our roots are many
vast and deep
We’ve grown tall
and we stand strong
a part of this land
like mighty mahogany trees
and they will never rid the land of us
because we planted roots