What Black History Is and What it is Not

Spoken Word Poem

Black History Month is lynchings in all 50 states,
Harriet Tubman in her early twenties with a TBI helping slaves escapes,
its Nat Turner leading a revolution where he himself died,
and the people from that Virginia town turning his body into some type of animal hide,
it’s the march on Salem, knowing some would not return,
it’s the church in Burmingham, with children within as it burned,
it’s Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat,
and the college students who were beat mercilessly in the streets,
its Ruby Bridges walking to school with armed guards,
but it’s also other Children who did the same thing under threat of harm,
It Martin proclaiming that he had a dream,
Its Malcom X and the Black Panthers wanting black families to eat,
It’s the Presidential bid of Miss Shirley Chism,
And Barrack Obama astounding the nation with his charisma,
Black History Month is very much trauma and pain,
But it so much more, listen to me when I say,

It’s Billy Holiday,
BB King,
Ella Fitzgerald,
Muddy Waters,
It’s Ray Charles,
Louis Armstrong,
Nina Simone,
The Isley Brothers,
Its Mary J Blidge,
Babyface,
Whitney,
Mariah,
And TLC,
Its Beyonce,
Rhianna,
and Megan with the knees,
The Color Purple,
The House on Bruster Street,
The Black Panther,
The Green Book,
And LL Cool J surviving the Deep Blue Sea,
Its Beloved,
The Bluest Eye,
Their Eves are Watching God,
And All the Sinners Bleed,
This is the joy when I think of my melanated history.

What black history month is not,
Is a thing to make people feel bad,
It’s not a political talking point, to make people feel sad,
It’s not a thing that we can erase, it’s a part of American history we all have to face,
So, embrace the love, and embrace the pain, shed tears for the trauma, dance in the rain,
Let freedom ring from ear to ear, and let me make one last thing very clear,
Black history is my history, but it’s your history too,
Let yourself experience it, and I dare you not to be moved.