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Black Girl, Black Woman Atlas

canary in the noxious mineshaft of centuries and centuries of oppression

By R.C. TaylorPublished 3 years ago 2 min read
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Black Girl, Black Woman Atlas
Photo by Jeffery Erhunse on Unsplash

Black girl,

Black woman,

vivacious whistleblower,

canary in the noxious mineshaft of centuries

and centuries of oppression;

undeniable queen who needs

No throne,

No crown,

No jewels,

only the power that is her brain

and the swell of her determination

to adorn her and move her forward.

Black girl,

Black woman,

you are the shining atlas they look to for the next trend.

They will start from what is left of

straining your culture through

their colander of righteous entitlement and ownership

gilded by years and years of appropriation and White approval

as they go about

mining words and terraforming narratives

then profess brave new ideas and beginnings

while the ink of their pen

sings with the sweat and heart’s blood

of those who actually lived it.

Black girl,

Black woman,

upon the failing of empires and systems

and greed

they will come back

and once again ask (steal)

your seed,

your cells,

and your time

so that they can grow nations

who grow nations who grow nations

of those who are doomed to face

deforestation,

wood cleaved and corpse taken

to be made weightless,

profited from,

and left thankless.

Black girl,

Black woman

be warned

but do not stop raising your voice,

do not stop moving

your tired feet forward,

do not stop

rising from the depths

of the holes they created for you to sink in,

always drilling news ones with their prejudice

to capture you like an unsuspecting animal caught in a trap.

But you are no animal,

and you are not unsuspecting.

Black girl,

Black woman

who carries the weight of a people and the stares that weigh

ten million times ton,

be wary of being the Titan they would have

you be,

carrying all the stolen, ruptured heavens--

dripping shattered stars and spilling floods.

Your responsibility lies only in carrying yourself

and the world you invite in of your own volition.

Your strength lies in being both mapmaker and creator,

mapping topography to pave the way for whoever you want it to

as you create the very landscape beneath your feet.

But don’t forget them,

Black girl,

Black woman.

Don’t forget the people who laugh,

swinging their feet

from their perch on your back

as they judge Atlas below them

for being tired.

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About the Creator

R.C. Taylor

Part-time daydreamer. Full-time dork.

Follow along for stories about a little bit of everything (i.e. adventure and other affairs of the heart).

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