Colors of Liberty

Red

A nation birthed from the desire to be free

The color of pale men who didn't belong in the African sun

The blood spilled to preserve an identity untouched by a new world

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White

The color of men who watched from a distance

Hiding behind Black faces

"Uncolonized" they say as they twist their mustaches

Watching as Black brothers take up arms against one another

Equipped with names and a language that didn’t belong to them, and without a clue of what it means to be free

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Blue

The color of the ocean as the hopefuls crossed to freedom

Hiding the Black bodies of those who came before them in its depths

Reflecting a sky that sold them the American Dream, repackaged in African cloth

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A lone star

Like the one they once used to guide them to freedom

The symbol of what those who already occupied their new home wanted to be:

Alone

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The red, the white, the blue

The star and the stripes

Hidden in the shadow of their Big Brother

And his love of liberty

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Thanks for reading!

-Chanté