Just Us

Shut up! Who is that making all that noise? Marching in the streets and shouting for justice - oh nevermind. It’s nobody but just us.

Working twice as hard for half as much, while fighting to be able to wear our hair in a way that represents us.

From afros and dreadlocks to braids and bantu knots, to cornrows and twists and puffs and sisterlocks.

We wear dashikis, headwraps, braids, and robes to celebrate our ancestors in a way that’s unconditional.

But we are not allowed to wear this attire in the office because it’s unprofessional.

Our names are overly mispronounced and told they are too ethnic sounding just to taunt us.

But who cares about our heritage? We ain’t nobody important. It’s just us.

We were tired of being excluded from theirs, so we decided to make our own song.

But we’re not allowed to be proud of who we are, because somehow, that is also wrong.

Our men are hated and feared so much they are hunted down and beat with a stick,

Sometimes the hunters are charged but usually acquitted and that makes me sick!

Our beautiful women are called ugly, black, nappy headed and always accused of being mad,

While the ones who are judging pay millions for surgery to look like us, and it’s sad.

They laugh and jeer at us when we kill our own people in the streets.

But if we uplift each other and unify, here they come wearing sheets.

We aren’t allowed to say Black Lives Matter or else they will call us terrorists.

I mean why would they care to listen anyway? It’s nobody but just us.

Most of us don’t know where we came from, so we only cling to slavery and negative things.

We are told we are insignificant and remedial, and there is no way we were queens and kings.

You may say I’m bitter, upset, or angry. But all I really want is justice.

For people like Emmett Till, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor. But I know nobody will listen because it’s JUST US.