I let my pen bleed;

Praying it is a sufficient sacrifice in place of my Father, Husband and Son.

Like decadent chocolate, my people are being left out in the sun;

Wasting away under six feet of dirt and unjust outcomes.

We have always been hate’s favorite narcotic, we’re smoked by guns,

Lethally injected (yet there’s no beauty in our sleep),

Selectively absorbed into other cultures who value our talents but not our humanity;

Suffocating the majority with the fumes of superiority.

We were planted here, our roots run deep, we cannot simply be pulled up like weeds.

We remind you of your shame so you ask us to leave but embrace us to serve your agenda,

depending on who’s watching?

I beseech, everyone and everything to instead embrace equality,

like a friend we’ve deeply missed but haven’t seen?

–L.K.D.–