Oppression

It goes hand in hand with regression,

Not to be confused with depression,

All the things we were,

The things we felt,

The things that shape us. 

Unfair.

When I think of the word, 

Of how our voices just wouldn’t be heard, 

I wonder how you can ignore a thousand pleas for life,

And thousand requests for light,

An entire race screaming for things we should have been born with;

Born into

Freedom and equity

Main values all people should be born to see, 

To live

We shouldn’t have had to fight like we did

As you sold us to the highest bid, 

I wonder,

If there was ever a shame to be felt, 

Did you ever feel that pang when

You sold young Black children, 

Then hugged your own kids?

And though we had them, we never owned kids

Never owned ourselves either

It took one look at me;

At the color I was born in;

The color that I can’t change,

For you to decide

I was worth less than

Your pocket change;

Pennies

I was less than the copper cent

That couldn’t even be spent

On anything

I was less than the copper cent

That didn’t feed you, 

Didn’t bathe you,

Didn’t clothe you, 

Didn’t cook for you;

A penny you could find anywhere, 

So populous on the streets now that I pick them up

And hope they’re lucky

We never really think

About what we truly come from

Until Black History Month,

Never really sat and thought

And wondered. 

We were killed because we were Black.

I could have been killed because of the way

I was created.

No, I can’t change it, unfortunately, that’s fact,

And it’s unfortunate that I say

Unfortunately. 

When Black people are on the new

For the things we do,

It’s always first.

Even today, we are still oppressed,

So much so that we do one thing, 

And we become

Prominent.

We do something the White man does

Every day, every second, every hour, 

And we make headlines;

We beat the Penny

If there’s one thing I want you to take from this, 

It’s to never give up your drive, your passion, your faithfulness

Because this world favors the strong,

Those who don’t bend,

Those who weren’t born ‘wrong’

And we were not born to fit the system,

No,

But we were born to fix the system

We are here because nobody but us knows

The blessing it truly is to be Black,

Always more than the Penny.