There’s a man in office. It’s a word every Black man and woman fears. Another one who wants to claim their rights as typos. There’s a man in office.
Another one who wants to take out history and use our blood to cover it up, while standing on our backs so they can reach each and every part of our ancestry. There’s a man in office.
Another one who wants to watch the Black men bleed, while cops bruise them every chance they get, just to get told “cop lives matter too.”
There’s a man in office— another one to send drugs to their “hoods” and crack out the new generation of Black boys and Black girls who saw Martin Luther King’s dream and had one too.
Another man who wants to bleed them out, make them scream and shout. Another one that makes African Americans think: What about our dream?
What about the American dream— the one for Black boys and Black girls? What about the American dream for one who wasn’t white?
What about their white picket fence, a wife, and two kids? What about their pet dogs and their boats? What about their kids going to Harvard or Oxford or any college?
What about their financial security? What about the rags to riches for the Black boys in the hood who think rapping is the way to get it?
What about the Black woman working two jobs just to pay the rent and feed her kids? What about the ones who really struggled—where are their dreams?
What about MLK? Where was his dream? Where did it take him?
Why is there another man in office trying to ruin the dream for African Americans?
And why do we still call them Black when they aren’t the color of the night? Why do we call it Black History Month when we aren’t black?
Why do we only get celebrated one month, when we should every month? When we built this land— even when we had whips to our backs and our fingers bled red.
All of these landmarks and these train tracks are thanks to us.
Why is our history being cut out just to make the white child smile?
What about us? What about all the music we brought to this country?
What about Tupac, Kendrick? What about MJ and all the other artists? What about all the entertainment we brought? What about the sports we dominated?
What about Bernie Mac and LeBron James?
Why do we only have 14 billionaires and not more? Why are we the ones who are supposed to be in gangs, shoot up stores, and get put in prison? Who was the one who put that mindset in our heads?
Why are these houses covered in our blood, and why is the American flag held on our backs? Why is all of this happening, and yet we only had one Black president?
