I am a black woman, or as some would say, “African-American”,
I live in a country where the melting pot has boiled over,
Seeping discrimination and crime.
Dissemination is just ignorance,
Blindness to the fact we all bleed the same color blood.
Crime however; is a disgrace to our race,
Blacks killing blacks, children killing children,
They are no better than those who killed our ancestors.
Meanwhile; our people try and uphold rightful cries,
But, Black Power can not be heard past the blast of gun powder,
Gangs shooting gangs for turf that is not even theirs to take,
Innocent bystanders slain in street wars, for what?
Sadden, I take the cloth from my hair and wipe my tears, shouting:
Have our ancestors died in vain?
Do we not realize what our ancestors wounds bled for?
What our ancestors died for, “Freedom”!
Yet, all around are gravely guns that shoot down hope,
Pimps who lay slaves for the desperate and naïve,
Drugs enslaving the body to a lifetime of dependency,
And steel barred cells shackle those who have made themselves slaves.
Afraid, we bolt our doors, board up windows.
Locked inside fear-ridden anxiety,
We become the prisoners in a war that is not ours.
Meanwhile; another child goes hungry, another dies from the cold,
Another job is given to someone else, why?
Because of fear, fear of the criminals in us all.
But criminals are from every race, every color,
Criminals are from every gender, every age.
And it is crime that robs everyone of their heritage,
Crime that strips everyone of their rights,
As we all live in this land not so plentiful, not so free.
Yes, I am a woman, struggling to live in America,
The land of opportunity under siege.
© -Jeane Michelle Culp ~ndpthepoetress
A poem I entered in a local contest- sponsored by a Non-Profit Organization,Center for Women
Jeane Michelle Culp is "one of Five Lowcountry Women Writers, whom won a local Writing contest in 1998. The contest, "The Many Faces of Women" was sponsored by the Center For Women located at 531 Savannah Highway. An organization that strives successfully to help Women and Women with Families by offering a variety of resources and activities."
