Silence at times is not only warranted but often it is needed
Your desire to be vocal in a time when I need your silence supersedes it
Pause… you do not have to search for the words
When any argument you can have against the way that I feel has already been heard
Trust me explaining oppression to those that are oppressed is not the answer
Just give me a moment
Even rubber at times loses its ability to bounce back
And the elasticity of my emotions is fading
My inherent desire to offer forgiveness is waning
Just give me a moment
See there are some things that you will never understand
There is so much that I need to process
How do I deal with the stress of raising a Black child in this world?
Tell me how should I respond when I watch the abuse of young, Black girls
What is the timeline of getting over your ancestors being enslaved?
Tell me what’s the correct answer when you say my anger is misplaced?
Don’t ask me what Martin Luther King Jr would say when had it not been for racism maybe we could still ask him questions.
So just give me a moment
To mourn the deaths of my brothers and my sisters
See you were not there, when I cried as Trayvon Martin laid in the grass
You were not there when I watched Mike Brown’s body lay in the street for 4 hours
My soul ached seeing Sandra Bland’s lifeless eyes staring up from a jailhouse floor
You were not there when I questioned my faith because 9 Black people in church were murdered because of racism
My heart bled as I watched Philando Castile bleed out on Facebook
Every day that I rise is another day that I am screaming why
And it’s like no one hears me shouting!
So just give me a moment
Because all of this is difficult to digest
Every day I feel this heaviness in my chest
My emotions are raging war within me
I wonder how much more, how long, when will this enough?
When will my indignation be justified?
Every day I’m consumed
How do you expect me heal, when America continues to open the wound?
When will we be allowed to just be?
That is all we want…to just be
To be allowed to just be who we are
To allow our humanity to be revealed
Our greatness to shine
Our abilities to be recognized
Our lives to matter
And I wonder why do we need to continue to ask for something that should just be fundamentally understood?
So just give me a moment
To hurt
To mourn
To long
To pray
To feel
To weep
To breathe