Words from Hour Community

In response to the murder of George Floyd and the recent Black Lives Matter protests, the women of Hour Children have a message. Racial violence is a crime against humanity and these recent events must compel us to be instruments of change. Erica Olivencia, Makeda Davis, and Joane Delinois share with us some powerful, critical, and personal poems and raps for our viewing.

 

How the beauty of earth is tainted…
What’s natural and lovely turns fake and abused…
Nature is hated and humans created to fall short on expectations denied reparations and suffer the pain
Of physical humiliation… and sometimes death…
Me I love dogs but when treating animals better than our fellow human do we hate ourselves?
Are we ashamed … fearing what we don’t understand… the measure of a man is in his character not his
looks… when denial is a way of life they would lie in text books… when schools do not even properly
educate the real that is our history… and I’m afraid to walk the streets cause police now my family
missing me… do you feel the struggle or the measure of our pain? Cause my children are black what on
earth do you lack that your hatred runs so deep…
Can you retrain your mind of the racism that was taught… can you try to fathom the years that were
fought… that the heart of a person is as beautiful as a jewel… and to love with your soul is how kings and
queens rule… for love for one another is to love ourselves…. Then we love our earth which creates
massive wealth… it’s the love that shines and that feeds our existence… can we put this hate in
remission… can we stop passing the buck… can we end what we know is intentional and what you call
bad luck… can we think of our future think of our kids… the next generation shouldn’t live like we did.
ERICA O ©

 

 

By Makeda Davis ©

 

 

 

I bet you can’t breathe now too 

By joane Delinois © 

 

I can’t breathe  

In this climate of HATE 

I suffocate  

Under the WEIGHT of WAIT 

8-9 minutes  

Tic Toc through 

Watches 

 phones- human androids’ 

Wireless disconnection  

No Wi-Fi 

Desensitized to a human being’s  plea 

Calling for his mom  

Children  

and Family  

Calling for Good Samaritans 

Not indignant neighbors  

spectators with cameras in their hands 

In Broad daylight 

For the whole world to see 

Yet the Cataract of ignorance 

conditioned the lens of our eyes to become progressively hazy 

political climate forecasted travesty  

 a cloudy and overcast day of apathy  

The irrigation of incendiary and hateful slurs  

Like “Looting and shooting” 

bigotry 

 the evaporation of decency 

A day that paints the color of the mental state  

Of the United States 

We see what Trumps human life  

Let’s break it down  

Cut the tension with a knife  

All lives cannot  matter 

If the matter 

 is the repetition  

That yet again 

 we are here  

Talking about  

black lives matter  

Paradoxically  

That’s Contradiction  

I’m no mathematician 

But in Math 

If the sum of All minus one 

That does not include all 

That’s subtraction 

Not addition  

So Is that really inclusion?  

Let’s talk Economics   

A state of monopoly 

A supply and demand  

That everyone becomes a commodity 

Capitalized 

 1% Property 

On  a new Black Wall Street 

Competition fuels the beast 

Cause everyone has to eat 

A piece of pie 

settle for just a slice 

Not Aunt Jemima’s 

Patti LaBelle’s 

Not even the whole pastry 

Or from their own bakery 

Everything has a price tag 

Bootstrap  

To A new Hashtag 

WhatsApp 

In the market 

Smart phones 

For dummies  

 Siri  

Big Brother  

To Alexa  

Here’s a chip 

 Do trick  

Here’s a list 

watch me 

Value takes on the color Green 

The Botox of Instant gratification 

Temporarily paralyzing us in a picture perfect  

Moment of lascivity 

No cosmetic surgery or  Makeover for souls  

so they becomes empty vaults  

and file Bankruptcy  

Maxed out credit cards cause  

you can’t purchase 

 happiness  

Psychology  

Mental quarantine 

Serial killings of identity 

No personality   

Hate is not innate 

A social construct  

That is taught  

But we imitate 

the socio-path’s   

Behavioral study  

On Nature vs Nurture 

how human beings react to their environment 

Which alters their temperament  

Generational division  

Degradation 

Segregation  

It is transparent  

that you are indifferent  

content  

To be socially distant 

To be color blind 

Your Art  

blurred vision  

No Reflection  

Blurred lines  

Of Black and blue . 

Bruising  

Discoloring  

injuring   

Whipping  the skin off the body of equality  

caused by blow of the baton called police brutality 

 rupturing underlying blood vessel of humanity 

Since we are so focused on color 

But not how to connect to one another 

RED was the color of George Floyd’s blood that soaked  the Opaque concrete rug, the heart of man, with buried lies and dirty secrets 

With viens deep rooted in slavery 

Someone needs to teach this lesson 

I guess it’s my  profession  

Although not teacher 

No politician  

No poll- of- tricks 

I’m not here to fool you 

You’re only First class 

 to the Past 

Let’s start with history  

 A history of Hypocrisy  

Anglo-Saxons 

Europeans 

Caucasians 

Excuse me 

 Noble savages deemed it their human right to civilize “savages”  

So Let’s take a look  

What’s not recorded on one side of his-story books 

The hangings, killings, rapes, lynchings, burning,  

robbing people and ravaging their land 

 bombings of churches with innocent children, man and women 

The color White 

Is only for blank space  

white-out  

You can only erase  

You never had the ability to create 

Racists 

Who taught you to hate 

Oh, KKK 

Let’s add Geography  

you needed to go travel across oceans to continents  

To gather “immigrants” 

Discovery is   

Savagery 

The man’s pursuit of happiness purchased by immigrants misery. 

On whose back, blood, sweat and tears  

 On free labor, you built this land  

Yet they still have to fight to become Citizens 

Do we really want talk about Native-Americans 

Your Thanksgiving  

and Valentine’s 

Massacred all your “holi-days”  

you cowards take the credit  

Claim the benefits of White privilege 

Yet denying the welfare card of your lineage 

Plagiarists 

say like Christopher Columbus, it was your idea yeah, 

We got it  

“you discovered it” 

Let’s talk Politics  

Brown vs. board of education 

A landmark decision 

 that served  

A death sentence to your lawlessness  

Execution by electrocution  

the fabric of your constitution 

Civil is right   

So Jim crowed on your laws  

While sitting on “old sparky” sofa  

So new agenda  

Propaganda  

Mass incarceration  

To criminalize 

Dehumanize 

The black character  

Without truth or DNA 

We did not owe the crime 

Yet we still have to pay 

Blacks commit the most crime 

That’s what Politicians say 

Let’s check the statistic 

Not a survey  

we want the truth  

not fiction  

Facts of fools  

biased opinions 

It appears 

Not tried by peers   

The verdict is guilty  

And the real perpetrators  

Are acquitted  

Let’s talk Sports  

This is why Colin Kaepernick took a knee 

Because he is on a mission to raise public awareness about the dangers of social concussion, brain injury,   

A neurological deterioration that is similar to Alzheimer’s disease 

Athletes modern Gladiators  

Being paid to bleed 

cheered  

By audiences in the Roman Republic courts  excuse me colosseum  

for Sport and entertainment  

Artifacts in a hall of fame museum 

 Some in violent matches  with each other volunteeringly risking their lives and their social standing by appearing on the courts 

Let’s talk Biology  

Sorry there is no Chemistry  

To our Sexuality 

Trying to dissect  

unravel secrets of our anatomy  

scientists discovered we share 99%of the same DNA  

Yet you say we can’t relate 

So we become Primates 

We became monkeys 

To Justify your hate  

In Darwin evolution of man 

What are you?   

You must our cousin  

Hi baboons 

What’s the Reason for our  

adrenaline? 

Must be the melanin  

Or Cuisine 

was it the fried chicken, baked Mac and cheese,chitlins, corn bread, Kool- Aid, beans and collard greens, 

But there is no Southern charm in our recipe 

Must be Watermelon  

Ask Mr. Softee 

Whose jingle bells softly 

That We love watermelon 

 while he serve his sugar coating message of hate to children in every direction 

Let’s end it  

Religion/Philosophy  

With the Bible and the rifle 

Picking and choosing which bible verse to read  

Your venom, a religious doctrine of hate, is more  life- threatening than any disease 

Breed of vipers  

you are the Pharisees  

Sadducees 

Better pray your revelation does not happen before you reach your final destination  

Let that be your lesson before your expiration  

2020 

You are not President Obama  

But You have the Audacity to Hope that the holocaust, genocides, and terrorists acts of other nations remain the topic in school curriculums  

While your crimes has yet to taught in any subject or erased from our social systems 

Terrorists yet you call yourselves Patriots 

You vigorously support a country and prepared to defend it against enemies when it was never yours to begin with.  

But does equality 

Equal-I-To-You 

And Justice 

Is not  just  

I see 

Hate is your plague that you released 

 There is no cure for it 

Some say it’s hopeless 

We better off focusing on the Covid virus 

Tear gas I cry 

Face sanitized with pepper spray 

Pressure on my neck 

That will not ease with stimulus check 

check the balance that is owed and still not paid false promises of 40 acres of land and a mule 

A debt that our ancestors never claimed 

Where was the IRS 

You still don’t get it yet 

Still confused about why we protest  

Your sin of denial  

runs deep and long in the Nile  

Where you slaughtered babies thinking you can stop the prophecy 

Violence begets violence 

The Legacy of Liberty 

Your freedom does not welcome  

Us  

Frederick Douglas questioned this  

“What is the 4th of July to me ? 

your boasted liberty, an unholy license; 

 your national greatness, swelling vanity 

your sounds of rejoicing are empty 

 and your shouts of liberty and equality,  

hollow mockery 

 your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade 

 and solemnity 

 are mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes that would disgrace a nation of savages”. 

 Dr Martin Luther King speech already penetrated our dreams 

You could not assassinate  

Maya Angelou took it to the sky 

We see her poem still rise with it 

Malcolm 

By any means  took to the streets  

Muhammad Ali boxed with it 

Nelson Mandela  

Was you fear That we were never inadequate  

So the courage of Barack Obama was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. 

He had the audacity to hope 

And Became 44th president  

Jane Elliot teach with it  

pastor John Gray and Steven Furtick began a new sermon and they preach with it  

Celebrities and famous figures tweet and post with it 

The rest  

I guess  

are with the government so they are  

 MIA with it  

Keedron Bryant Remix I just want to live with it  

 George Floyd could not breathe and bled on our streets with it  

His family cried out their anguish with it  

So our activists and  

Tamika Mallory took it  

gave a speech and brought about social change with it  

The world came together  

And millions marched to breathe for it 

Made history with it 

Our legacy 

Is Biblical   

Spiritual 

Eternal  

Not your myth of lies 

Fables 

Fashion-designed Feel good vibes   

Modern day sorcery  

Hallucinogens  

You truth is Pharmaceutical 

After you did all you can  

we still stand  

So does our ancestry  

We will never give into your darkness 

Or despair or your brutality 

The God we trust and His light in us   

will never allow our defeat 

Or for us  to deny our identity 

You say it’s unclear and vague 

You need to see more footage 

No more excuses 

 because honestly 

Like your records of excellence  

 we passed it  

can your really  stomach it 

So I’ve made you’re uncomfortable 

But DO NOT mistake 

My sacred space  

Is not to make a case 

against one Race  

I want to deface 

The Underlying  

surface  

Of Hypocrites  

There IS disgrace 

Racists in every RACE 

people who deny that they are a human race 

 Social beings 

Who deny the very essence and nature of their being  

Humanity  

For immortality  

In a Bugatti race to Fall from Grace  

I don’t want your guilt 

Keep your confessions 

I’m not a priest 

400 years of sinful admissions 

too heavy for even Atlas to carry  

So we lift them to Heaven 

Because only God has the ability 

 to change the the inner most part 

Of a man’s heart  

I don’t want your common sense 

for there’s  no sense in this common offense  

I don’t want your shame 

I want your repentance  

Just the remembrance 

 of the names 

Emmett Till 

Rodney King 

Amadou Diallo 

Renisha McBride 

Aiyana Jones 

Eric Garner 

Breonna Taylor 

Treyvon Martin 

Sean bell  

Corey Jones  

Michael brown 

Ahmaud Arbery 

Oscar grant 

Tamir Rice 

Jordan Davis  

Philando Castile 

Samuel Dubos 

Sandra Bland 

Walter Scott 

Botham Jean 

 Michael Brown 

Dominique Clayton 

Alton Sterling 

John Crawford  

Stephon  Clark  

Atatiana Jefferson 

Terrence Crutcher 

Freddie Gray 

… 

Do I really need to say more 

For what else is there to say 

There is more than enough evidence  

But I want your soul to convict you 

For this I pray  

Does your hate suffocate you 

I bet you can’t breathe now too!