Not FORGIVEN

NO, I don't forgive you for the thievery, for forging my name for the sake of Unity, for raping the girls in Nigeria, for killing Travyon and Eric and Rekia and Tamir, and Amadou and Eleanor and Sandra, for shooting down the loving and prayer filled church members of the AME church in Charleston, you are not forgiven for disrespecting the ancestors, for disrespecting the culture, NOT forgiven for slavery, NOT forgiven for rescinding on our 40 acres and a mule, not forgiven for redlining, lynchings, floggings, burning at the stake, for gentrification, not forgiven for Wounded Knee, the Holocaust, for appropriation, for Tuskegee, for Jim Crow, for the rapes and experimentation on African women, for selling the children, not forgiven for Ota Benga and the one you called Hottentot-- you are not forgiven for sitting comfortably in your privilege while people are dying. Why have you not raised your voice against the injustices against the humans you SEE everyday in your communities and cities. I am not interested in holding hands with you while you sing "Amazing Grace." I don't do that. I have work to do so move aside if you are not willing to get your hands dirty and fight the good fight. It will be worth it- I assure you- for all of our sakes. I have no time for colored meetings or tea parties or ignoring the pink elephant in the room. There is work to be done and I am committed to creating a safer, more humane, more loving world for my children and the other babies whom you ignore. They and the elders are my focus. So I have dried my tears and in the words of my Ancestor and Queen Mother Zora Neale Hurston, "No, I do not weep at the world. I'm too busy sharpening my oyster knife."