Independence Day, 2016

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Last week America celebrated the fourth of July,

“Independence Day” in the land of the free,

And with just occasion, she cooked a cake and pie,

The pie for those late to the freedom party.

The cake was vanilla mixed with red white and blue,

The pie was red too; pooling inside was strange fruit,

Across both she John Hancock’d “Let freedom ring”,

But from her lips slipped “long as we remain king”.

Why must my skin be a statement?

My existence a threat?

Why parade your lust for my culture,

Then in my back shoot me dead?

Why is freedom conditional?

Sometimes here, sometimes there,

Sometimes only for those

With light skin and straight hair.

Why must I tell you my worth as a human being?

Perform three times better to pursue your good graces,

Even then across news outlets you plaster our faces,

Wipe the blood from your hands and abandon the scene.

You fool no one but yourselves, and it’s making me sick.

You’ve sold us the same narrative since 1776.

We know the fruit in your pie comes from poplar trees,

and being black in America means that you aren’t really free.