Imagine.

May 31, 2020

Tiana Suber

Imagine.

Imagine having to tell your children why they hate us so much.

Imagine having to teach your kids how to survive because they won’t let go of hate and racism.

Imagine having to worry about how they’re perceived solely based on the color of their skin. Whether or not they’ll make it back home.

Imagine them being trapped in a system meant to destroy them. 

Imagine having to teach them our two faces in this world, the one that’s least frightening to them and the one you wear around your own.

Imagine them being surprised because you’re smart af, hidden figures, go figure, we can do more than bounce a ball.

We were educated long before there was education…they were just passing through.

Imagine having to grin and bare it while they pick over you.

Imagine not being able to wear the hair that grows out of your head, saying it’s ugly and unprofessional. Steal our swag so now it’s beautiful 

Imagine 400 years of oppression just to tell us that our suffering is not happening. All Lives Matter us then batter us in the street, leaving us for dead. 

imagine thinking you were the kind they liked, safe and non-violent, but then put you in the sunken place. 

Never good enough. Never allowed to make a mistake. Just a thug. They’re praised for empty apologies. Called “troubled” and “quiet” when they take a life.

demean our heroes when they were alive, celebrate their achievements when they are dead.

Imagine looking at their flag and their statues, calling it their heritage, slavery omitted. Stealing our culture omitted, putting this country on our backs forget it. We are their heritage. We built the White House so what the fuck is you talking about!

Black and proud and saying it loud. 365 24/7. Melanin poppin’, black girl magic swag, black boy joy droppin…can we live?

Equality, freedom, justice, peace…fighting for dreams not yet deferred.

Imagine