Honor

What is our problem anyway?
It ain't like we don't have brothers like
Gil leading the way--
I mean, what is our problem
anyway?
Like we don't have sisters Like Angela still having her say.
It ain't like we don't have no leaders
And thankfully,
they don't wear no diamonds,
drive hummers
act like pimps
or dress like prostitutes.
So, what is our problem anyway?
It ain't like freedom
gonna come round another day.
Yet still we cower
under the news
with clips of their suffering
hanging like that noose
pulling tighter and tighter
round our heart--
got us really believin
we got a
fair start
cuz you know
if you don't watch out,
that just might be you
they talking about

and so what if they brown like you
black like you
so what if they look like you?
Well, that's just a coincidence
now,
isn't it?

Popular posts from this blog

Home.

Image
It's half-past twelve and the rest of the house is asleep while I work on my latest shawl. I can hear the frogs croaking outside and the breeze from the fan is cool on my otherwise hot skin. As I knit, I am reminded of the many evenings I have stayed awake in this house in Diamond Vale, while my grandparents were asleep, and I'd be up late studying for an exam I had to take at Providence Girls Catholic School or I would have been writing a story or something. Sometimes, I just stayed up late to watch television, and in those days, there were only two television stations! There is something about this house that holds me with so much love. Maybe it's the fact that I spent four years here, maybe it's because it's my grandparent's house, maybe it's because it's in the land of my ancestors - maybe it's a combination of all that and more, but I truly do feel at peace here. I was so sick when I was in Denmark. My job really stressed me out. My body felt...
Read more

2018 highlights & gratitude is the attitude.

Image
This is Alanna Lockward this past summer in Berlin. It was the last evening of BE.BOP 2018: Coalitions facing White Innocence.  today I received the very sad news that my friend and mentor, Alanna Lockward passed -  I did not know that grief could make you feel nauseated. I was just in touch with her this past weekend and over the holidays. I was about to apply for a fellowship and she was one of the first people I thought a bout for a letter of recommendation, and in true Alanna style, she did not hesitate with a yes. I decided in the end not to apply, but we continued to chat over WhatsApp - with her last message to me telling me that she was in Haiti and how excited she was for this new year.  Alanna was the brainchild behind Be.Bop -  Black Body politics that met every other year. These meetings were radical in the very fact that they were happening at all. Alanna was able to bring together decolonial thinkers and artists - Walter Mignolo, Tanja Ostojic, A...
Read more

Where do they sell books, now?

Image
The best place to buy a book, if you were to ask me, is from a bookshop. I love bookshops & believe in supporting them. If however, you would like to order my book online, here are two links. One is for my publisher in London, the other is for Amazon - but there are many other book sellers on the internet you can choose from. Thanks for your support!  UK & Europe: Repeater Books  US, North America & the Caribbean  Amazon:
Read more