Black Shout
Let me reveal a secret.
Black people are experts at voice control.
We can suppress our voice in a whisper.
Knowing when we shout we can change the world.
Over the millennia our mouths have been muzzled.
By the slave masters muzzle.
By the muzzle of colonisation.
Now by society's muzzle.
We suppress our voice to live in a society that has never understood us.
Maybe it's because we do not have the right privilege.
I mean white privilege to live in this society.
As a child, we learn to whisper quickly.
Many black children hear the words “ we do not want to play with you”.
They hear it so frequently they shout.
Shout because they have just learned that the pure expression of their blackness is not always accepted in this world.
Instead of willing adults ready to hear.
They get labelled as disruptive.
This is to say children are not born racist.
But they can absorb society's racism through their skin.
Absorb enough you get a racist adult.
You get older.
Police stop and search you.
Always you.
Inside you shout.
I did nothing wrong.
I was walking home and all you saw was thug written all over my skin.
Like dirt, you cannot remove.
But my skin is beautiful and clean.
You need to remove the racist glasses of your eyes.
and realize that I am human, so treat me like a human.
But you suppress your voice and say “yes sir”.
Comply, even though your body wants to fight.
There is only so much we can take and be silent.
George Floyd was that.
when black people shout it can be heard all around the world.
From France, England, Scotland, America, South Africa and so many more countries.
When black people shout we create cuts in society, that can not be stitched together to maintain the status quo.
Let me reveal a secret.
Black people are experts at voice control.
This time.
June, 6th 2020
We are not controlling what we say.
We are shouting out all our pain.