April Is National Poetry Month!
TO BE BLACK IN AMERICA
APPEARED IN "ROCKS CRY OUT," PUBLISHED BY
BROADSIDE PRESS.
Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE
NANCY LEVI ARNEZ
POET X EDUCATOR
Is to be constantly scorned—
To be forever mourned
It's a tearful eye.
It's a gasping sigh.
It's a tearful eye.
It's a gasping sigh.
To be black in America
Is to be shoved to the side—
To be drowned in the tide;
It's a fist of hate.
Is to be shoved to the side—
To be drowned in the tide;
It's a fist of hate.
It's a bolted gate.
To be black in America
Is to be treated like dirt—
To be forever hurt.
It's a way of life.
It's endless strife.
Is to be treated like dirt—
To be forever hurt.
It's a way of life.
It's endless strife.
To be black in America
Is to never be free—
To be cut from a tree.
It's a sea of woe.
It's a swift death blow.
Is to never be free—
To be cut from a tree.
It's a sea of woe.
It's a swift death blow.
Read more about Civil Rights History and Poems @ CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE
