Unmasking Black Lemonade
White women marching frontline with the Black fatigued
my people
ain’t lemonade
a trade
extra fries in the bag “sorry for the wait mam” consolation
Spikes in Black businesses
shuttin down downtown
burning it all down
locking arms for weeks
long faced, on freeways, bridges n highways,
going viral,
getting likes
getting high off hashtags and headlines…
singing “We Shall Overcome”
praying n saying “change gone come”
ain’t lemonade
a consolation
a trade
It’s a rerun
an old Negro spiritual
that hadn’t change
my baby is dead
Don’t call
it unity
because I’m sittin in the amidst
amongst other mothers
salty tears sour tongued
holding bags of lemons
fated to treat birthdays and everyday
like vigils in memory of –
cause you blew
her baby
and her baby and her baby
and my baby
lights
out
Presidents or celebs taking time
to give attention to say their names,
organization n foundations throwing money
funding Black Lives Matter
street art projects
up on Capitol Hill
MLK Boulevard or Main
ain’t lemonade
though it gave
raw smiles for a while
it aint a trade
my baby is still dead
So stop killing us
in the name of the law, xenophobia
and ya backward grandpa
holdin onto his perfect America…
We never signed up
to change a few hearts
or gun laws
In exchange for our sons
and daughters
to be remembered on CNN
or made unsung heroes
shot
hung
made martyrs
one arrest
for a public lynch of
9 minutes and 29 seconds
and years of
the same ole same kinda trauma
ain’t ever gonna be
a consolation
a trade
Just Black
unjust
masquerading lemonade
dammit
my baby is dead
not
breathing
Just
dead
my baby is dead
Nzima Hutchings | Unmasking Black Lemonade | A poem that speaks out about the killings and injustices Black Americans face.