In the poem Unbroken: Black Lives Martyred, a poet Yitz Nti wades into a highly controversial debate about race in America.

It follows recent killing of unarmed African Americans by police officers and a culture of racial hatred towards African Americans. Enjoy it.

 

Miss P,

I am surprised you’ve got four eyes

But cannot see

You cannot see

 

You tell me about the rings of Saturn

And the dunes of Mars

 

You tell me about the gases of Jupiter

And the craters of the moon

 

But you cannot see,

You cannot see

What lies within your own yard:

 

Black lives martyred

In the gas chamber of structural racism and oppression

Where none can breath.

 

But Emmett Tilled the land

He broke some hard clods

And loosened the soil

And we’ve seen things grow

But we await the harvest

The harvest of justice.

 

Did the gains Garnered

And the tokens earned

All crumble with the Freedman’s Bureau?

 

I see the Alton-ating

And shifting posts

You like his dougie

But he is still the boogieman,

In that Hoodie

He gives your kids a fright

And his presence sparks white flight.

 

But you ravished his maids

Copied their braids

And sampled their tunes.

 

Hey friend,

You are mired in a land of black codes

And red lines

And on a ration of a Bland diet of justice

Amidst a trail of tears

And you seem to be stuck in the middle passage.

 

We see Gray skies overhead

But we’ll wade in the waters.

It may be better to drown

In the rising tide of activism

Than to stand and get Browned

 

Though some shackles remain

And though the whip of injustice sears and burns

Our spirit stands unbroken.

 

We will tarry

For the chariots will swing low.