Dear Black Man

Dear Black Man
Truth is, my father is a black man
And his father was a black man
And his father was black man
And his father was black man
That was torn from a black man the day that the
colonizers came and made him a slave
A moment that his life would forever be changed
Yet more than 400 years later we still feel his pain
and must chant #sayhisname in protests so that
the unjust death of a black man does not go in
vain

Dear Black Man
Tears form in my eyes as I write that I am sorry
for what this world has done to you
I am sorry you have been exploited for your
servitude
I am sorry that every day you have had to put up a
fight
to show that you matter yesterday, today, and
tonight
I am sorry that you have been lynched and killed,
dying a sad death while your killers feel no guilt
I am sorry that we were not there to protect you
because even if we were present the system had
already failed to

Dear Black Man
I am not sorry that your skin radiates a melanin
glow that only you can have
I am not sorry that the world envies your strength,
power and courage that has kept your race from
extinction throughout the past
I am not sorry that in your veins flow the blood of
your ancestors who escaped bondage without
looking back
Hoping that you would be born into freedom
with your basic human rights being something you
would never lack
I am not sorry for the uprising to come as many
black men have died at the unjust use of a badge
and a gun

Dear Black Man
We ask God for guidance as we fight for our
rights in these terrible dark times
because black man you are loved now and forever
and even though they try, do not let them take
your light
Because despite it all, We love you black man
and I swear to do my best to show that it is with
you that I stand
And to my beautiful black women you matter too,
but right now in this very moment my black men,
this message is for you.

-Akaysha Palmer