In the balance of the human biology, all bodies are created equal
Everybody exactly seventy precent water
Regardless of race, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation
We all die after seven days without drink
But the idiots obsessed with category have decided
That a double-X chromosome designates me subordinate to thosе with an X and a Y
Intersect those two X's with thе face of my blackness
And my existence is coded as dangerous, hostile
A direct threat to the endurance of the white patriarchy
White men have spent centuries perfecting appropriation
Taking what they want when they want
The gold they found in Africa was not enough
So they packed our bodies, human bodies
Head to toe submerged in a swamp of our own urine and feces
They dragged us across violent waters, drowning our memories
Out histories fading to fractured stories of darkskin women
Washing blankets in rivers we have never seen
Five hundred years later
Most black people in the diaspora have only dreamt of the waters of the east
Smaller than the ones that brought us here
Kinder than the water in which many of us drowned our young
Rather than let them live in captivitiy at the mercy of those white men
And there sons, and there grandsons, and there grandsons' sons
For centuries the lineage of whiteness have made sport
Of cutting open the flesh of women of color, tearing our skin with whips
Using all man of doctrines and dicks to forcefully enter out bodies
Our very minds, splitting our bellies, ripping out what they desire
After that, many of us had to become one-dimensional
Unable to display all of us we had to become on thing or the other
Spinster or mother, virgin or victim, damsel or whore
We were made to choose, lose some so we can keep some
Most of us swallowed the multitude of sorrows
Bartering silence for safety we learned to lie still in the putrid water
We decided to mark death with sleep
Most of us let go completely slipping away into the sunken place
Others jumped and drowned overboard, never to be seen again
Others crawled through the sewage and built cities in other countries
In Brooklyn on the planet of Brooklyn I spend my nights
Reading tales of Nubians bathing naked in the Nile
Kushite queens equal to kings, all of them praying to Isis
The most powerful goddess among gods, mother of all the rulers
If I were her, I would use my might to smite
Every motherfucker whoever looked at a little girl with lust in his flesh
I would exact vengeance on behalf of every black women
Who has disproportionately borne the weight of sexual violence
Everyone has turned a blind eye to her
Silently mouthing, "Me too, me too, me too," for centuries
For centuries rape was a word we only whispered in private
Then the richest whitest women in America began to say, "Me too," too
Never mind that this whole 'Me Too movement'
Was born from the brilliance of a Black women's word that inspired a wildfire of telling
That telling has pulled the conversation about sexual violation
From the shadows shoved it on to primetime TV
Twelve years later, black women are still missing from the public dialogue
We are so tired of being slaved to the invisible, we are not made of stone
Black women also carry the weight of these violations
We have been here for centuries screaming, "Me too, me too!"
Into our hands, into our flesh, into the black echo of silence
Even as we seem unaffected, our sorrow sits inside our bellies, our very bones
Even when we can a conjure the words to admit how much the memory of it hurts
We are still saying 'Me too'
'Me too' even as we refuse to show you exactly where, or how, or when it hurts
How we were torn open, we are only holding our tongue so our hearts do not explode
We are exhausted form holding everything in
And we are fast losing faith in the future we always believed would come
For centuries we have endured the culture of rape and racism combined
For centuries the world has stood silent
While black women were beaten and bullied by black men, and white men, and white women
For centuries anyone who wanted to hit something or own someone
They could decide we were it, tag without consequence
Anyone could tag the black women, tag the dark girl, tag the universal punching bag
But this crazy, mad, gaggle of global brown witches and hags
Are done braiding beads of silent acceptance
Women everywhere are rising like an angry tide
Our collective rivers are full up of the tears of all the women
All of us who are sick and tired of weeping, we are now roaring like an ocean
Come back to take back what was carried away by the brutality of men
Without my permission, touch me one more motherfucking time and see what happens this time
Your apologies will no longer shield you from retribution
Every act of breaking and entering
Every unwanted fluid that was ever entered into our already full cup
Will be made public, will be made public, will be made public
And while we're here talking about confessions
I might as well tell you I never gave a fuck that you never really liked me
My mouth, my black mouth, black like my mother's ass
Has not quite endured me to most, this is not a popularity contest
What yuh hear mi seh, this is not a popularity contest
I am only here to call black women to their own action
And if you happen to be black, if you happen to wear the label of girl
If you dare to live long enough to become a woman
If you ever had to argue that you are no less deserving than your white counterpart
If you have ever been inspired by the magic of a black women with thighs
And asses that move mountains in their stride
If you speak from the thick lip of your own truth
If you have ever been called 'girl' like it was a dirty word
Like it was an insult
If you have ever been called a bitch, you step forward
If you are itching to light a fucking bonfire
In the house of the white patriacrchy come stand with us now
If you want to be free like Harriet Tubman, weapon in hand, wading through unfriendly waters, her power compelling the freedom of even those who did not want to be free
If you desire to be confrontational like Sojourner Truth
If you wish to be audacious like Audrey Lord, antagonistic like Angela Davis
Gangsta like Winnie Mandela, angry like Assata Shakur
Come roar with us in the corner, sit beside us in schools
Chant with us in church, vote with us and for us at the pole
Travel with us in public, in the virtual, in the flesh, over these waters
They have used against us as weapons across the lands of this rock we all call home
Let us use our fire to crack this ground wide open
With an uprising that they have never seen before
That they will never see again
That will never ever die down
No more water, the fire next time
No more water, the fire next time
Wah mi seh? No more water, gimme di fire next time
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