Until We Are All Free

by Tevin McDaniel, FLM Community Building Coordinator

Black people have to live in this world constantly looking over our shoulder, in a world that wants to forget the value Black people have added to this world, a world that incarcerates, kills, targets, and surveils those same people. We are this country, and the reason it is where it is today. Never forget who we are. Happy Black History Month.

I am Black,

I am beautiful,

I am loving, 

I am a friend, 

I am a child,

I am a sibling,

sometimes I mess up, sometimes I get all the answers right, 

I am a product of Angela, an image of Bayard, a mind of Mariame,

I am Black, 

I am an athlete, 

a teacher, 

a lawyer,

a janitor, 

sometimes I struggle with my mental health, 

sometimes I struggle with drugs,

sometimes I struggle with jobs, 

sometimes I have a roof over my head, sometimes I don’t, 

I am Black,

I am happy, 

I am perseverant,

I am here because of my ancestors,

I am connected to my ancestors, 

my ancestors were Kings, Queens, Warriors, Botanists, Healers, 

my ancestors live within me, 

I am going to follow in their footsteps 

Until we are free 

Until we are all free 

I am Black