2021 - had he not been murdered, Dr. King could be 92

i wonder if folks had pushed for the separate but part instead of just the equal

i wonder what now might be like

i wonder if there’d be a Blacks Only number to call for help that brought Black police

Black fighters of fires

Black EMTs

Maybe the number could have been something like #1619

So that what Black folks called to themselves was actually help

not untimely death wrapped in white fear, white hypocrisy, white lies

what happened though is that the separate but was deemed unjust

not quite enough

not worthy to rally for or request

equal took the lead

equal wanted the front seat

equal wanted to drive

equal settled for passenger side

equal never came to be

equal is still waiting

while separate but has long been lost, nearly forgotten

equal seems perhaps to have been the wrong dream

a dream continuously lofted up as ideal

distracting from reality

the truth of forced parallel existence

parallel yet steeped with inequities

like dimensions layered upon one another

varying timelines taking up the same space

separate has been replaced with supposeded progress

progress proclaimed and accepted by the benefactors of unjust practices

their hands falsely labeled unharming

hands that are folded

hands that are not helping

hands not outstretched to clasp with those being snatched up

those hands that are reaching

still

those hands that are expectantly open

still

those hands that carry the belief that equal can be grasped

still

little is said about the ones who advanced beyond the dream

but their actions have garnered my attention

here before us is a great cloud of witnesses

Baker, Wright, Baldwin

oh how i want to be in that number

discarding the but and retiring the desire to fight, hoping to survive, to one day see equal

there is no liberty in this place

just scores of death to those running a rigged race

give me the separate

in that space is a proven and attainable reality

space from excuses

space from rhetoric

space to actually live - now

not wait for the joy of the sweet by & by

listen, i’m done dreamin’!

stop waitin’

stop reachin’

fill those long empty hands with a passport and some bags

claim your peace & don’t look back

Breadcrumbs