ACQUIRIA MITCHELL & ERIN BROWN
Contributing Authors

Black Empowerment

My people posses an unbreakable strength
Put us in chains, but we will overcome
My people posses an unshakeable faith
You can shackle our hands and feet, but not our mind or spirit
My people posses an unquenchable thirst to thrive
Oppress us yet we will find a way to rise again
My people
My people? We are strong, we are amazing, we are beautiful
My people come in many different shades
Amber, cinnamon, caramel, chocolate, the list goes on
Our hair comes in all lengths and textures
From shoulder to waist length from curly to kinky
And just like our hair, we cannot be tamed
We cannot be tied down
We cannot be contained by the stereotypes that suppress us

No matter what is in our way, we will always shake back

No matter the obstacles in our way, we will always shake back
We will continue to love our full lips and big hips
Bantu knots, cornrows and twists
Even when this whitewashed world shames us for them
They shame us, yet they want to be us
They love everything about us, but us
All the spray tans in the world will not be able to give you the magic melanin we posess
All the money in the world will not be able to give you the real thing
We are the real thing

Our melanin is not a trend

It isn’t just something you can pick up and put back down when you’re tired of it
It is something to be proud of
Something to embrace
Can you be proud of something you stole?
Something that never has or never will belong to you?
It’s like how Christopher Columbus for finding America and there were already people living on it.

But who gets the recognition?