If I Must be Black, Let Me be Black in Peace

do you hear me?
let me be black in peace!
your way is not,
interrupted by the contrast of me

let me be black in peace
if black is who I am to be
then let it be
let me be

I possess no power
to affect you at large
only individually
but my blackness
affected as a whole
in a way which
keeps us from being whole

as a whole, separated
by your ways
too many to name
so all I ask
is for my name

institutional structures
systemical codes
and legislative craftsmanship
work like swordsmanship

why can’t I live a life
that doesn’t have to go to you
beg you
live the shame of your denial
ignorance and privilege
reinforced by your names

gentrification
redlining
black codes
Jim crow
voter intimidation
discrimination
convict leasing
war on crime
war on drugs
prison industrial complex
mass incarceration
legal segregation

let me be me
if you prefer to hyper criminalize
my blackness, speech
culture and fashion

when I had my own
I was stripped bare
by force and strategy

when I attempted to regain
and rebuild
I was conditioned to death
why can’t I succeed aside you?
why is my success such a threat?

what then when why is asked no more?