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Throwing Breadcrumbs at Our Feet and Fuel in the Fire by Sarah Elliott (High School Senior)

  • October 12, 2021
  • Posted by: Black and Belonging
  • Category: Artistic Expression
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It seems that we have always existed in a tunnel with light at the end

forever blocked

And when they allow us to chip away at the barrier,

We are only allowed long enough to have the warmth of that light gleam on our faces

Long enough to dream

But short enough to once again

have it covered up and rebranded as freedom

—

1850’s – We were resilient

The movements we led, saved lives

As we built coalitions they captured “fugitives”

A tug of war that would lead to a real one

After Lincoln’s victory, the South was fresh out of crumbs to give,

they chose fuel

And as more states wanted out, more fuel was tossed in

Lately they had gotten too comfortable and allowed for us -a single ray on the side of our faces

We were fighting

Proving them wrong

They felt threatened

Slavery was the backbone for their economy,

And their fear of “political bondage” prompted them to fight for the continuation of ours

—

1863- Free at last

Before us laid a new freedom

The warmth of that opportunity gave us strength as we began to navigate what was for so long not ours to explore

We left those traumatic plains for the city

We found jobs as the Bureau found our families

The light was in full glow

—

1860’s- We scraped the floor clean of the crumbs at our feet and began to dream beyond

The Klan sought to destroy all that we had built

And they did

The black codes that followed were successful at poisoning the few remaining crumbs

that lingered at our feet

With no money and no voice,

in court, we didn’t stand a chance

We were leased like tractors and punished for gathering

For being jobless

For being homeless

For preaching

Fuel

—

2020- In the face of a free bondage that has our brothers and sisters murdered,

With officers taking action through the lens of blatant racism,

we fought back

Protests and demonstrations in the street

Demanding justice and reformation

We were met with violence

Called savages and rioters and a threat to society

—

There is a tradition among us

An all or nothing

False rhetoric

“Let’s stick to America’s core values”

Tradition

Twisting equal into greedy

Fabricating construction to destruction

and
Interpreting their feasts for crumbs

—

Fuel

And throughout history many allies have drawn a line

Acknowledging imbalances but not willing to share their feasts

And they think that’s a fair excuse

But a promise without practice may as well be fuel

—

These crumbs are concocted so sweet and so polite now

As if we can’t see in between the crumbles

They hold us on a leash and when they’ve consumed too much

Back to fuel they go

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