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