If Africa could speak

I may not be their slave anymore,

I may not be raped and beaten,

But the way I am perceived, thought of and treated, 

Is as though I still am.

And by "them", I mean the whole world,

Imagine 6 billion stares with repulsion and disgust,

Then imagine 1.2  with shame and resentment,

I’m tired,

I’m fucking tired.

They may not call me a negro anymore,

They may not sell me as a cheap item,

They may not colonize and rule me,

They may not own my land and my lives,

But they still see me like those white land owners used to see their slaves,

Illiterate, abnormal, backward, inferior, primitive, savage.

Like it’s my privilege to even have them on my lands,

Like I should be grateful,

Like they will always be superior,

Like they will always rule.

They act as though I’m the cattle, and they’re my shepherd,

Like they’re earth’s true heirs, and I’m the bastard,

They chant out insults, as though they’ve whispered.

They look at me as if I only live in droughts and desserts,

Like I grow up starving in famine and hunger,

They help me, but just to make themselves feel better,

Just so they can say, their life isn’t half as bad as they remember.

Making me believe I need them,

But who’s really needing who?

And I can’t say anything,

Cuz I’ll just seem ungrateful.

Well fine,

Call me ungrateful, for I don’t want to see another picture of myself starving,

Call me ungrateful, for I’m not sitting back and watching as u tell the world that pain is all there is to me,

I’m sick and tired of seeing myself in headlines, where I’m crying,

I’m sick of not seeing pictures of my beautiful smile go viral.

Call me ungrateful,

For yes you help me, yes I suffer and yes I cry,

But I live and love and prosper,

Yet you choose to show one side.

You mock me,

You shame, hate and disregard me,

You dehumanize my children,

And call me the land of misery,

When I am in fact your mother.

I am Alkebulan.

I am the garden of Eden.

I am the mother of man kind.

I am the reason for life, itself,

I am the reason for everything,

And I deserve to be acknowledged and respected for it.