NEWS

Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory of the Coming of the Lord…

 

by: Mav Smith

 

We are dreamers, who have been sieged upon for centuries.

Our words aren’t our own. For we are voiceless within your sea.

Our mast broken and sails lowered.

 

I have heard words be weaponized to outcast and dehumanize us.

I have watched calls be placed, entreating us to escape from these dungeons of despair.

To pull ourselves up by bootstraps, though we own no boots.

To cast our buckets down for a drink of water, though we are stranded in the desert.

 

Amid our outrage and outcry, I have watched our experiences become trivialized;

We are denoted and demoted

From philosophers or doctors to extremist.

From professors or teachers to rioters.

From high schoolers or young adults to looters.

 

Society has normalized our treatment and often ignored our pain.

I know of a boy who disappeared in the middle of the night found floating in the Tallahatchie River.

I know of four little girls, in their Sunday best, buried beneath the rubble and stain-glass of a church.

I know of a man who laid, handcuffed, on a Minneapolis street as a police officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes.

I know of a woman, who rested in her bed and was fatally shot to death during a raid.

 

I can’t not know these things.

I carry them with me, throughout the day, etched into my mind.
I can’t shake the devaluation and the fear, especially when I am consistently asked to forget.

 

King said, America dealt a bad hand to me.

His dream, still unfulfilled, rests today, in the arms of visionaries.

 

Leave my history with me, so that, I can respect his legacy.

When I am in your classrooms, boardrooms, courtrooms, and offices; don’t ask me to forget who I am or where I come from.

 

Remember the visionaries who died fighting for equality and equity.

It ain’t over yet, victory has yet to be won, and the finish line is lying, waiting for us

Visionaries, who are willing to put plans into practice.

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Mav Smith is a Davidson College student majoring in English and Africana studies. She presented this original poem as a live spoken word performance at the Town of Davidson’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day celebration on January 15th, 2024.

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