[Music]
good afternoon everyone
okay the change you often wear around
your neck
are the same chains that were wrapped
around her ancestors necks arms and legs
the hatred you are so proud upon your
neck was the same hatred they left her
ancestors into bondage they left her
great-great great-grandmother and feared
that her slave master would rape her
again it all started when darken skin
was put into ships where disease has
killed them all put into plantations
where death was promised but until the
cotton was picked the advantage took
place years and years of bondage
captivity bonding communists seeking
democracy lacking emancipation
proclaimation 1863 the time in history
where I thought the establishment of
colorism racism and inequality would all
be done but I was wrong to think that
the moments in society where we took big
steps were the moments that were tucked
underneath our blood silver rights
movement 1950 through 1960s the time in
history where water fountains depressed
the colored and held white privilege
over the heads and faces of what America
is today 1790 Naturalization Act 1857
Dred Scott versus Sanford the
Renaissance reformation scientific
theories Trayvon Martin Sandra bland
Emmett Till the power of an illusion but
today never had I bought the tables to
turn never had I seen black on black
crime black on black hatred black on
black densification black on black
prisons black or a black boy killed I’ve
seen it all
tragedy privilege pain life and death
we’ve spent so much time focusing on the
trends baby fat
trash wrappers with no message fast
girls fast boys not seeing the bigger
picture that this world’s damage goes
beneath the ocean floor that nothing can
pull us back up I realize that reality
as Bloods and Cripps killed the friends
of mine never had I seen again as there
was a divide from dark-skinned people to
light-skinned people curly hair from
nappy hair so ignorant that the hair
that grew out of all of our heads will
not be here if we didn’t have those
ancestral historical figures to give us
the strands I realized the damage was so
deep as the mornings while I woke up
proud to be a colored woman I was only
proud that God gave me the ability to
wake up but for several moments
something and me wished and thought to
ask why couldn’t he just let me sleep
forever waking up a colored woman I felt
the torture of the ones who suffer
before me I since the image of filling
the paper brown bag test I since the
image of being thrown unto a ship where
the chain I saw people wearing was the
same material and chain that held unto
the legs arms and necks of those
ancestral historical figures who fought
like hell for the damage that has been
done to never appear throughout history
again to never find its way killing
adolescent hearts suburban little girls
to be made fun of because their afros
were too big to stop letting skin color
become a preference but something that
everyone could uphold but I was a fool
to think that the past could be valued
instead of the present that is a
belittled by the culture of all who
wears the chains
choking their inner self allowing for
their hatred to unleash letting their
hatred follow the history of sinking to
the bottom of the ocean floor now I
wrote that poem chain-gang as I realized
that the inequality and racism around me
was something that began to affect me as
it was something that I looked at my
melon and within my skin that the world
would depict whether or not I was to be
treated right whether or not I would get
into certain schools whether or not my
self-confidence would be on the same
level as girls in my high school and I
wrote that poem as I realized that this
was a problem that needed to be talked
about something that couldn’t be tucked
underneath the sheets and tucked
underneath
our comforters and the way in which I
was able to gain that self-confidence
back and that self-love was through
poetry why should I give you a vivid
picture of poetry when everything is in
front of you if you were to look at
yourself right now and see that your
body’s figure is a page of words giving
someone their existence today your pride
and acceptance is allowing for people to
try themselves your curiosities of the
world it’s making people question their
own you are the actual care to the
clinical depression given to the minds
of those who are prescribed drugs over
and over making their mind more corrupt
than there already was there’s that
typical question of why is poetry so
important and poetry is important
because it attacks the aspect of a
political social historical and
economical mindset I refuse to accept
the fact that if I gave you a pen and a
piece of paper right now that you would
say you couldn’t write something
powerful that you wouldn’t be a source
that could be considered credible but
you’re all wrong poetry is the emotion
you evoke as the backsides of
adolescents become the backsides of
bullet’ poetry are the tears you produce
because you’re sick and afflicted in a
world where the cures of diseases are
hidden because of a lust for money and
when I look at poetry it is something
that has to be triggered through so many
forms I look at all of your faces today
you may cause me to write a poem because
all of you are beautiful it is what
triggers us in life to write and those
important thing that you should take
from us today is that poetry is
triggered through all forms life cancer
tranquility war genocide famine and
death and I look at famine as kids in
third world countries die every day but
you say you’re not capable
I look at genocide as there has been a
jehovah’s witness genocide and and
Rwanda genocide and you say that you’re
not able to write something I look at
tranquility as it as a calmness feeling
within us that leaves and makes us
broken every time someone takes it away
from us and I look at suicide as the
teens of rates on the charts are
ridiculously high but no one talks about
it and I look at injustice as the color
of our skin depicts whether or not we
will be treated right
and how does that sound to you and when
I think about all of these things the
thinking which triggers me is what I see
around the world how slavery is
something that is still brutalizing to
society today that we can never forget
about it yes we can forgive but we can
never forget and I want you to think
about that poetry is something that we
see manifested within all of our lives
it’s something I see manifested within
my own life I look at eight-point suit
cancer cases yearly I look at 300,000
people who died in Darfur genocide and
those are only the bodies they could see
those are the only ones they haven’t
tucked away in the closet those are the
ones they haven’t seen at the bottom of
the ocean floor that are still there
today those are the casualties that had
been created and put within the
percentage but what about the ones they
didn’t include and then I look at
suicide as we keep saying we’re not able
to write something when I see that every
40 seconds a teen is taken away from you
count on your hands ten sets of four and
the arrival of 2020 that forty second
time period is supposed to change to 20
seconds and I want you to think about
that before we say we’re not capable of
writing something there are three
important questions that I want you to
take home today it has helped me to
shape me and be the person that I am
today and that first question is why are
we so afraid to speak up what is the
fear captivating our voices and how does
our perception upon the world affect our
reality and as I asked you guys these
three questions there is one that may
affect you the most and the question
that kept affecting me was why am I so
afraid to speak up and I guess I care
too much about what girls in my high
school things what would boys think what
would the people around me think and as
I thought about poetry it was something
that I couldn’t let control me
I couldn’t let people tell me what and
what not to write in my book I stopped
caring about what my friends thought my
parents people around me because all
that matter was at my beliefs
and my fear and God allowed me to write
what I do today and you can’t you can’t
care you can’t listen to what people say
and it’s that silence inside of us that
erupts so bad to the point well you have
to write about it and it all goes back
to my ninth grade year when I want my
first poem it was a Miss Gilliam’s class
ordinary day in ninth grade and the name
of that poem was called lost and you may
ask me why did I even title that and I
titled it that because I was lost and
sick in a world where people can look at
this body and people can look at the
bodies around me to be something to be
pure they labeled it as other things and
it was a problem and as I was able to
write about it I was able to make an
impact on other people I was able to
give that confidence to many girls
around my high school so I want you to
act yourself right now what is it that I
can write about I look at all of you
today and you’ve probably experienced
more than I have but we keep saying
we’re not able to write about it we keep
thinking we’re not good enough we keep
letting social norms and labels within
society trigger us we keep letting it
name us when we should be naming
ourselves so the psalms can erupt inside
of me
it can also erupted inside of you and
that will only happen when trials and
tribulations become more apparent when
depression will take over your mind and
where the impact you will make will be
one that can impact so many lives it can
decrease the suicide rate and you know
how I know that because I have stopped
people from killing themselves I have
stopped people from losing themselves I
have stopped myself from losing myself
and I want you to think about that the
danger of silence it became apparent to
me that silence was a result of fear I
spent the majority of my life thinking
about what to write and how to write
without overdoing it but it was
silence the Psalms became my danger
words not said develop wounds that were
beneath my skin God taught you and me
that the most valuable thing you could
give to the world was the possessions
and thoughts you think no one else would
go through sacrificing something for
good
I was scared scared that the words I
write today will turn back and hurt me
because of the opinions of those who
killed the deafness of coming out of
their shells to kill the sounds that
reappeared again and again but I as I
observed I see that Psalms are the palms
ago was unheard unseen and forgotten
silence was a death in Darfur genocide
the girl whose tears wet deep inside her
pillow the woman who lost her dignity
after every night of being raped the
natural disasters where the government
raised taxes and mortgages watching the
people suffer solace is all over sinking
in places where help is needed the songs
and me stopped as I saw the blades he
picked up everyday got tiring as it
tears that established me hurt me in the
form of the worst brutalization so let
your Psalms disappear as a battle you
fight every day becomes one that can
help one another let your solids
disappear as your tears come out on the
paper where your voice is able to come
out and be heard let your Psalms
disappear as you realize that the danger
you bring to the world
[Applause]
good afternoon everyone
okay the change you often wear around
your neck
are the same chains that were wrapped
around her ancestors necks arms and legs
the hatred you are so proud upon your
neck was the same hatred they left her
ancestors into bondage they left her
great-great great-grandmother and feared
that her slave master would rape her
again it all started when darken skin
was put into ships where disease has
killed them all put into plantations
where death was promised but until the
cotton was picked the advantage took
place years and years of bondage
captivity bonding communists seeking
democracy lacking emancipation
proclaimation 1863 the time in history
where I thought the establishment of
colorism racism and inequality would all
be done but I was wrong to think that
the moments in society where we took big
steps were the moments that were tucked
underneath our blood silver rights
movement 1950 through 1960s the time in
history where water fountains depressed
the colored and held white privilege
over the heads and faces of what America
is today 1790 Naturalization Act 1857
Dred Scott versus Sanford the
Renaissance reformation scientific
theories Trayvon Martin Sandra bland
Emmett Till the power of an illusion but
today never had I bought the tables to
turn never had I seen black on black
crime black on black hatred black on
black densification black on black
prisons black or a black boy killed I’ve
seen it all
tragedy privilege pain life and death
we’ve spent so much time focusing on the
trends baby fat
trash wrappers with no message fast
girls fast boys not seeing the bigger
picture that this world’s damage goes
beneath the ocean floor that nothing can
pull us back up I realize that reality
as Bloods and Cripps killed the friends
of mine never had I seen again as there
was a divide from dark-skinned people to
light-skinned people curly hair from
nappy hair so ignorant that the hair
that grew out of all of our heads will
not be here if we didn’t have those
ancestral historical figures to give us
the strands I realized the damage was so
deep as the mornings while I woke up
proud to be a colored woman I was only
proud that God gave me the ability to
wake up but for several moments
something and me wished and thought to
ask why couldn’t he just let me sleep
forever waking up a colored woman I felt
the torture of the ones who suffer
before me I since the image of filling
the paper brown bag test I since the
image of being thrown unto a ship where
the chain I saw people wearing was the
same material and chain that held unto
the legs arms and necks of those
ancestral historical figures who fought
like hell for the damage that has been
done to never appear throughout history
again to never find its way killing
adolescent hearts suburban little girls
to be made fun of because their afros
were too big to stop letting skin color
become a preference but something that
everyone could uphold but I was a fool
to think that the past could be valued
instead of the present that is a
belittled by the culture of all who
wears the chains
choking their inner self allowing for
their hatred to unleash letting their
hatred follow the history of sinking to
the bottom of the ocean floor now I
wrote that poem chain-gang as I realized
that the inequality and racism around me
was something that began to affect me as
it was something that I looked at my
melon and within my skin that the world
would depict whether or not I was to be
treated right whether or not I would get
into certain schools whether or not my
self-confidence would be on the same
level as girls in my high school and I
wrote that poem as I realized that this
was a problem that needed to be talked
about something that couldn’t be tucked
underneath the sheets and tucked
underneath
our comforters and the way in which I
was able to gain that self-confidence
back and that self-love was through
poetry why should I give you a vivid
picture of poetry when everything is in
front of you if you were to look at
yourself right now and see that your
body’s figure is a page of words giving
someone their existence today your pride
and acceptance is allowing for people to
try themselves your curiosities of the
world it’s making people question their
own you are the actual care to the
clinical depression given to the minds
of those who are prescribed drugs over
and over making their mind more corrupt
than there already was there’s that
typical question of why is poetry so
important and poetry is important
because it attacks the aspect of a
political social historical and
economical mindset I refuse to accept
the fact that if I gave you a pen and a
piece of paper right now that you would
say you couldn’t write something
powerful that you wouldn’t be a source
that could be considered credible but
you’re all wrong poetry is the emotion
you evoke as the backsides of
adolescents become the backsides of
bullet’ poetry are the tears you produce
because you’re sick and afflicted in a
world where the cures of diseases are
hidden because of a lust for money and
when I look at poetry it is something
that has to be triggered through so many
forms I look at all of your faces today
you may cause me to write a poem because
all of you are beautiful it is what
triggers us in life to write and those
important thing that you should take
from us today is that poetry is
triggered through all forms life cancer
tranquility war genocide famine and
death and I look at famine as kids in
third world countries die every day but
you say you’re not capable
I look at genocide as there has been a
jehovah’s witness genocide and and
Rwanda genocide and you say that you’re
not able to write something I look at
tranquility as it as a calmness feeling
within us that leaves and makes us
broken every time someone takes it away
from us and I look at suicide as the
teens of rates on the charts are
ridiculously high but no one talks about
it and I look at injustice as the color
of our skin depicts whether or not we
will be treated right
and how does that sound to you and when
I think about all of these things the
thinking which triggers me is what I see
around the world how slavery is
something that is still brutalizing to
society today that we can never forget
about it yes we can forgive but we can
never forget and I want you to think
about that poetry is something that we
see manifested within all of our lives
it’s something I see manifested within
my own life I look at eight-point suit
cancer cases yearly I look at 300,000
people who died in Darfur genocide and
those are only the bodies they could see
those are the only ones they haven’t
tucked away in the closet those are the
ones they haven’t seen at the bottom of
the ocean floor that are still there
today those are the casualties that had
been created and put within the
percentage but what about the ones they
didn’t include and then I look at
suicide as we keep saying we’re not able
to write something when I see that every
40 seconds a teen is taken away from you
count on your hands ten sets of four and
the arrival of 2020 that forty second
time period is supposed to change to 20
seconds and I want you to think about
that before we say we’re not capable of
writing something there are three
important questions that I want you to
take home today it has helped me to
shape me and be the person that I am
today and that first question is why are
we so afraid to speak up what is the
fear captivating our voices and how does
our perception upon the world affect our
reality and as I asked you guys these
three questions there is one that may
affect you the most and the question
that kept affecting me was why am I so
afraid to speak up and I guess I care
too much about what girls in my high
school things what would boys think what
would the people around me think and as
I thought about poetry it was something
that I couldn’t let control me
I couldn’t let people tell me what and
what not to write in my book I stopped
caring about what my friends thought my
parents people around me because all
that matter was at my beliefs
and my fear and God allowed me to write
what I do today and you can’t you can’t
care you can’t listen to what people say
and it’s that silence inside of us that
erupts so bad to the point well you have
to write about it and it all goes back
to my ninth grade year when I want my
first poem it was a Miss Gilliam’s class
ordinary day in ninth grade and the name
of that poem was called lost and you may
ask me why did I even title that and I
titled it that because I was lost and
sick in a world where people can look at
this body and people can look at the
bodies around me to be something to be
pure they labeled it as other things and
it was a problem and as I was able to
write about it I was able to make an
impact on other people I was able to
give that confidence to many girls
around my high school so I want you to
act yourself right now what is it that I
can write about I look at all of you
today and you’ve probably experienced
more than I have but we keep saying
we’re not able to write about it we keep
thinking we’re not good enough we keep
letting social norms and labels within
society trigger us we keep letting it
name us when we should be naming
ourselves so the psalms can erupt inside
of me
it can also erupted inside of you and
that will only happen when trials and
tribulations become more apparent when
depression will take over your mind and
where the impact you will make will be
one that can impact so many lives it can
decrease the suicide rate and you know
how I know that because I have stopped
people from killing themselves I have
stopped people from losing themselves I
have stopped myself from losing myself
and I want you to think about that the
danger of silence it became apparent to
me that silence was a result of fear I
spent the majority of my life thinking
about what to write and how to write
without overdoing it but it was
silence the Psalms became my danger
words not said develop wounds that were
beneath my skin God taught you and me
that the most valuable thing you could
give to the world was the possessions
and thoughts you think no one else would
go through sacrificing something for
good
I was scared scared that the words I
write today will turn back and hurt me
because of the opinions of those who
killed the deafness of coming out of
their shells to kill the sounds that
reappeared again and again but I as I
observed I see that Psalms are the palms
ago was unheard unseen and forgotten
silence was a death in Darfur genocide
the girl whose tears wet deep inside her
pillow the woman who lost her dignity
after every night of being raped the
natural disasters where the government
raised taxes and mortgages watching the
people suffer solace is all over sinking
in places where help is needed the songs
and me stopped as I saw the blades he
picked up everyday got tiring as it
tears that established me hurt me in the
form of the worst brutalization so let
your Psalms disappear as a battle you
fight every day becomes one that can
help one another let your solids
disappear as your tears come out on the
paper where your voice is able to come
out and be heard let your Psalms
disappear as you realize that the danger
you bring to the world
[Applause]
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