Who I Am

I am the brilliant Black boy becoming the man my ancestors believed I would be

I am the genius girl, ever evolving into Black women’s wildest dreams

I am the manifested king-man kingdoms are afraid of

I am the wonderfully created warrior queen weaponized with grace, intellect, compassion, insight and no-nonsense toward your nonsense

I am Jazz, Hip Hop, Rock, Blues, and Soul

I am Civil Rights, Sit-ins, activism

I am, Hey Girl, How You Doin, What’s Up, What’s Good, What It Do?

I am strength, and resourceful enough to feed, clothe and house everybody in the neighborhood

I am, Let Me Hold A Dollar?

I am Uncle Tom, Uncle Remus, Uncle Ruckus, afraid to be, support, like, love, us

I am, I Wish A Nigga Would; Boy, Bye; Girl, Please; Try Me; I Don’t Know You Like That; You Don’t Know Me Like That; You Better Ask Somebody, Not Today Satan

I am the good, bad, ugly, all that

I am beautiful, handsome, sexy, sassy, worthy, wealthy, rich

I am We Shall Overcome By Any Means Necessary

I am Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, lying dead in the street, I Can’t Breathe, can you hear me?

I am the missing Black girls, the deranged gang bangers who kill their own

I am full of love and forgiveness, the harmless dove

I am the Black father, mother, daughter, son hunted like wild animals in the jungle by those with white on

I am the endangered species no one cares to save

I am the wise serpent

I am crushed but not abandoned, cast down but not destroyed

I am soul swaying across uncharted territory breaking down walls

I am France, England, America, always fighting for freedom, the dream, let freedom ring

I am rhythm dancing, my heart beats African, of thee I sing

I am the blood in the ground growing upwards

I am echoes of voices that will never be silenced

I am the mule at the bottom of the well using what’s in my possession to climb up out of and build again

I am the empire, the fortified city that cannot be destroyed

I am grandmother, madea, papa, who never made the news or saw the day

I am standing on rooftops, fortune 500, skyscrapers, in boardrooms, classrooms, operating rooms, courtrooms, chatrooms, science labs

I am, Royalty

And, Still, I Rise, Phenomenally,

I am here,

I am, in all my authenticity, me