You call it independence day
\nOh my how you lie
\nCuz Black folks were still your slaves
\nOn that day in July<\/p>\n
If taxation without representation
\nWas just cause for outrage
\nHow about being enslaved
\n>From cradle to grave<\/p>\n
To enrich people with our labor
\nWho refused themselves to work
\nBabies sold off at a whim
\nSleeping in crude shanties lying on dirt<\/p>\n
No security no creature comforts
\nThe most precarious lifestyle
\nWhite men enter your abode
\nTake liberties with your wife or child<\/p>\n
Our only respite cast our eyes
\nTo the sky
\nWe cry we die
\nThat was our fourth of July<\/p>\n
This day you cherish
\nElate celebrate
\nWe hate because it was our bondage
\nThat it commemorates<\/p>\n
Destroyed families
\nBullwhips packs of negro hounds
\nTo ensure we remained in bondage
\nTrained to run us down<\/p>\n
If we even entertained the idea
\nOf going free
\nWe were stripped and whipped
\nBound fast to a tree<\/p>\n
And dare we fight back
\nIn an urge to protect
\nOur families ourselves
\nWe’d be hanged by the neck<\/p>\n
In misery unfree
\nWe lived and died
\nThat’s the meaning to Black people
\nOf your fourth of July<\/p>\n
But you gloss over this history
\nCelebrating our tragedy every year
\nLike memorializing the Nazis
\nThe analogy so clear<\/p>\n
A federal holiday
\nFireworks blasts of light
\nLike the gunfire across the brows
\nOf slaves daring to take flight<\/p>\n
Murder and mayhem being chased
\nInto the night
\nFor pursuing the independence you now celebrate
\nThat your fathers took as their right<\/p>\n
A day to parade about freedom
\nOh how you lie
\nSlavery then cellblocks now
\nThe hypocrisy of your fourth of July<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You call it independence day Oh my how you lie Cuz Black folks were still your slaves On that day in July If taxation without representation Was just cause for outrage How about being enslaved >From cradle to grave To enrich people with our labor Who refused themselves to work …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-3605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3605"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3606,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605\/revisions\/3606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}