MLK Day by Reginald Drake

Bang. Bang.

Horrifying gunshots echo in suburban streets

terrifying household residents as they crash through the windows

of their infrastructure.

Their screams ring out.

Bleeding hearts cry out in anguish,

a motionless babe is cradled underneath loving arms,

Wet with grief-stricken tears,

and soaked with blood.

Her chest,

Perforated by a bullet that was shot by a man who has harbored centuries

of unmitigated hate within his very essence.

Heineken bottles litter alleyways,

strewn by the oppressed hoping to soak away pains and sorrows with the devil's elixir,

Faces stay stuck in prayer books searching for a way out within the Holy Word,

Silent nights, are interrupted, by Molotov's setting ablaze

households and destroying lives.

... We were inferior.

We were bullied, by the biggest bully on the block; society,

who failed to hear our cries for help.

Finally back against the wall,

We fought back

THEY fought back.

Revolutionaries who preached equality and freedom

so Tasha could play with Sarah,

so people of all races could share the ripe fruit of a nation.

a nation, that was being poisoned,

by Hate and Segregation.

And now here we are.

Firm in resolution and strength,

Living what then, was a dream,

Opening our minds to the realm of imagination,

A portal, that was previously inaccessible to US.

Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and MLK

Pioneers of a movement that reconstructed the infrastructure of society.

We are now free,

To experience the unknown,

We are free,

To live, The Dream