I SURVIVED!

Hunted, abducted, and humiliated,
Chained, shackled, bound, and relentlessly whipped,
Packed like sardines in holds of slave ships,
Worried, weary, weak, and overwhelmed,
Overworked, oversexed, over-raped, and overcome,
I survived!

Subjugated, subordinated, slapped and smitten,
Segregated, spit upon, spurned and isolated,
Denied, depraved, dirty, and depressed,
Dehumanized and designated for perpetual servitude,
I survived!

Shot at by words, shot at by hate, shot at by bullets,
Branded by hot irons, blinded by despair and delusion,
Laughed at by humans, treated worse than dogs,
Excluded from establishments frequented by dogs,
I survived!

Bred as dogs, earmarked for eventual harvest,
Sold as human, treated as chattel – property,
Maybe, cattle spelt wrongly, as slaves were used to till the soil,
More valuable than cattle, but treated worse than cattle,
I survived!

Genetically, Black is the super human race,
Engineered, to overcome all known human adversities,
Including Jim Crow, Massas, Prisons, Lynching, Police, and Redlining,
Adversities, survivable only by super-humans with triple epidermis,
I survived!