THE KRONIKLER

I’d like for you to rewind to a time when

Something as innocent as the color of your skin

Could earn you a severe and horrible beating

That left you battered, broken, and bleeding.

 

Picture yourself in a place where

Hatred and obscenities polluted the air

All because of the deluded minds

Of people who “don’t like your kind.”

 

This was America’s society, one flawed

With preconceived notions and laws

Intended to tear down a race

That, after so many years, was still gaining a face.

 

Were it not for individuals like X, Parks, and King

Today we would not be able to sing

Of the glorious freedom that was found

Because of revolutionaries who transcended all bounds

 

This freedom was not discovered because we envisioned

The destruction of our oppressors as our mission

But because we saw past the deceit

Of the pain and prejudice that brought us heat.

 

Because we recognized the true enemy

This nation, whose races are many

Overcame a repulsive evil

That pierced fragile hearts like a needle.

 

I encourage you to reflect

On the peace that activists strived to protect.

For their efforts successfully united

Fifty states that were civilly divided.

 

We Americans, all yet one

Must remember that victory was won

Not through the poison of retaliation,

But through the elixir of unification.