TAKE-THE-BLACK-OUT?

If I take the Black out, I take out Nanny!
Black Maroon Jamaican of the seventh-century
Outwitted the colonial British for three decades
Or even Mary Prince, the West Indian slave girl
She was enslaved but not a slave.

If I take the Black out, I take out Hazel Palmer!
Black conscious woman, who is a storyteller and a poetry writer
Outwitted those who ask: Where are you really from?
Or even Sojourner Truth, the African American slave
She asked Ain’t I a Woman?

If I take the Black out, I take out Toni Morrison!
Black African American genius writer
Outwitted those with Bluest Eyes and Beloved becomes Oprah’s baby
Or even Harriet Tubman, “Black Moses” of her people
She sang, Wade in the Water in the underground railway.

If I take the Black out, I take out Maya Angelou!
Black African American screenwriter and poet
Outwitted those with her Phenomenal Woman and On The Pulse Of Morning
Or even Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader
He said: “I have a dream.”

If I take the Black out, I take out all the women from Africa and the Diasporas!
Black African American and Black African Caribbean
Outwitted the slave masters for we are Asante queens of power
Or even Iye Oba, who was a queen, queen mother and priestess
She was a woman of power and leadership in Benin, Nigeria.

If I take the Black out, I take out Iyanla Vanzant, bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins,
Zanana Akande, Rosemary Brown, Mary Shadd, Marie-Joseph Angelique,
Mathieu de Costa, Marlene Noubese Phillip and…. me!!!!
If I take the Black out, I take out our history!!!!!
Did you hear me…….?
If I take the Black out I take out her stories, his stories and our stories!

Copyright 2001 Marilyn Patricia Yearwood