Kalia
Roots
My whole life story has been a lie
I was cheated by education
They’ve been feeding me lies
Expecting me to eat from their hand
Which I’ve fallen victim too.
They’ve been narrating my story
Which they have no right too
I’m here trying to piece everything together
But it’s a puzzle
With missing pieces
My story is the reason why,
I’m lost, why
I’m at the bottom
But after I’m liberated by truth
My eyes are opened seeing why everything is so
Systematic
The truth exposes the lies
Written in the history books
Claiming that they know me
The truth keeps me deep rooted
Giving me my birthright
Of my story
This poem is based on the trip that YAC went to in lower Manhattan at the seaport. YAC went to Black Gotham Experience where we were taught the history of New York. New York is my home and is place where I don’t really know much about, until I was enlightened in this experience. I learned that there were a lot of holes in New York’s history, I learned that New York City was home to the first “free” African because the Africans were going to be sold as slaves by the Portuguese but the Dutch hijacked their ship and took the Africans to New York and freed them because the Dutch didn’t believe in slavery. But although the Dutch didn’t know them, the company that took them to New York owned them. In our history classes we were never taught that story and I wouldn’t have known that, if I had never gone to Black Gotham Experience.
