The seed of Black freedom, was planted
Long before it was acknowledged
That all men are indeed created equal.
But it was planted in the desert,
It was watered only by raindrops
Which came only within 10 inches a year.
It yearned for rain
All it could,
When the rain finally came
It stored the drops
In its roots,
So, it could survive
The germination process.
Was it a test of strength then?
Since the beginning that
It had to prove itself
Worthy, to be
Accepted by the majority?
But still,
A desert stays a desert
So, it knew that it had to reign
Deeming the fact that
It survived
And grew into a tree.
It felt that it was absolutely necessary
To reach everybody.
For that, if one isn’t free
Then none are free.
For that, if one’s deemed unequal,
then none are equal.
Was its view simply a miracle,
That it wasn’t the kind
to survive the hard burn
Of the desert, but it did?
Well, it understood
The pressure growing from its roots
That it had to make it out.
So, it adapted to the climate
With hope that its fruit
Would be tasted.
Its fruit would be tasted
By all humans.
But not long after,
Its trunks were cut to the ground
Aggressively.
“HOW DARE YOU GROW ON MY LAND?”
They were so offended
And felt that
It needed to be eliminated!
They thought it was the last
They would ever see of its kind…
But they failed to realize
That the roots
Of the black freedom tree
run deep in the ground:
That no chainsaw
Can remove it completely,
That no burn
Can destroy it completely,
That no deserted conditions
Can stop it from growing.
The seed of black freedom
Produced freedom heroes
The seed of black freedom produced
You and Me.
The seed of freedom
Produced the Legend Dr. King!
We are here
Celebrating his legacy
And living his dreams
Wouldn’t he be smiling down
Seeing… How are we now?
Look how far we’ve come:
From the inspiration of nonviolence,
With the determination for justice
And at last we can taste
The fruit of freedom-
But may I say
It tastes bittersweet.
It tastes bittersweet
Because
My brother who is across from me
Is captured in an invisible chain
Can’t taste it.
And I am so blinded
By the flash of fake smiles
That I fail to realize it.
It tastes bittersweet
Because my sister who walks past me
Every morning
Spent the last hours crying
And, when I looked at her
She flashed me a smile
The pain was evident in her eyes
And she felt too ashamed
To voice it out.
So please… Understand me when I say
It tastes bittersweet, because
In order for the freedom fruit to be enjoyed
It has to be shared by all,
And this reminds me too much
Of the importance of Dr. King’s Legacy
Dr. King- simply formidable
To the world,
A veritable hero.
In our realities
We are living his dreams.
His dream wasn’t unique
From day one we have been hoping
For a superhuman being
To voice out our tragedies,
And the Black freedom tree produced Dr. King.
Therefore, it is our duty
To preserve his legacy
He led us to the road of equality
So, we could reach our destination.
He got us to the freedom tree,
Now we understand
How sweet freedom truly feels.
Let ‘s not settle for less.
It is our duty to continue
The pursuit
Of genuine equality for All so that every yard
Can harvest the fruit
Produced from the freedom seed.
Let us thank
The unsung Heroes
Who planted the first freedom seed?
And Dr. King,
And his dreams
Who helped us believe?
That we are worthy
Of a freedom tree.
That we all deserve to taste
The sweetness of freedom!
This poem was written by Joneldina Bazou, a junior at Atlantic community high school in honor of all who contributed black freedom. She is sponsoring a child to go to school Indonesia with education rocks.
