When black boys are born
\nWe mothers kiss their faces
\nTwirl our fingers in their curls
\nPut them in carries on our chest
\nShow them to the world
\nOur tiny black princes
\nAnd when they start school
\nAs early as 3
\nWe mothers
\nPlace huge packs on their backs
\nAnd we slowly fill them with bricks
\nEtched with tools
\nTattooed with truths
\nHoping to save them
\nDon’t talk back
\nDon’t get angry
\nSay yes ma’am
\nSay no sir
\nDon’t fight
\nEven if they hit you first
\nEspecially if they are white
\nDo your best
\nBetter than best
\nBe still
\nWork your hardest
\nBRICK
\nThey get a little older
\nAnd we add more
\nKeep your hands out of your pockets
\nDon’t look them in the eye
\nDon’t challenge
\nDon’t put your manhood before your life
\nJust get home safe
\nDon’t walk alone
\nDon’t walk with too many boys
\nDon’t walk towards police
\nDon’t walk away from police
\nDon’t buy candy or iced tea
\nDon’t put your hood up
\nI’ll drive you
\nI’ll pick you up
\nYou can’t be free
\nDon’t go wandering
\nCome home to me
\nAnother BRICK
\nThey get a little older
\nAnd we add more
\nUnderstand you are a threat
\nStanding still
\nBreathing
\nYour degrees are not a shield
\nYour job is not a shield
\nYour car makes you a target
\nYour nice house in a nice neighborhood
\nMakes you a target
\nDon’t put your ego before your safety
\nDon’t talk back
\nDon’t look them in the eye
\nGet home to your wife
\nYour son
\nAnother BRICK
\nThey weigh them down
\nThis knowing
\nOf having to carry the load
\nOf their blackness
\nThe world hasn’t changed
\nThe straps just dig deeper into their skin
\nTheir backs ache
\nBut their souls don’t break
\nOur beautiful black men
\nWhen you say to me
\n“All lives matter”
\nI simply ask
\n“Will your son die with the world on his back?”
\nBecause mine will<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
a poem by [mykailyn] <\/p>\n
When black boys are born
We mothers kiss their faces
Twirl our fingers in their curls
Put them in carries on our chest
Show them to the world
Our tiny black princes
And when they start school
As early as 3
We mothers
\n","protected":false},"author":624,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/ripple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/ripple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/ripple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/ripple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/624"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/ripple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/ripple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":421,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/ripple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420\/revisions\/421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/ripple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/ripple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/ripple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}