How many ways have you tried to kill me
No matter how hard you try dead I could never be
You’ve tried to work me to death
Hung me from a tree until I lost my breath
Gave me food not fit for a dog
Left me to eat the scraps of a hog
Beat me with a whip until my body would bleed
Forced me to have sex I was a thing used to breed
Made me pick cotton all day in the hot sun
Wouldn’t let me sleep until my work was done
Chopped off my legs when I tried to run away
Boiled me in oil was the punishment I’d pay
Set me on fire to watch and smell my body burn
Terrorize and torture were the lessons I had to learn
Shot me up with syphilis and had me share it with others
Experiments and conditions designed to make us hate each other
Poisoned my mind to kill myself and my own kind
Fought in all your wars but still no welcome sign
Put drugs in the hood a band-aid for the pain
Turned us into zombies without any brains
Set us up to go to prison to keep slavery alive
Being black is a natural crime we must serve if we survive
A lot of food is unhealthy
Good health makes you wealthy
Education is a lie
It doesn’t recognize you and I
It’s all about their story
And all the things they want to be
It seems we have no glory
We have no history
How many ways have you tried to kill me
No matter how hard you try dead I will never be
You’ve dropped bombs on me
Stabbed me in the back
You’ve run trucks and cars over me
It seems I’m always under attack
Cops carry guns with my name on the bullets
They always shoot to kill this is how they pull it
The noose is still used but the choke hold saves rope
The goal is to stop me from breathing
A message to the hood there’s no hope
Their mission has failed
It was never meant to succeed
If you kill the author you have nothing to read
We create all life and life could never die
We’re here on earth to celebrate
And live to multiply
Abiodun 7-4-20