In a Series on Grief for Leaders of Color, Sandhya Oaks brings a word to us through spoken poetry. Please take time to listen, use your senses, and extend yourself the invitation to enter into grief.
Her story screams of injustice
The story begins with a stab to her mama’s heart
She was young, she gave birth and then she had to part
She was a baby - an orphan - a desolate
With no place to call home she was all alone
The injustice continued to flow
As this little girl was about to walk into a deeper low
Her new home in the midwest
Was extremely broken and far from the best
This little girl grew up in a basement with no one to mirror
She lived most of her days wondering what's next and in fear
Inside and outside her home - nothing seemed right
She had no choice but to grow up fierce and learn how to fight
She tried to use her voice, but was silenced by threat and fear
It was her own beautiful tunes that kept her from tears
The injustice grew louder as she got older
She was confused by this and wanted someone to hold her
Was this how the world worked?
Was this the only way things could be?
How did she end up with this story?
At age 18 she was abandoned again
She was now wounded by too many women and men
The injustices continued to be hammered into her story
They left open wounds, tender sores and buckets of tears
She wondered if life was going to continue like this for the rest of her years
As she sought to uncover the beauty in her ethnicity
She saw the enemy seek to steal, kill and destroy everything
The injustice around her brown skin and black hair
Was truly too much for this soul to bear
Why wasn’t there room at the table for me?
I looked different but they didn’t hold space for “we”
The story doesn’t stop there
There was still so much to bear
It was a short time ago when the injustice pounded again
She laid alone in silence with tears flooding her bed
He took advantage of her and left a piece of her dead
She screamed on the inside and was overwhelmed in her head
How could someone get away with this
I am just tired of shaking my fist
The injustices are more than this story shares
Her body is healing from the load she has beared
Her soul aches and the sting comes and goes
She demands justice from her head to her toes
The multiple attacks and war around her heart
Is proof that there is something powerful that sets her apart
The violations she absorbed since day one overseas
Brings her to beg the Lord for hope, justice and peace