We Are History

by Vicente Hernandez

We are
A generation that knows not of our own history
The sons and daughters 
And great great grandchildren of the architects 
who laid the foundation of this world we live in
Yet, we know nothing about them

And it makes me wonder 
If the great great great great grandson 
of Barack Obama will know of him
Will he be able to spit the dynamic lineage 
of his ancestors like his favorite rap song 
Or will he have to go on one of those reality shows
Where they tell him about his history 

And it makes me wonder
What happened to the folk tales
And stories told by grandparent 
That makes this black skin seem so beautiful 
Makes me remember promises that I made to my father 
That I will never forget the struggles that he went through 
Never forget the pain it to even have me
How he barely passed the brown paper bag test 
Just because he spoke that Latino blood throughout his skin
Which lightened the tone of his complexion 
Yet racism speaks all languages 
No pertenece aqui mi amigo
How words cuts like razor blades 
Or cut like children who don't know about their own past 
to the wrists of our ancestors

How can we ever expect to move forward
When we don't know the steps that were taken before us 

It reminds me of promises that I made to mi abuela 
That I won't forget the heritage of my tongue 
Nor the twang of my speech 

Or neither will I forget 
the Afro-Cuban Slave songs sung by my ancestors

Songs that challenged God and the clouds
To provide us with the things they promised us
Like providing us with rain
Or protecting us from our many enemies
Or even promises to our ancestors 
that their children will inherit the promise land
As long as they acted right 

And these days
I find that me and my brothers and sisters 
are not living up to the expectations set in place for us

Slowly losing the grip of the placement of our roots 

And I'm reminded 
Of the promises that we've made
Promises I've made with myself
That I'm having problems remembering these day
To the point where I want to dislocate my pinky
To relocate my pinky promises to a part of my mind 
that I will never forget about 

So see I'm praying for this generation, 
That they will remember their history 
Remember people like
Malcolm X
Emit Till
Rosa Parks
Sean Bell
Madam CJ Walker
Thurgood Marshall
Dr. Martin Luther King
And Barack Obama

I pray,
These remind us of the struggles we went through 

And that these names were only names
Similar to yours and mine
With the same black fist hoisted in the air 
As symbolic as revolution
See are history
Moving 
And pacing to the rhythm 
of the ancient drum beats of our ancestors 

We are 
Permanently connected with the universe 
So every word that you or I speak 
Should be depicted in our history books
Do you even understand the gravity of your voice box?
How you can pull in the masses 
To transform this generation 
Into a nation
That has something firm to stand on
This heart beat 
Holds more than a pulse but a foundation 
For the young children to dream on

See we are history
Living and breathing pages turning 
Of the novel of our destiny 

And if your dreams don't scare you
Then you're not dreaming big enough
Can you imagine the shoes we have to fill
With dreams 
Compared to the dreams our ancestors dreamed
Of the present day we're standing in
Do you even understand 
That our president is an African American male
The same male that,
"Wasn't posed to make it passed 25
Jokes on you we still alive
Throw your hand up in the sky"
Say we don't care what people have to say about the melanin in our skin
Nor the texture of our hair 
Point blank 
We are history

And for the record
The only reason why we have naps in our hair is because God foreseen
That our people were strong enough to handle the struggle 

See your life is your message to the world so make sure it's inspiring 

See we are people of destiny 
People of triumph 
Our name means victory in every language known to man

To the point that every word that you or I speak
Should be depicted in the history books
With a picture of us
With our black fist hoisted in the air
As symbolic as revolution 
See we are history!


We Are History by Vicente Hernandez

© Copyright 2014. All rights reserved. No portion of this work may be duplicated or copied without the expressed written consent of the author.



TimBookTu Logo

Return to the Table of Contents | Return to Main Page