WE NEED TO BE ADVOCATED
Advocated
not by those who are the oppressors,
or their descendants,
but by the same scope—
melanated advocates,
among our own,
melanin concentrated,
go hard like stone.
Let it be shown
that melanin can be seen,
but the depths of it
is also known.
Known to the core
they can't erase,
through folklore they buried
and stories displaced.
From the Tuskegee Airmen
who broke barriers in the sky,
to Katherine Johnson
calculations that helped spacecraft fly.
We know the depth
behind the skin we wear.
We know the ancestors
who carried burdens
they never should have had to bear.
Melanin can be seen—
but don't mistake visibility
for understanding.
There is knowledge in our roots,
power in our culture,
and generations of brilliance
standing behind every face.
We are not asking to be discovered.
We are saying:
LOOK CLOSER.
Because melanin
can be seen,
but the depths of it—
are also known.
