“Rage in the City” by Katia Laurent-Joseph

You want me to voice my rage in silence
Like a good Christian
and crucify me to the cross
like the son of man
Oh, you hypocrite Pharisees
even the son was a thug
Woe to you!
I took my rage to the streets
flipped the tables in temples
stopped the highways
burned the city
Boom, boom, boom!
my rage,
my frustration
my suffocation
my injustice.

Can be heard in the big BOOM
I will shake the city until my voice is heard
I will shake the city until I am truly free
I am a man,
woman,
mother,
brother,
sister,
cousin.

You cannot call me thug, unruly
Savage?
I am not
NO! NO! NO!
you cannot enslave and imprison my mind
I am free,
My freedom came with a price
If you don’t believe me,
ask Toussaint, Dessalines, King, X, and Evers
All bled in the streets
to set me free
Listen neo planters!
21st century massa!
I will not be suffocated
My voice will be heard
in the big BOOM
throughout the city
throughout the country
Your justice system creates prisons like plantations
sucking life out of me
Taking away my dream
colonizing my thoughts.

A prisoner?
NO!
A nigger?
YOUR NEGRO!
I am not!
Non plus!
I declare it
An agitator?
I am
for the cause of my people
their freedom
The city will hear my voice,
hear my cry
and my suffering too.
BOOM is
my rage
my cry
in the city
for my humanity
for my people.