Nigger Choose Poem by Mekael Shane

German Shepherd dogs 

Next came the water hose

Bodies lynched, then set ablaze 

Flesh singed, then meshed with clothes

Innocent black lives lost, on a blood stained Poplar tree 

Even now, I hear the Slave Overseer's words 

Echo inside me - epigenetically 
"Nigger run, Nigger die, Nigger free"

I am he whose antecedents 

Suffered and survived the Middle Passage's arduous trip 

I am the progeny who sprang forth from chained loins

As human chattel, my ancestors suffered the sting of the whip

Their human dignity and sense of pride

Was debased, then denied

Bodies were beat (black and blue)

Yet, it was the bruises inside, they tried, but could not hide 

Innocent black lives lost, victims of the lynching rope

Even now, I hear the Slave Overseer's words

Echo inside me - epigenetically 
"Nigger run, Nigger die, Nigger hope"

I say again, I am he whose antecedents 

Suffered and survived the Middle Passage's arduous trip 

I am the progeny who sprang forth from shackled loins

As human chattel, my ancestors suffered the cabotage of a slave ship

In 1964, we were granted civil rights, but denied civility 

A denial rooted in the bloom of racial hate 

The verdant lushness of white supremacy's wicked fertility

So many innocent black lives lost 

Because of eugenic's lies and untruths

Even now, I hear the Slave Overseer's words

Echo inside me - epigenetically 
"Nigger run, Nigger die, Nigger choose"

* Reprinted from 'Simian Soul Poems by Mekael' *
© July 21,2010 by Mekael Shane