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Fresh Linen

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I was asked
What's it like
Being black in today's military
The same way it felt back in the day
No we no longer have the pressures of segregation
But it still gets heavy on our hearts to carry this flag on our shoulders
And our spirits are no longer broken
Like the tools blacks were given
Even though they were only fixing for us to fail
And then expected to meet the same standard
It does get tiring
Constantly proving
To yourself that you're worthy and tough
And then proving
To others that you're more than enough
We're no longer given ultimatums to slave or serve
But now we serve in hopes that slaves
Will never again be a thing
So yes it's hard
To explain to others why you willingly swore
To defend a constitution that wasn't considering your melanin
When it was originally written
And it hurts
Serving a country that makes you feel safer overseas than
You do at home
Being deployed
To the same countries that racists
Used to tell you to go back to
Believe it or not
It actually hurts to hear thank you for your service
Because sometimes it comes from the same people that are likely to avoid eye contact
Or
Clinch their purse when you're out of uniform
It's heavy
It's tiring
It's hard and it hurts
But we never had the tendency to just complain and quit
So pick your head up
And remember
Our black in the military runs from the birth of this nation
To the Buffalo Soldiers
To the Tuskegee Airmen
And even to the black men and women that serve with us today
Don't you know that you might be in uniform but there's no camouflaging
Your essence
And don't you know
That just by you getting out of bed
You become a Civil Rights leader's breathing message
Being black in today's military means
You get to add pages to Black History every day
Black History is more than
The complex spectrum of our complexions
It's about when roadblocks were placed in our path
And we consistently hurdle them
We get asked to do the impossible all the time
And we answer back saying, watch this
Black history is about standing tall so others may kneel
It's about the struggle and the highlights
The short falls and the help up
The rumbles of the good fights
The setbacks and the come ups
It's about how different colors and different backgrounds can stand
Shoulder to shoulder and not a single person can ever doubt what the black person can
This poem is not an invitation to a pity party
And it's not to put down other ethnicities
No this poem is for those whose skin color falls
Anywhere on the convoluted spectrum of cream
To the color of solitude when you close your eyes to meditate
For those
Whose DNA screams human as loud as it can to deaf eyes
This poem
Is for those Black Americans who chose to wake up from the American Dream
To serve an American duty instead
For those who served their time lacing their boots
And permanently hung up their uniform
Or were laid to rest in it
This poem
Is about how Black history lasts longer than 28 or 29 days
And if this poem makes you uncomfortable
Then stop watching
Stop listening
Then look in the mirror
And ask yourself, why
So what's it like
Being black in today's military
The same way it felt back in the day
The difference is
Because of my brothers and sisters before me
And the ones standing with me today
Now you're listening
Black history is written after every day is over
You have 24 hours
How will you add to it

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