Hey, Black Child

Hey Black Child
Do you know who you are
Who you really are
Do you know you can be
What you want to be
If you try to be
What you can be

Hey Black Child
Do you know where you are going
Where you’re really going
Do you know you can learn
What you want to learn
If you try to learn
What you can learn

Hey Black Child
Do you know you are strong
I mean really strong
Do you know you can do
What you want to do
If you try to do
What you can do

Hey Black Child
Be what you can be
Learn what you must learn
Do what you can do
And tomorrow your nation
Will be what you what it to be

~ Useni Eugene Perkins

Tune in tomorrow for a post on Perkins and his author’s background and this poem.

While this poem applies to ANY child, it seems that so many of our Black children are having their lives taken from them earlier and earlier. As a resident of the city of Chicago, it pains me to have to read about or hear about another Black child in the prime of their YOUTH gunned down on the streets. They’ll never grow up, see their family get older, or hit any of the important milestones we’ve always dreamed of for them. When I see non-Black people not care, well, it lets me know that we’re all we’ve got.

It’s one of the reasons that I continue my work with We Sow We Grow, and the reason that it’s grown into more of just an educational gardening community. We are building. We are aiding. We are growing. Because we can. Because we will. Because we must.

If more people poured into the lives of our children in general, we would get better output from them.

What say ye?

While I’ve never had a problem with my Blackness, I will say that I was made aware that others had a problem with it early on. If I can help it, I don’t want any other child in my presence to feel that way. Just in case this is your first interaction with me, I’m Natasha Nicholes. Owner of this here space, Chicago, wife, and mother. I’m loud and proud to be Black – full lips and all.

So this month, and for every month after, we’re going to encourage our Black children, our Black teens, young adults, and beyond and share the joys of the skin we’re in.

Please join the Houseful of Nicholes Black History Month Celebration as we show the joy of being Black this month. From friends and family, actors, activists, preachers, teachers, and everything in between. We’re celebrating the people who ARE and have been Black History. We’ll also share (hopefully) some words that they took with them when they thought that their lives weren’t as promising as they became.