I Need to Know

by Latorial Faison

I need to know my original name.
I need to know without any shame.

I need to know about African slave castles.
I need to know about white slave masters.

I need to know about the slave trade.
I need to know how America was made.

I need to know about the Middle Passage.
I need to know about lynching and lashes.

I need to know my fathers, my mothers.
I need to know my sisters, my brothers.

I need to know about The Amistaad.
I need to know that Africans had heart.

I need to know about the dirty South.
I need to know about the plantation house.

I need to know about Brother Nat Turner.
I need to know about Sister Sojourner.

I need to know about the laws of Jim Crow.
I need to know about a minstrel show.

I need to know about emancipation.
I need to know about segregation.

I need to know about Madame C. J. Walker.
I need to know about Justice Thurgood Marshall.

I need to know about the ideas of Malcolm X.
I need to know what Dr. King's dream meant.

I need to know about my family tree.
I need to know about my history.

I need to know the color of my skin.
I need to know of the truth within.

(c) from 28 Days of Poetry Celebrating Black History Volume 2 by Latorial Faison

www.latorialfaison.com