I see them gas masks and tear gas, 

helmets, vests, black boots. 

I see them faces covered for protection, 

hands raised in a plea not to die, 

to be heard in a society of forced silence, 

trying to remember a lost truth, who we are 

as a people. 

I see them massed together of one accord, 

Black, White, Brown, 

Indian, Irish, Jamaican. 

Standing for a stand, their passion in tears, 

a waterfall. 

We will not rest! 

We want equality! 

Howard to Harvard Morehouse to Ferguson 

Philadelphia to Sanford, Florida New York City to San Francisco. 

I see them. 

I see them hoodies on, faces proud, 

standing for sons and brothers. Do not back down! 

Children holding signs proclaiming they matter 

In the face of a government refusing to see them 

as people, not industrial slaves 

hibernating on federally funded million dollar blocks. 

I see them hear their unanswered questions. 

What are you afraid of? 

Afraid of the white man’s police? 

I see them     I am Michael Brown. 

I am Tamir Rice.     I am Trayvon Martin. 

I am Keyarika Diggles.   I am Pedro Albizu Campos. 

I am Black Lives Matter. 

I see them! 

I see it the coming race war, not about race, 

transcendence, of slavery, racial segregation, lies and corruption 

transferred into classism. 

I see it the inferior mindset of Willie Lynch’s plan 

that became hereditary as ages came and went, 

now devolved into courage and curiosity. 

I see them fists raised in allegiance, 

the tipping point for change and justice, 

not a footnote in a college thesis. 

I see them searching for hope 

while others take affront to their audacity, 

so victims like Eric Garner and Sandra Bland 

will receive justice in a society where they are deemed equal. 

We are born for liberty. 

     We are born for equality. 

          We are born for unity. 

               We are born for freedom! 

So I see them beyond the portrait, 

and I hear them beyond their words. 

Hear me now!