Rise Up

If I were a manThey’d be hashtagging my name and calling me a martyrCelebrating my resistance as the ultimate standAgainst State powerI’d be a street legend, like gangsters who went out blazing, like souljahsThey’d be lamenting about how my son is gonna value his Daddy’s sacrificeWhen he gets a little olderIf I were a 6ft manThey’d never believe I hung myself with a trash bag in a cellRight after I called the police force pussies,Told them all to go to hellThey’d believe that I was too rational, too strong for that, if I were a manIf I were a manThey wouldn’t chastise me for training my son to be a resisterCall me a bad dad, like they labeled me a bad momBecause I was an unapologetically black, an outspoken sisterThey’d know I was training and protecting my son from a brutal StateIf I were a manThey’d understand a father’s need to ensure his sonWould fight to resist the all too familiar fateOf becoming another voiceless Black boy laid slain in the streetsBlood flowing from bullet wounds in Black bodies, stains on black concreteIf I were a manThey’d know that I had refused to imagine his mother’s screamFalling to her knees and crying out to God asking,No helplessly and hopelessly begging Him to take her instead, please!The streets would understand my need to “be a man”If I were a manThey wouldn’t have to ask me to #sayhernameThere are hashtags for virtually every Black man slain todayHell! My sisters would already be in formationThey’d be resisting on my behalf commemoratingMy refusal to be lynched by State actors in this nationIf I were a manThey would never forget my name because it would beEtched in every mind and passed on like fables through generationsBecause we paid the ultimate price for our resistance,We didn’t bow downWe rose up, spoke up, loaded up, fists up, fought back until our last breathAnd the price we paid for resistance—deathShiiit . . . If I were a manMy memory would be memorialized long after my body was laid to restBut that’s only if I were a manWouldn’t my very resistance be heroically grandIf only, I were a man?#KorrynGaines #SandraBland

Art · Art history · Begging · Legend · Political science · History · Law · Race, History, and American Society