I Envy: A Spoken Word Poem by Angel Young

I envy the people who live in bliss

Whose eyes are blinded by the ignorance of this

Fictional fairytale they’ve put us in

But look behind that and there is the sin

Of people who take lives just for fun

And people who have no choice but to run

Because their government hates them And their country is racist

And by god don’t even get me started on the fascists

The harsh truth is that nobody cares

They’ll sit there and watch as these hate groups tear through families and children like rust and steel pipes

Only steel pipes are guns and the rust are the likes of the innocent

But they don’t seem to care All they see is a minority

And that shit ain’t fair

That I’m treated differently for the color of my skin

Or my sexuality and ethnicity

Man we just can’t win

But y’all claim you’re the victims

The race is in danger

Claiming your evangelical status like Christ in a manger

But all you see is hate

And hate is what you are

Ignorance embodied

Emotions flooded like a jar

Full of conspiracy and blind wickedness

So you can’t see

The people for people

And me for me

So you casually take life

And call it fighting for what’s right

But the only thing you’ve got right

Is your evil and spite

We get locked up for just surviving

You get let loose for thriving

On killing

And I just gotta know when the bullshit will end

When the liars are unmasked and the officials stop pretending to care cause you don’t

And if you did

You wouldn’t sit back and stare

As they killed that kid

Yeah Travon Martin and Freddie Grey

Or maybe the sandy hook kids who just wanted to play

Or maybe the Columbine kids who just wanted to learn

But instead got killed by a man who burned with hatred for those who are of his kind

Mankind

Humankind

That’s all we are

Black, white, hispanic, native, near, and far

So the next time you see a kid dead on the street

Please look at their blood and tell me

Is it orange? Is it white? Is it blue? or grey?

Or is it red

Red like the tears of that mother

Who crying just cause she lost her brother

Or angry just cause she lost her son

To a man who had no right to be wielding a gun

So don’t look me in my face and say America of the free

When America won’t even allow me to be me

– I Envy by Angel Elise Young

Performed on Saturday, October 3, at the She Matters March in Downtown Cumberland. 

 

©Angel Young 2020