The Emancipation Proclamation was put into effect in 1863, <br />That meant freedom for slaves, <br />the ones who looked like me, <br />blood, sweat, and bullets were shed along with tears, <br />innocent civilians put through years of hell and fed with fears, <br />nooses invaded necks, <br />in the home of the brave, <br />in the home of the slaves, <br />blood flowing as they gaze, <br />lynchings were congregational, <br />often invitational, <br />white kids were taught to look at them as merely educational, <br />he's just another tally in the stat book, <br />slaves screaming until exhaustion as they were made to look, <br />saliva often found homes on the pits of our face, <br />jeopardizing our case, <br />exasperating our race, <br />if you had children they often vanished without a trace, <br />we were taught not to embrace each other in any way, <br />I know the only way we made it out is the good Lord's grace..<br /><br />Jesse Pickens<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/living-in-the-past-11/
