𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭

Black Men

The black man.. don't need no help.

Don't want no help.

Can't receive.. any help.

He got used to the feeling of his stomach sinking into his back, aching and grumbling awaiting the next few scraps Uncle Tom allowed him to have.

Guarding his plate afraid that someone's waiting to reach under him and grab it.

The black man, promotes his business every night and day.

The black man invested all his funds and youngest years of living chasing a dream that left him without a penny.

Now,
People as common as you and me look down on him because he stands on the side of the street... begging.

Hoping and praying that someone believes in him, sees him as the young man with that life changing machine that was gonna fix everything.

Give him a chance to be all that he once believed he could be.

The black man adjust his own tie in the mirror after wiping away the tears he'd just cried.

Walking around the office of his empire building, he can't help but to think if he's living a lie.

Parading around as the big guy he is, but on the inside the boy in him somehow still cries every night.

Bank account packed and refrigerator full, this is what he's worked towards for as long as he can remember, but something inside him longs for something more.. tender.

His mind always goes back to the young boy who loved to rap.

He'd put down the mic for the briefcase, gave into everything everyone told him about finding something more practical and to think again if he ever thought he'd make it big.

The black man raising his kids all alone, society dragging his name in the mud not seeing what's really going on.

People pinning him to these stereotypes while he pins and curls his baby girls bun, nurture and cares for his only son.

He works every day to provide for his family, wanting his children to be more than what he's turned out to be.

When really, he doesn't give himself enough credit.

He's showing them true dedication and responsibility, but everyone makes him out to be a disappointing human being.

For his children to have the world, he'd give everything.

The black man stands on his own two feet, never reaching to grab anyone's hand.

The black man even when he's down finds a way back up because when he's at his lowest he must pick himself up.

The black man can't stand to see another man down but he refuses to reach out and help because people judge a simple interaction as dimming their masculinity.

In this world, the black men struggle, strive, try and try... but they go often unnoticed.

Overlooked and forgotten.

If you can't dribble a ball, write a check or do something short of a flex, people instantly judge you.

A black man can't work no regular nine to five.

A black man has to have the fanciest cars to drive.

A black man... can't participate in the act of waiting until marriage, because black men are like beast and they can't pretend to be less than.

Seeking out women as their prey and pouncing with every word they play.

So, the black man who wants to take your hand and wrap a pretty little band around it is seen as soft and less then.

He's ignored because he doesn't fit the natural characteristics of all the other black men.

He speaks gentler and his words are more sincere so it makes you afraid.. his individuality allows for you to be the one to play with his integrity.

The black man who actually wanted to treat you correctly.. is the relationship that becomes the most messy.

A black man.. has no one single meaning.

A black man is everything.

But because society makes him feel as if he is nothing, he is left rejecting, deflecting and suppressing.

Without a black King, you can't have a black Queen, because everybody knows..

God used Adam to make Eve.

- Donna