Trapped In The Margins

*Originally written 1/19/2023

I honor myself as a black woman

I honor myself as a black person

Who would I be if society did not tell me I were those people?

Separating me from the communities that were created to protect and build, not alienate and destroy

We were born to be resourceful and rely upon others

But systems were built to destroy that

Destroying the most natural functions of us as human beings

Because I am no longer a human being but a cog in the industrial machine