WHEN

When will enough be enough 

When will you stop stripping our blackness right down to the soul

 Searching  for that reason that is never there to be found.

When will we get to go to bed feeling safe

Without the weight of a thousands suspicious eyes   

Without the pressure of  a thousand fake lies   

Our tears have filled oceans. 

Mother’s hearts bleed into that sea 

When will we be enough.

Not 3rd class, not 2nd 

Not having to do better, be better,  just to have a tiny part of our voice heard.

When will our natural hair been seen as the beautiful crown it is 

Instead of messy, untidy, unprofessional 

Using the braids of thousands of years of tradition to tighten that noose about our necks. 

They send her home for her Afro and praise another for her curls performed with tongs. 

We pay for CBD oils, fill our lungs on holidays and laugh in cafés 

While young ones are stripped of more than just their clothes looking for that same high.. 

Those chains are tight when we are alone in rooms, waiting for our judgment to be passed without judge or jury. 

Enough is enough is enough is enough is ENOUGH 

Chloe Morais