Ken Jordan Poet Light Verse

Freedom

Poet: Ken Jordan
Poem: Freedom
Edited by: Sparkle Jordan
written: March/2013


I grew up 
in the 
south,
where
spanish
moss 
hanged
heavy 
from 
oak tree's -

Where
hound dogs 
roamed 
dirt roads
tracking
down
a race
of  people,....

Black people,
America
said
were free -

We were 
not free -

America,
was 
"Segregated
America,"

Whites
on one side
and
Blacks
on the other -

Signs
posted
told us
where 
we could 
sit 
and eat -

And
"For Colored
Only"
signs
pointed,

to 
restrooms
that we
could use -

Water 
fountains
were 
prohibited,
except
the ones
outside
in the park -

I grew up
in these 
times,

where folks
with black
skin,
were called
"colored,"
and
a few other
words
that lowered
our self
esteem -

A time
when we
were lynched,
and 
hanged
from 
southern 
trees -

A time when
brutal
and
ruthless 
killings
of
many black
family's
became 
routine,

and
the perpetrator's
were never
brought
to trial -

America
said
we were
free -

We were
not free -

I grew up
in these 
times -

When 
a black
man
couldn't
look 
at a
white 
woman -

They 
called it
wreck-less
eye balling,
which carried
a sentence
of death -

I've seen
the vicious
dogs
attack us
in the
street
on 
command
from
police -

We had to
fight 
for our 
civil rights,
through
protest;
boycotts,

And 
when we
gathered
to march
the police
beat us down
in the streets -

I grew up
in these
times -

When
they
assassinated
Civil Rights
Activist
Medgar Evers,
in 63 -

A few
months
later
they bombed
the 16th Street
Baptist Church,
in Birmingham,

killing
four little
black girls
as they
sang
and
prayed
in a place
of peace -

I grew up
in these
times -

I watched
on T.V.
Dr. King
deliver his
historic 
"I Have A Dream"
speech -

He had hoped
that someday
all men
regardless
of ethnicity 
could live 
together
in 
harmony -

Sadly,
he was
assassinated
in
68.

I've seen
the million
man march
on
Washington
D.C.
to promote
unity -

I grew up
in these
times -

America
said
we were
free -

We were
not free -

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