Layla Riley-Hill Poet Free verse

The cells of a woman long gone

Consent.
Break it and your punished
Usually,
That's how the story goes
That's the way it's supposed to go

The hippocratic oath.
Ethics. Principles. Confidentiality.
A promise. A vow. A pledge
Beyond race
Beyond gender 
Beyond sexuality
An oath against inequality 
That's how it is to be taken 
That how its supposed to be took 

But what if?
What if those blinded by power decide to change the rules?
To abuse their privilege with different tools
An excuse used - for the greater good?
Or naybe it's just a clinical way to own black people 

Henrietta Lacks.
A woman. A human. A black person.
Hidden by a history of white erasure 
The story of her life hidden in invisible ink
They didn't see her as anything other than a toy to play with
As a body to experiment with
It wasn't that she was silenced 
It was more that she went unheard
Her voice was a ghost they ignored 
At her most vulnerable they stole Something that was hers
Something she had the right to preserve 
Her cells
Stolen from the place they called home
Observed 
By doctors 
Who only saw her as a catalyst for research

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