I Remember

You forgot because you never had to remember...

You remember only when Kaepernick kneels or when we Say Her Name and you deem our forms of protest inappropriate.

When hateful men walk upon cities and campuses bearing messages of hate and otherness 

you suddenly forget that freedom of speech does not protect hate speech.

You forget that we are a land of immigrants and souls stolen from their families. 

Land stolen and built on the backs of Black brilliance and Native wisdom.

You forget because you never had to remember that Freedom here is not like air,
free flowing for all; but more a rationed commodity given out by vigilant hands asleep to injustice.