“The Unbreakable Spirit of Black Men and the Ballot Box”
don’t underestimate the blood in my bones,
fire-forged in black onyx, iron-rooted, breath
baptized in the truth of a thousand tongues.
you ain’t never known the reach of this history,
never known the way our laughter lifts walls,
the way we hold what’s broken ‘til it mends,
how we breathe light into dark rooms,
how we were here, guarding these streets,
before time knew its own name.
i am the son of a mother’s prayer,
the strength of a grandmother’s hand,
the pride in my sister’s eyes,
the hope in my daughter’s smile,
the trust that my wife wraps around me.
we love like armor, like gospel, like a promise
sung under low-hung stars.
we vote not just for survival, but for living.
we vote for air our children can breathe,
for hands that build, for homes unbroken,
for justice unbound, for schools that sing
with the laughter of every child.
we vote like roots finding earth,
like dreams unfurling at dawn.
and you see, I vote for me too,
for the wants i wear close to my chest,
for the dreams that wake me in the night.
we’re more than keepers, more than shields—
we’re builders, creators, we got visions
like rivers, like rivers, carrying us home.
project 2025, you thought you knew power?
watch me claim tomorrow like it’s mine,
watch my people line up like a thunderstorm,
ballots in hand like seeds ready to bloom.
we got opps, but we’re here, stone-steady,
bound to this earth like a covenant, like fate.
you can’t replace us. can’t tear down
what’s already rooted. can’t shatter a man
who knows he was born to rise, to guard,
to love and to live. we’re here—
and we’re voting, we’re claiming
tomorrow in the fierce light of today.
©️MustafaSantiagoAli
#Poetry #BLM #winwithblackmen #ProudBlue #KamalaHarris #Resister #Vote #Culture