Liberation and Resilience

The theme for Black History month this year is uplifting African Americans contributions to the arts, and it felt like a good time to re-share my poem, Liberation and Resilience (also published in the Freedom issue of Spoken Black Girl magazine). Through all the challenges, God has remained with us as a people. This poem is an honoring of this presence.

Liberation & Resilience By Emelda De Coteau

We, who carry our sorrows, remain the architects of boundless dreams.

We, who are descendants of human beings once shackled,
counted as chattel, denied agency.

We are resilience, our existence,
a righteous + holy defiance.

We, who came to transform barriers into bridges, steadying the foundation with melodic rhythms of blues unspoken,
bars spit in cyphers shatter illusions
America fed us as truth.

We, who are caretakers of both spirit and memory, marching for Amir Locke,
George Floyd,
Tony McDade,
Breonna Taylor,
Ahmaud Arbery,
Korryn Gaines,
Philando Castile,
Sandra Bland,
Mya Hall,
Rekia Boyd,
and many others whose names elude us.

We are resilience, our existence,
a righteous + holy defiance.

Standing in the spirit of ancestors who learned to swallow rage for survival,
claiming their hearts as fortresses,
trembling under the weight of silent anguishes.

In their honor
we puncture invisible prisons
with audacious + unapologetic rebellion.

We
Stand
Unwilling
to sacrifice
our voices
ANY
longer for the pseudo comforts
you present us, America.

Our
Resilience
Emerges
Now
as both
Salvation and Sanctuary.

For
We
Are
Our
Liberation.

Let’s Stop Sanitizing King