I wrote this in loving memory of Sakia Gunn. I will forever carry her memory.
I am Sakia’s Sister
Maybe not in similar reflections
Or bloodlines
I did not pass through her mama’s womb
No genetically connected DNA
But I am Sakia’s Sister
Running through the streets of Newark , NJ
From Springfield
On to Broadway
Learning that the streets don’t love nobody
Swallowing girlish ambitions to persuade from not seeming hard enough
Finding no resting or embracing place
I am Sakia’s Sister
From Penn Newark To Penn New York Station
Where Greenwich Village becomes my heart
As I’m not judged or looked at differently
Just young and vibrant
Just free
No worries
Not afraid riding the train back and forth
In improperly manned subway stations
Where even the bums sleep with one eye open
No worries
Until one night
Some villain less than a man decided it was alright
To take young Sakia’s life
They called it an instigated combat
Even when a 30 year old man stuck a knife
In a 15 year old girls neck
And claimed her life
On the streets in front of a police booth
As taxis sped by
Silent witnesses to a Hate filled homicide
Her blood just as pure and innocent as young Matthew Sheppard
But she didn’t make national headlines
Just a few local stations and gay organizations bold enough to carry her story
On day to day
And I too have been stabbed in the back
With verbal and physical attacks
As my bloodlines
Run thinner than strangers lives I cross in the street
Separating me from family and used to be friends
As I grow lost and hurt
Finding solitude amongst the warm folds
Of another woman’s womb
Licking invisible wounds
From my lovers back
Down her chest
Across her heart
Absorbing pain
Caused by people releasing homophobic views
And passing them off as state beliefs
Damn it I am Sakia’s Sister
In spirit and heart
Crying enough tears in the dark
To form valleys and trenches
Upon my pillow and satin bed sheets
Yet just like Sakia,
My spirit can not be silenced
I stand tall and proud of who I am
Ready to proclaim that my sexuality
Does not define me
In the face of adversity
I stand tall and defend
My lovers and/or friends
I stand tall for all of the women and men that still haven’t found the courage
To leave those closets and double lives
Down low men & women
Military men & women
I speak proudly to all who attempt to make me feel like I’m less that I am
As if I don’t belong
But we are here to stay and we will not stand for discrimination
Or hate crimes
We will not live our lives in secret
Out & Proud
Young
Black
Lesbian
I am Sakia’s Sister
