by Kuhlekonke Dladla
Our grief succumbs any danger we have been faced with.
Our family grows less and less every day.
Our blood stains their hands.
How does it feel to live your life peacefully?
Whilst on the other side of life, I fear that today is the last day I will see my family.
Do you know what it feels like to be me?
Have you seen your life mean nothing at the hands of those who were meant to protect you?
When did we become invisible to you?
What will it take for you to notice that we too are human?
We are tired!
Aren’t you tired?
Well, you should be?
We give you everything that we have to offer:
We bear our souls to you and make you fall in love with our hearts,
And yet…
You kill us every day like it’s a chore that you need to cross off your list.
Is it not bad enough that you can barely stand to see the suffering in our eyes?
You fear for your safety when you enter OUR neighbourhood,
But the moment I step outside, it might be the very last time anyone ever sees me again.
The life that you have become so accustomed to, should have never been yours to start with.
So, give thanks to my ancestors who suffered at the hands of YOUR ancestors.
It was our sacrifice that gave you your life.
So be thankful, because while you can still appreciate the air that you breathe,
My people are suffocating at the hands of YOUR people placing their hands around our necks.
Do you feel our pain?
Do you understand it?
Do you see our freedom?
Because we don’t.
We raise our children to know what has happened to their people,
Do you teach your children about why inequality exists?
Our mothers are crying,
Our fathers are angry.
Our children are scared,
Our people are terrified,
All asking: Am I next?
So, while you sit here basking in the glory that God has given you,
Another family mourns the loss of their child,
Because in your society, they don’t matter.
You’ve taken our songs, our soul and the essence of who we are,
So, tell me…
DO YOU SEE US NOW!!
Or does my life have to be taken publicly for you to finally see,
That the world that you live in and the world I was brought up in,
Has NEVER been the same…
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