Magnolia Literacy Project Spotlight: Lana Brown Series
Highlighting the impact of racial inequity and inequality, poet, Lana Brown, addresses the movement towards a growing culture of inclusion.
Brown is a graduate of Alcorn State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Communications; a Master of Arts in Secondary English Education; and a Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education with a Concentration in Reading and Gifted Education. She also holds a Specialist in Education degree in Psychometry from Jackson State University. An instructor in gifted education with the Natchez Adams School District, Brown was selected by the Mississippi Department of Education to be a member of the ELA/Literacy High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) Review Team in the fall of 2020.
"The Jig Is Up"
Put a big ole white hot air balloon
In the middle of town square
Sucked up all the lives
That have less value
On the racial scale
Just drug all in
Willy nilly
haphazardly
Regardless of origin
Just one determinant
MINORITY
Less than me
Just sucked up all potential
Left naked and exposed to society
Diminishing size and space
Suffocating
Robbed of identities
Displaced
Who wants to hear the voice
Of a culture who is obsolete?
Rulings have been made
Appraisals have been made
There is no value.
Bad imitations of the master copy
Zeroes
No longer able to rise to the occasion
You, masterful swindler of souls
Black ones
Fattening up for the slaughter
Creators of Purgatory on Earth
Leading melanated lambs to the wolves
Grounded, Deflated
Only existing through you
A ghost of what once was
ROYALTY
Status Update:
Current Disposition….
Demanding what’s owed to me and my ancestors
No apologies for where I’m from
No need for affiliations to certain cultures, races
Half breed
Part of one and not another
Accept the whole gift
Despite the bodies that put it together
I am ME
Unapologetically
Taking the gloves off
The hooks
The chains
The chastening belt
The whipping post
The addendums to the law
To make me inclusive
Replacing it with one cross
And….
An ALL seeing eye
My Awakening
Support
The Magnolia Literacy Project’s
initiative to showcase the writing and art
of Mississippians.
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