
Blood and Bone, We Are the Same
Written over a year ago, this poem is so fitting for where we are right now in our nation. "Blood and Bone, We are the Same," featured in my upcoming book, Forever, Like the Moon: Songs of Awakening, emerged out of very real and raw personal participation in racial and civil rights issues since college. It came from living with and listening to people of all backgrounds and races.
Blood and Bone, We are the Same
My skin is shredded by lashes on my back
Blood oozes under shackles at my feet
Sweat sears my eyes, cutting words still wrack
Stabbing pain of loss makes Death seem sweet
Blood and bone, we are the same
Yet all you know of me is shame
Burning torches surround the lynch mob’s rope
Dignity stripped bare, naked and demeaned
Slavery is gone, yet Jim Crow steals our hope
From the sour milk of prejudice never weaned
Blood and bone, we are the same
Yet you think of me without my name
Harlem Renaissance, black people on the rise
Now the inner city replaces our plantation field
We work twice as strong to prove that we are wise
To pierce the daunting power that white men wield
Blood and bone, we are the same
You do not want to know my name
We walked with Dr. King for civil rights
Showed we could rally and speak our mind
We fought a just and peaceful fight
What we gained was not justice-in-kind
We walk the streets, we’re raisins in the sun
Grasping at sports or street gangs to win
Yet as enlightened and educated as you become
In soul and mind, racism lurks beneath your skin
Blood and bone, we are the same
You hold me into poverty and shame
Yes, progress has come in a measure
Individuals rose to honor, might and fame
Secretly assigned lesser value and treasure
Allowed to blacks, still not quite the same
Blood and bone, we are the same
Yet you think me weaker, somehow lame
It is time to own the travesty of our hate
As whites we break! Let the Truth invade
Inner sanctums where we have refused to relate
See the real hell of hate we have made
Blood and bone, we are the same
Can you break the cycle of oppression and pain?
Racism is learned, culture institutionalized
Spread in the heart-soil of hatred and greed
Only One authority guarantees complete demise
Shatters our hate, shows us our need
Blood and bone, we are the same
Under the surface, we shatter the shame!
We all deserve those lashes on our backs
The ropes and chains digging into our skin
We have let hate grow, and failed to act
Become perpetrators of this heinous sin
Can we break our hearts and lay down pride?
Allow each person equal dignity and breath,
Throw off the chains of hatred deep inside,
Conquer the real source of living death?
Blood and bone, we are the same
Give me a chance, now speak my name!
The spirit of racism kills our souls
It is a spirit, driven to ravage and divide
To keep our nation from becoming whole
Or healing our hearts from deep inside
Turn to the Father, His infinite power
Authority that sees each one as pure gold
Let him wreck hatred’s ivory towers
Overflow His Love that makes us bold
Broken hearts lead to liberated minds
Truth by His spirit will slay
Nothing less than the power of God
Cuts to blood and bone and makes a way!
Blood and bone, we are the same
In acts of true compassion, we find our names!
Chere Berman, 2019
“Hate cannot drive out hate: only Love can do that”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Site photo by Jason Hild