But I'm paid in full.
No need for receipts, refunds, or rules.
My ancestors prepaid the cost
With blood, sweat, and the sacred breaking of chains.
Now I spend my days collecting the interest
In breath, in brilliance, in being unashamed.
See, I come from a people who knew debt and deliverance.
Who knew how to turn rations into recipes,
Chains into choirs,
And pain into prophecy.
We been “owed” for centuries.
From forty acres and a mule, to predatory student loans and exorbitant inflation.
But we keep building wealth in ways they can’t tax.
In culture, in courage, in communities.
They want to distract us
With headlines about borders and bans,
Wars overseas while the battle’s in our hands.
They shout “freedom” from podiums
While passing policies that choke it.
Talk about “law and order”
While the law itself stays crooked.
But I know freedom isn’t a slogan
Freedom’s a seed.
And we water it with every act of resistance,
Every protest, every vote,
Every time a Black mama refuses to fold.
See, Harriet didn’t run for me to walk scared.
Frederick didn’t speak for me to stay silent.
They carved roads through political and literal wilderness
So I could stand here
Educated and wholly unapologetic.
I tend to think of Sojourner when I scroll online
How she’d look at our timelines and say,
“You still fighting the same devils, just with Wi-Fi.”
And isn't that the truth?
We still have overseers, they're just wearing suits now.
Still have plantations, they're just call ‘em prisons now.
Still got massa money moving through politics,
While the working class can barely breathe in it.
But me? I’m a descendant of endurance.
And baby, my spirit has credit.
I’ve seen too many revolutions
Start with a whisper that grew wings.
From “I can’t breathe” to “Black Lives Matter”
From “Me Too” to “Times Up”
From “Vote like your life depends on it”
To “Live like your ancestors are watching.”
Freedom ai
n’t free
But I’m paid in full.
Because every time they counted us out,
We recalculated.
Every time they buried us,
We pollinated.
Every law meant to silence us
Became the lyric in a new song.
And I’m still singing
With the fire of Fannie Lou Hamer,
The rhythm of Langston,
The grace of Maya herself,
Who told me, “Still I rise.”
And I did.
Even when the rent was due
And the dream felt overdrafted.
So now I walk in my profit
Of peace, of pride, of promise.
I’m the return on investment
Of every prayer uttered through tears.
The living, breathing receipt that says:
We paid for this.
With our bodies.
With our brilliance.
With our boundless, burning belief
That freedom... real freedom
Isn’t something they give.
It’s something we keep.
So let the record show:
The balance is settled.
The cost was high.
But I’m still standing tall.
Because freedom ain’t free
But…
I’m paid in full.
Comments
Post a Comment