Black History Month Art Contest
2024 Winners
VISUAL ART
Winner
By Gisele Cediel
Poetry
Winner
Unbeknownst
by Babirye & Najuna Kiggundu
knee to the neck
we can’t breathe
shot to the chest
we cant breathe
stabbed by the knife of injustice
we cant live
when?
when can we breathe?
his nubian skin blessed by the earth
less like a beauty more like a crime
hood on, for comfort
shot dead, just cuz
hands in his jeans, coins rattling
beaten to death, just cuz
each black birth, a new prison cell
waiting to be filled by its prisoner
her destiny, set before her birth
deemed adult at 15
her kinky coils wrap her head
less like a gift, more like a burden
her beauty is unbeknownst to those around her
because all they see is
hood
ghetto
dumb
dropout
angry black girl
but what about the real us?
the girls you don’t see
when you’re blinded by what you WANT to see
our history, twisted into one of pain and torture
yet they forget our rich diaspora
carved from the backs of our ancestors
is more than
suffering
loss
murder
hunger
ache
but is the chance for every young soul
to create their own destiny
Winner
The Darker Shades of Brown
by Da’Shemé Hosley
The darker shades of brown
used to thrive
In the motherland
In rays of sun
with only melanin as a defense
Free
Free to have culture
Free to express art
Free to be brown
Free to be black
Eventually
European conceit and prejudice
Turned into steel chains
Latching onto
and hauling brown skin
into a land of revulsion
and intolerance
a land where we’re told
we weren’t meant to thrive
The darker shades of brown
Mixed into a society
that doesn’t want us in it
That ignores us
That Rejects us
Black and white
Oil and water
We’re thrown into a place where
We’re told our God given
nose shapes and mouth widths
are bizarre
We’re told our lingo is absurd
And our mannerisms, improper
We’re told we’d look better light
When our melanin blossoms
in the radiant sun
We’re told not to group up
‘Cause we may look duplicitous
But we were taken from a land
where congregation contained
song and dance
We’re told we look better light
When family affection
wraps me in arms of chestnut
and dark mahogany
We’re told not to group up
Because we’ll scare minds
that are already made up
about a darker shade of brown
Minds that think that
a shade of brown dark enough
is frightening
is evidence
is inferior
A shade of brown dark enough
is dangerous
If a shade of brown is dark enough
when they raise their hand
it’s to strike and not to wave
When they enter a store
it’s to steal and not buy
When they wear a hoodie
it’s sinister and not style
When a darker shade of brown
holds something
What they hold in their hands
is not a phone
Or a wallet
Or their license
Or a bag of groceries
Or a toy
Or a pack of skittles
They hold permission to be struck down
Because if your a shade of brown dark enough
If your hair curls are ‘too tight’
Or
‘Hood’ mannerisms naturally
slip off of your tongue
Or
your dose of melanin is simply ‘too much’
You’re told to forget
Forget achieving equality
Or acceptance
Give up on your future
Forget your history
The tell us forget our history
like it was all whips
and chains and cotton
But it was not
Our history is abolition of injustice
And resistance of intolerance
Our history is trend setting and
effortless influence on culture
Our history is hair that defies gravity
and is put in styles
beautiful enough to be framed
Our history is music that constructs
and emits passion
They tell the darker shades of brown
to forget our history
But our history is brown
Our history is black
and there is nothing
more beautiful than that
