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Photo by Mattia Faloretti on Unsplash

Black is …
the concerns of my Madea, her grandchildren’s trios.
my tangled hair that’s cut into the flyest styles.
Black is … sweet … Black is … savory. Black is Aunt Pumpkin’s fried chicken smothered in gravy.
Black is recognizing that the lives of Latino people are just as important as my own.
Black is personality, conspiracy, controversy, the size of my big black (watch your mouth)
sexuality … spirituality…
morality, no understanding for police brutality … Black is …!
Black is … Oscar Grant, George Floyd and so many more.
Yet Black is God opening a window when we close that door.
Dare not forget a mother’s cries when her boy been slain.
So we done got tired of gettin’ our feet wet.
We, my Black people … gotta make it rain.
Vote.

This was written during the 2020 Presidential race. 

Disclaimer: The views in this article are those of the author. Prison Journalism Project has verified the writer’s identity and basic facts such as the names of institutions mentioned.

Traci Jackson is an African-American transgender female writer incarcerated in California.