Sleep Aight

rest easy
dirty
ghetto
kid

no nightmares of systemic plights
of redlined mistakes
made by institutions
predominately white

sleep tight where cockroaches crawl
they don’t bite
dream of being blue in the moonlight,
aight?

have lucid dreams of affirmative action actually advancing admissions
freshmen orientation preparing Blacks for fabricated stereotypes that still exist
despite the fact,
the feds put it into law that white supremacists are terrorists

our supreme court’s emergency application
made academia a space so safe
our ghosts of racism’s past magically erased
HBCUs were given the same endowment as Harvard

Congress reading the Pedagogy of the Oppressed
and both houses liking it!
The three branches of government paying your
full tuition—fees, room, and board—as reparations.

The 45th president understands education reform
is a Black idea and canceling capitalism,
then paying the Blacks back for Tulsa,
giving up 40 acres and a gold mule.

Replay images of pulling yourself up by sneaker shoe straps
and running past the carnage of innocent Blacks,
like you, who are only just an iPhone scroll away

because in your dreams those Proud boys’ are ready
to celebrate the contributions of Blacks who
blossomed on stolen, salinized farmland
once too ruinous for Blacks to bloom.

About Charles Payne

Charles Payne, M. Ed is a Madison transplant, a certified teacher, and a self-taught spoken word artist from Michigan. His work explores personal narrative and social commentary. He is the firstborn of a strict father and naïve mother. As a child, he loved hearing the sound of Paul Harvey's voice, whose innate ability to describe every intricate detail truly inspired Charles to tell stories himself. Charles has won the Moth's first ever Central Grandslam (Chicago), Charles has recorded a TEDx talk with St. Edward's University (Texas), performed at the 3rd annual Madison Moth Grandslam (Wisconsin), the National Poetry Slam (North Carolina), and Individual World Poetry Slam (Washington), and other showcases across the country. And yes, he can't wait to give you the rest of the story.