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'Say Her Name' by poet Nia McAllister

Poet Nia McAllister reads her poem "Say Her Name."

Say Her Name 

They locked up History today

Barred the doors | threw away the key

And called her truth False

Four walls between her and her children

Said | hush \ these walls not for talking only homewrecking 

Here we learn Grievance cannot be rehearsed

Justice only got catcalled once today

(not bad for a missing woman)

If she’s invisible in the first place, who’s to say she was ever here?

Sis got taken too--Now we take to the streets saying

No Justice

No Peace!

We yell our sisters’ names against the chorus of

What’d she have on?

To which we cry Defiance.

So she was asking for it?  

To which we remind them

Nobody’s got time to look inviting

when there are revolutions growing beneath our tongues

What’s that? Couldn’t hear over all the white noise 

Here we learn: Fragility doesn’t listen anyways

So as History tells us, we must repeat ourselves:

No Justice

No Peace.