On November 30, 2015 at the assembly honoring the 51st anniversary of the speech Martin Luther King Jr. gave at Stamford High School, student Asantewaa Gordon recited an poem composed for the occasion. The poem, Do You Remember, is reprinted here in honor of Black History Month.

Do You remember that time we roamed freely

In our home land

Where we were considered the kings and queens of the world

Where we knew our rights and demanded respect

Do you remember how we were stolen from our mother land?

And half a century later we still blame the white man

When it was our own that traded us for a bottle of whiskey and guns

The same guns that made confetti of our faces if we were disobedient

Do you remember when we were brought over

From our home land to a foreign nation?

Do you remember when they took away our native names

Quicey

Kawami

Asantewaa 

Do you remember when they took away our given names

And in return categorize all black people as N—-RS

As if the pigment of my skin was a given signal that

I wasn’t equal, as if my skin

My ebony melanin enriched skin

The skin that reflected the sun’s rays were just right to work on the field

Do you remember when we weren’t allowed to read?

When we were struggling to find a book and gain some sort of knowledge

Knowledge the one thing that made a loop hole to get out of the oppressed state from our oppressors

Do you remember when we were beaten and murdered?

Before hangman was a game we were the original players

Before the whip was a dance it was a weapon used to beat the disobedient

And the naenae was a tactic to avoid the most possible pain

Do you remember?

When we stood up for our basic freedoms?

Dr. King stood up for his freedoms

Malcolm X stood up for his freedoms

Marcus Garvey stood up for his freedoms

Do you remember?

Nah you don’t remember,

Because it wasn’t you who were involuntary

Oppressed

It wasn’t you who cringed when the word n—-r was dropped

and saw the heads of all the black people turned around

It was you who freely caressed the word to your tongue

As if it were sweet milk and honey

“Hey my nigga”

“What’s happening my nigga?”

“What’s good my nigga?”

Yea it wasn’t you who struggled to gain your rights

But it is you who SCREAM at the top of your lungs

“I KNOW MY RIGHTS!!!”

Well if you knew your rights you would know

You have the right to remain silent

The right to an attorney

The right to a speedy trial

The right to a journal

You have the right to use your intelligence

People did not suffer for our generation to regress back to what it was

They did not sacrifice their lives for ungrateful kids to mess it up

You need to remember what was done for you to have a comfortable life

But you know who remembered?

Maya Angelou remembered

Ben Carson remembers

Condoleezza Rice remembers

President Obama remembers

And I too will remember