Spoken Word: The Ganja Tree

Hush just look slowly behind here. Yes, it's me
Huge yes, and unnoticed, I am a ganja tree
Unbelievable right here in this public park
Sharing shelter and beauty like moonlight in the dark
Openly at my trunk people flirt, make love, some even cry
Converse on world politics, accept bribery and lie
Being here for centuries still I am illegal
Once buds were healthy for many it was medicinal
Rhetoric for control lingers as the racist bridge got crossed
Finger pointing got rampant as hands clasped
Banning of chain migration shook my leaves to the core
Reintroduction criminally to make America white once more

Admiring watchful eyes of hope and desolation
Listening to voices of sin shame and destitution
My leaves smoulder as buds ease pain and share hope
Like minority in this park with stealth pleasantly I cope
Restore the good old days, revamp white superiority
Who cares about family reunification or others' prosperity
Chain migration was okay for anglo Saxon and Europeans
Colonial ideology white Europeans make better Americans
Dehumanizing blacks, brainwashing as they were unwise
Many fought, for death was a thankful vacation to paradise
Greed and corruption through leaders veins instilled fear
As people reminisced and mourn, drowning my roots with tears
Many a innocent coloured bodies hang from my limbs
Entertainment or Jim Crow justice supporting others whims

Those forgotten people who felt the angst bitter and roil
Ones who labored yet was robbed the benefit of the soil
Migrated, some ran from a force and some were forced to run
Ebony melanin system looking down the barrels of a cops gun
Today the focus my legality is as rigid as emancipation
Some states want me free and others seeking redemption
Even though I was born here hidden planted and groomed
I'm a snowflake in summer, my existence will soon be doomed
It took from 1492 until 1924 to release the Indians grasp
For even Native Americans weren't allowed in citizenry class
Like the Native American one day I too will be a citizen
Captured and used as sure as the setting sun it too will be risen


Note: William "Bubbles" Galloway is MNI Media's Resident Spoken Word Contributor