"Still I Rise"

Acrylic on Canvas
24x36 Canvas

Story:
He wore the crown of thorns and bore the afflicted welts on his back. Mocked, beaten, disfigured, and was no longer seen as human, but as a lamb to the slaughter. Arms and legs nailed to the cross, which took up our infirmities.
Body pinned out and pierced for our iniquities.
Water and blood by whose stripes we are healed. Died like a criminal, but committed no crime. Christ crucified and cried out in agony. Poured out his life and gave up his spirit. He can’t breathe, suffocated by the weight of such a world. Beautiful black bodies, who have spent decades drowning in sorrow. From America’s sin, oppressed, exploited, dehumanized, test subjects, afflicted. Despised, rejected, and betrayed by the system.
Tortured by the badge with their bodies riddled with bullets. Knees on our necks, mocked and beaten. Murdered in cold blood, marred and disfigured for our organs to be stolen. Mass incarceration of our black men. Drugs disposed in our communities, turning our brothers against their own. Going into labor and enduring pain and expecting help, but left with our words not taken seriously and facing the ultimate risk of death. We are still human! But in this world and in the American Society, we’re like lambs to the slaughter that are nailed in a coffin. We’re America’s racist infirmities that are killed for its inequities. Water and blood by whose stripes are we healed? Dying like criminals, test subjects, and black bodies tormented. We’re crying out in pain with our lives pouring out, diminishing our spirit. Bodies going silent. We can’t breathe, but yet we still choose to rise from it all.