Humans Not Hashtags

Danielle Diew
4 min readJul 31, 2021
The Skin I’m In

How can you tell me to
calm down when
57.5% of prostitution arrests (cbc)
are Black children
You may be surprised
but in America
U.S. citizens
are 80% of (cbc)
trafficking victims
It’s just crazy because
40% of those victims

Yes, are Black Americans
This cuts
It’s just crazy because
After hundreds of years
Black Americans
Are still the targets of
hatred, fear, obsession

How can you tell me to
quiet down when
Black People were just
13.4% of the population
before COVID

Did you know
more than 1 million
Americans have died
in this pandemic
They still won’t call it
A Holocaust though
No
Because
genocide is well hidden
Right in plain sight
Pun intended

It’s been our struggle
since Black skin
was “discovered”
By the 1%
That’s why BOP.gov
Reports 38.4% of us
populate prisons
Mystery uncovered
Imagine how many have died
Because hate-filled people
want to end us
The only defense given?
“Oh no, not this again”

Really, wow
It’s as if you can’t even pretend
to know how to
just be human
If it’s such a struggle
It’s time to pop that
fantasy bubble

The School To Prison Pipeline
sends 31% of
Black children into the system (aclu.org)
35% of death sentences are
Black Women, men, and children (NAACP)
66% of juveniles sentenced to death
are Black

Let me say that again

66% of juveniles sentenced to death
are Black

Why is there still a death sentence?

Why would anyone use it on children?

How the hell do you justify that?
We die in traffic stops
We are 63% more likely to be stopped (sc.edu)
Because racial profiling is a thing
We are 11.5% more likely to be searched (sc.edu)
Also, far less likely to find work
No stat needed for that
everyone on the planet
knows this trick

Use domination and oppression
Instead of learning our own life lessons
Project and Protect
Imagined slights and insights
That’s what L.E. can be to us
Using propaganda to handle
enemies within
A different skin
Projection

We never started a war
We’re still recovering
from the many waged against us!
All we said was “We Matter”
and extremists
went nuts!

Sounds like you need more stats
“How ‘bout ‘dat”

More than 88k Black Americans have died (covidtracking.com)
from COVID (2021, can’t find anything accurate at this point)
That’s 15% where race is mentioned (covidtracking.com)
Not because we are “inferior”
But because racists fear
they may not be superior

There’s no need to exterminate
people
Least of all
the ones deemed
least of all
Why? You are
so much better at everything?
in every way
all day, every day (so you say)
You literally spend
trillions to prove this
opinion
annually, without let up
It’s obvious
A massive setup
So we step up
To fight the system
holding us down
With the weight of
tyranny and oppression
On our necks

Most of us drown

But even during the pandemic
Our kids are still getting suspended
from school
All while being
gaslit
as they are locked up in prison

Shot at, assaulted, gang stalked, condemned

Racial profiling and systemic oppression
has never slowed down
It’s never ended
Even to this day
These matters are ignored
By our own president (like every single one before)
Who says all he needs to do
Is say yeah it’s real and my words
are true
Another racist trope spills
“Racism is not White people’s fault”
So who’s fault does the President think
racism is???

Careless whispers such as these

get us killed, beaten, evicted, suspended, denied

Constant grief, tortured

Did you know 25% of our boys (edweek.org)
And 14% of our girls
Are suspended from school
As if it’s a freaking rule
It must be
to keep us from educating our minds
How can a nation be
such a cold, cruel reality

Racists never stopped hitting back
against Brown V. Ed
The School to Prison Pipeline
is the result of that

Even during the pandemic
They still don’t call it a holocaust
Because the death toll is getting
too high
And these assaults are treated like
political gimmick
A large portion of the population
still thinks this is all fake

Black women literally saved the election
the presidency, and Democracy
Yes, once again the most reviled
step in to save everything
Because yes
we damn sure care about what
the future brings
Particularly to our children
and our children’s children
If we can’t have it
We fight for Human Rights
to make sure they will

Still, we are 2–3 times more likely to die
during pregnancy (cdc)
And 3 times more likely to die
during delivery (npr)
Our babies are 2–3 times
more likely to die (hhs)
and the response is
“We don’t know why”
Yes we do
RACISM
It’s blind
Yet true

Death by police (ncbi.nlm)
Kills 32% of our families
The response to this
undemocratic
genocidal slaughter
“All Lives Matter”
Except for the ones they deem worthy
of gas, bullets, and brands
Not to mention
murder

We’re not hashtags
We’re human

AMERICA CAN

AMERICA MUST

BE BETTER

DO BETTER

WE THE PEOPLE

DEMAND BETTER

HUMANITY FIRST

FUTURE FORWARD

DIVERSE DEMOCRACY

TREAT ALL AS ALL

AS

ALL ARE BORN FREE

Aging In COVID

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Danielle Diew

ADOS, Pandora Whistleblower, Lolita Express, Torture Survivor. Life is a right fight for equality. Spiritual Warfare. THIS IS MY ONLY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT.