A Colored Lifeline

She was a citizen of her motherland

And yet, she was denied her right as a daughter

She was born among colors that loved just as vibrantly

In a family as 'dirty' as the color of rain-fed earth and soil

She was Rosa Parks.

From sun's rise to sun's set

Her fingers weaved and knitted and sewed

and tucked and pinned and bled

blood as red as those of fair skin 

She was Rosa Parks

They laid claim to metal and steel

To houses and sidewalks and buses and businesses

They strangled politics, suffocated rights

Twisted laws and governments into cages

They were the whites.

There was no sense of, from, and by the people.

There was only mine and yours.

But then she happened

With her defiance and courage and strength

On a bus, of all places.

While some heroes stand up to injustice

she did it by sitting down.

She raised her voice and held her head tall

She stood her ground and said, "NO".

She. Was. Rosa. Parks.