Burning crosses staked
into the backs of ancestors
by elected officials hooded
in cotton sheets.

The illiterate turned away,
signature nothing more than an X.
Mothers in servitude;
fathers three-fifths
of a white man.

Laws passed keep them in bondage
another hundred years.
Citizens to a nation
they do not own.
Dead before freedom rings for

broken chains rusted in blood
to clamp around the ankles
of men whose averted eyes
let someone else
cast his vote.

—Nortina

Despite what you may think, the shocking results in Iowa this week prove that your vote does matter. You have the power to change this world. Don’t let the wrong people get elected in November.

Written for Black Poetry Writing Month