Respect Respect

You Can’t Cancel Out Me

A fractured trilonnet for Ron DeSantis and his “War on Woke”

you can’t cancel out me with your dead sleep you attempt to rewrite my ancestors Painting them as grateful apprentices

you pretend they didn’t cry out and weep while your people stood by like spectators Even now we feel the consequences

You can’t cancel me out with your dead sleep By ripping out pages of our story you fear your kids will think less of themselves?

are you afraid they’ll wake from your dead sleep to realize the South lost its glory? so you try to empty all the bookshelves

time to wake up and face reality we’re staying woke! You can’t cancel out me!

Living in the state of Florida, United States, served as the inspiration for this poem. I composed it in response to recent events, which I’ve outlined below.

Please understand I don’t assume to fully comprehend the depth of emotions experienced by a Black person concerning the absurd and potentially harmful assertions made by Governor Ron DeSantis regarding the “benefits” of slavery. Nevertheless, if my own outrage was ignited, I am confident that any person of color would share a similar sentiment.

In crafting the poem, I adopted the persona of a Black woman of my own age. I recollect the era of segregation, marked by “colored” and “white” water fountains. I recall desegregation and the accompanying violence: the memory of George C. Wallace, the governor standing in the schoolhouse door to obstruct Black students from being admitted to The University of Alabama is vivid; the “I Have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. still echoes in my mind; tragedies such as the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, claiming the lives of four young Black girls attending Sunday school, are permanently ingrained in my memory; the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on “Bloody Sunday”; the assassination of Dr. King; and an extensive list of events that seem to never end come to mind.

As a child and teenager, I observed these occurrences with horror and a sense of helplessness. I am aware that the woman in my poem shared the same sentiments. However, one emotion she experienced that I did not was fear. I can only imagine the weight of fearing for one’s life simply due to the color of their skin.

Alongside that fear, I am certain feelings of anger and defiance emerged — justifiable anger and defiance. These are the emotions I harnessed for this poem. Following all she has endured, along comes this politician idiot who seeks to rewrite her history!

This poem “You Can’t Cancel Out Me” was inspired by the following true events.

In an article for NPR, Domenico Montanaro wrote:

“Woke” was used in Black protest songs dating back to the early 20th century. There is debate about its origins, but as far back as 1938, singer Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, used the phrase in a recording of an afterword of his song, “Scottsboro Boys,” to warn of potential racist violence against Black people in the South. “I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through Alabama — stay woke, keep their eyes open,” Ledbetter said in what’s believed to be the first audio recording of someone using the phrase “stay woke.” source: Republicans can’t stop using the word ‘woke’. But what does it really mean? July 21, 2023, NPR.org

The term has continued to be used to urge people to be alert to not only racial, but other forms of social injustice. In recent years conservative extremists have co-opted the term, using it as an insult against anything that they consider progressive or liberal politics.

In mid-July of this year, 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that future Florida school textbooks would begin teaching that slavery benefited African Americans who “gained skills” that “eventually parlayed … into doing other things in life”.

But when Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running to be the Republican nominee for president, signed the “Stop WOKE Act” (CS/HB 7) last year, it prohibited any teaching that could make students feel they bear personal responsibility, guilt, anguish, or “other forms of psychological distress” for actions in the past committed by members of their own race, and blocked instruction that suggested anyone was “either privileged or oppressed” based on race or skin color. source: C. A. Bridges https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/education/2023/07/24/floridas-new-black-history-curriculum-slavery-kamala-harris-ron-desantis/70455510007/

Two other laws are contributing to book bans in Florida schools. The Stop WOKE Act prohibits instruction that could make students feel guilty or responsible for the past actions of other members of their race. The Parents Rights in Education law prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in some elementary grades; a state rule is expected to expand the restrictions through 12th grade. source: Florida at Center of Debate as School Book Bans Surge Nationally, The New York Times, April 23,2023

A note on poetic form:

Trilonnet, created by Shelley A. Cephas, is a 14-line poem made up of four three-line verses of 8 syllables (iambic tetrameter) and one rhyming couplet or four three-lined verses of 10 syllables (iambic pentameter) and one rhyming couplet. Shadow Poetry.com

I call this poem a fractured trilonnet, because I didn’t follow either of the traditional rhyme patterns. But, that’s nothing new for me!

I am submitting this poem in response to the Paper Poetry prompt of Respect Respect. You can read about the prompt and be directed to some thought provoking and well-crafted responses from other writers in this wonderful publication by clicking the link below.

As always, I want to thank my dear friend and editor of Paper Poetry, Carolyn Hastings, for her patience and guidance in publishing this poem.