Invisibility

     driving hyper-visibility

A strange

     stranger

A foreign

     intruder

An unrelatable

     alien

An easy

     target

They don’t see us

So they want to erase us

Prove

     our right to exist

Demonstrate

     our value and worth

Display 

     our gratitude

Mask

     the grief- and rage-filled trauma

They don’t want to see

Regardless

Unceasing violence

Fists and spit

Hammers and slurs

Bricks and bullets

Pushing

Shoving

Pummeling

Crushing

Ending

     our lives

               safety

                          freedom

Erase us

     so they don’t see us

I see us

Collaborating

Congregating

Organizing

Advocating

Supporting

Upholding

Loving

Healing 

Building

     connections

               community

Taking up space

Filling the air

with words

        art

      music

      our very beings

Holding steady

Growing stronger

Transforming

     invisibility

               to visibility 

See us

We are here

     and we aren’t going anywhere

Whether you like it

     or not