When she said "European history is offered as a major but African History is taught as an elective." Struck me because I'm a history major and never thought about that. This poem blew my mind.

"you columbus'ed our tradition...but it was ghetto when we did it" 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

“...not because i’m pretty, but because i’m pretty for a black girl.” SIS I FELT THAT! every time i watch this video i get chills. wow

It literally annoys me that people see africa as one nation. I could say I'm Nigerian five times and they would still ask "So you're african?"

"This isn't even your nation, how the hell do you discovered some shit that wasn't even missing to begin with?" YAAAAAAAAAAAAS

I admit, I am white and I probably will never fully understand the extent of the privilege that I have. Only that I hope that privilege can extend beyond my race. For those of my race who are getting mad, she's not calling us all racist. If you actually listen, she's trying to educate you. If it struck a nerve, perhaps you need to reevaluate as to why it is making you angry.

You have said more in 3 mins than many have in their entire lives. This shook me and others to the core. Your grace, beauty, intellect, and power is detremintal to our journey. thanks sis!

Thank you all

I always love poems that surround mythology.

Super overwhelmed by the love... like super! I do see there are a few people who are also more comfortable with revisionist history instead of the truth, but they probably ate lead paint chips as a kid.... lol. I primarily perform at colleges and have performed at over 200. If you would like me to come to your school or event, hit me up Kyla Lacey and I will pass it on to my agents or hit you back myself. Thank you for everything, I promise I will upload and update my own page with more poetry as well!!!!

"You having a problem with immigration, this isn't even your nation" 💯💯 this line is so powerful

omg she spiting straight BARS

YES! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 poetry! This is genuine, real, and straightforward. *speak poet*

Girl I could've cried just now. I love my people. I really do!

wow that brought me to tears

I love this poem. I'm definitely preforming this for Black History Month

I am so here for this poetic honesty!

What more can be said when the passion is so evident? You are black, beautiful, intelligent, and a mirror to every beautiful dark, chocolate, swaying flower in our community. Blessings

this woman is incredible

I don't even words for this .. 🙌👏👏👏

All that truth and people still act blind smh.

Phenomenal.

This is beyond powerful.

"Oh am I making you uncomfortable? Try a crammed slave ship" POP OFF

"People saying black people destroys neighborhood but forgetting white people destroy continents..." 👊👊👊👊 YES! GIRL'S a QUEEN.

im so shook at how good this is all i can say is wow Wow WOW

6yrs later and I’m still snapping

The constant DEFELCTIONS within the comments are only proving what she is spitting, especially with the last line. This poem is powerful, truthful, factual, and bold. Fabulous job Ms. Lacey!!💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯❤❤

“You’re not racist cuz you don’t use the n word but y’all use niggas everyday.” That hit me

Usually people talk about AFRICA as if it's a country and its a continent with 54 countries.

What an incredible talent, and what a powerful (and spot-on) distillation of history and the ugly truth of European colonialism: "we learned your English, your Dutch, your Spanish, your Portuguese...you learned our nothing and called us 'stupid.'"

Tell.that.truth.GodDAMN.

This was way too real and I loved every second!!!

WOW! I am blown away. This was phenomenal

It is crack vs cocaine omg 👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽

Yesssss honey 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 I felt that in my soul.

BROOOOO MY GIRL SNAPPED OMG YASSS QUEEN YOU BETTA

Man she killed it 👌🏿💯

Now this is something that needs to go VIRAL.. Nothing but the truth spoken..

She came out the gate swinging 😍😍😍

Legit got chillsssss off this poem! So much truth in it and I love it!!!

I sincerely wish I had enough time to reply to all of the uneducated bitter folks out there as well, but alas, I have better things to do. If you are one of those folks and you feel so upset about my poem, I invite you to privately message me and I can further guide you to informed thinking processes. Be well all.

I am a white female and all I have to say is COULDN'T AGREE MORE . YES MA'AM

EVERYTHING !!!!!

This is seriously one of my favorite slam poems EVER!!! Like this was just so woke and I literally got chills by watching this

Oh god. She had me screaming in my car. Speak sister and speak loudly. May the ancestors bless you.

Her performance and her message are chilling!! Very powerful! The pain and anger are palpable in her voice. Will be following and sharing.

YES.

WOW, nothing need to be said after that!

Tell them Sister!!!🙌🙌👏👏👏

Absolutely speechless. "On point" speak the truth.

She did that! Everything she said I could relate to 100%.

I remember seeing this live in Columbus Ga!

“We learned your French [and etc]. You learned out nothing and called us stupid.” First she implies that we don’t learn about black history, then she later goes on to complain about the fact that we have black history month. I really don’t think she put very much thought into this presentation. “Getting 20% longer sentences for committing the same offense.” Those people being sentenced longer are those that commit repeat offenses. Repeat offenders get longer sentences than first time offenders. Blacks in the US tend to commit more repeat offenses, thus they get longer sentences more often. It’s really not that complicated. “A white felon is more likely to get a job than a black man without a record.” I looked high and low and was not able to find a single credible source to variety this claim. There were no sources or stats cited in this video and no way to verify the validity of this claim, so I have to assume that she just made it up. “It is Katrina answering the governments wishes for eugenics.” You do know that the Katrina hurricane had an impact on everyone living in New Orleans including the white population, right? Also, I’m a bit baffled by her implication that the government has a wish for eugenics. The US and most other first world countries abandoned its eugenics program decades ago. If the government really wished for eugenics then they’d simply reimplement the program or would have otherwise never abandoned it in the first place. “This isn’t even your nation.” Imagine the negative reaction we would hear if a white person said this to a non-white person. Anyway, I’ve never heard anyone white or otherwise call the US “their nation” in that it personally belongs to them. I’d say this nation belongs to the government, ie the people with all the Jet fighters, tanks, and artillery. I’m pretty sure they’re the ones that have this place locked down. “How do you discover something that wasn’t even missing.” When people say that Columbus “discovered” the Americas, they obviously mean that in the context of him discovering it for Europe. “Got white girls twerking in HD, but it was ghetto when we did it.” Twerking and other similar behavior is still seen as trashy when white people do it too. Tons of people were lambasting Miley Cyrus back in the mid-2010s for how she looked while twerking. Additionally, there are many black dancers and musicians out there that have been featured on television for their dancing, so clearly this kind of thing goes both ways. “Slavery isn't over, it’s just called the prison system.” Slavery and prison labor are not the same thing. Prisoners doing labor are not viewed as property and they are still granted basic rights as protected by the US constitution. I’m not saying that the US prison system is perfect. It isn’t. And I suppose there is a discussion to be had as to the ethicality of prison labor. However, trying to compare it to slavery is intellectually dishonest and frankly pretty disgusting on her part. “Your not racist because you don’t use the N word but y'all use “niggas” every day.” I don’t understand what she trying to get at with this point here. It seems like she’s saying that whites using words with a racial connotation proves that white privilege is real. I don’t think she thought that argument through very well given that she herself uses a phrase with a racial connotation (white boy) later on in the video. Again, I am led to think that she didn’t put much thought into this presentation. “[white privilege] is the acceptance of bombs over Baghdad, but not over Boston.” Pretty sure we’ve got lots of non-white people living in Boston. anyway, bombings, war, and violent strife in general is viewed as undesirable regardless of where it is taking place. Granted, people will naturally take more notice of it whenever it is happening closer to home, but we don’t simply become happy with it because it is happening further away. “Is European history being taught as a major and African as an elective.” Probably because European history has had a much greater impact on the US than African history did. The US began as a European colony and takes most of its cultural and political influence from Europe. Additionally, the US is a Western country and Western civilization originated and developed in Europe, thus further tying American history to that of Europe. If African history had somehow been the main force behind the creation of the US, then it would be getting the focus over European history. “Every white boy who wanted to fuck my brains out not because I’m pretty, but because I’m pretty for a black girl.” If somebody actually said that to you specifically, they I can see why you be offended. However, you can hardly get angry with someone for simply being more physically attracted to a certain type of people. White people can’t help it if they aren’t typically attracted to black women. As a matter of fact, almost every race of people has a bias favoring their own race when it comes to sexual attraction. White men are more likely to be attracted to white women, Asian men are typically more attracted to Asian women, Indians are typically more attracted to other Indians and so on. The only race that did not display this bias was black men. They were found to be more attracted to white women than black women. I’m sorry if that bothers you, but it really is just simple biology. “People thinking that Africa is one nation.” That’s just called not knowing your geography. I’ve met people (black and white) who think that Europe is one nation. I’ve also met people of different races who think that South America is one nation and that couldn’t name more than three countries within the Asian continent. This is not an issue that uniquely affects black People. “You say that black people destroy neighborhoods....” Pretty awkward to hear that line after 2020 when violent BLM riots have caused severe damage to several major American cities. “....when white people destroyed continents.” She seem to be referring to the popular myth that African countries are poor because they were exploited by European colonizers. If that’s really the case, why is it that Ethiopia and Iberia are still among the poorest nations in Africa despite being colonized for the shortest period of time (only about 6 years of Italian rule for Ethiopia and none at all for Iberia). Why is it that the most stable countries in Africa also happen to be the ones that were most extensively colonized? Why is it that promising nations like South Africa and Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) only started to spiral into failed state status after black majority rule was established? Additionally, intervention from the Western world is what first introduced Africa to modern infrastructure, electricity, buildings higher than one story, laws against slavery, modern medicine, and a plethora of other great things that the African natives had not yet developed for themselves. Hell, most sub-Saharan societies didn’t even have the wheel before Europeans came. The truth of the matter is that European colonization is not an excuse for failure. Rather, it was a major catalyst for success. “Is learning about my people only 28 days.” She seems to be referring to black history month as if this is the only time we ever learn about black history. This is, of course, not true. People are still free to study black history as much as they want at any any given time of the year. Ironically, black history month was originally meant to highlight the accomplishments and historical experiences of blacks living in the US. I don’t see how that could be interpreted as a way of giving privileges to whites. If people are upset that we have black history month then I suppose we could always just get rid of it, but you can’t just go pretending that it’s existence somehow elevates whites above every other racial group. If anything, the reverse is true. “Throwing out a qualified applicant because their name sounded too African American.” Race based discrimination was banned by the 1965 civil rights acts, so she’s talking about something that is already currently illegal. If there is reason to believe that an employer is rejecting applicants for their race, then we have the power to take legal action against them. “….and dismisses all this truth I just spit. That is white privilege.” I think what she’s trying to say here is that using logic and common sense to refute the idea of white privilege is an example of white privilege.

in tears

I had to fan myself. Goosebumps. Tears in my eyes. And the snake doing down my spine whispers "you know it's all true.". Where have I been.

#snappingmyfingers #clappingmyhands #applauding #bravo

Wow shes so talented

this is just...💪💪💪💪💪🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥❤❤❤❤❤❤😁😁😁😁😁😯😯😯😯😯🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥words couldn't explain

Life is what you make it

not gunna read the comment section... I already know there's white people who will argue nd tell black people how it feels to b black in America & disregard r REAL LIFE experience's & injustice..& when we talk about it its complaining...AMAZING PREACH!!..

IM SHOOK , Love this!

I LOVE EVERY WORD SHE SAID!

she has slayed my life!

This shit was amazing

killed it!!

Sis gave depth in every word she said, makes me not want to hold back putting my poetry out there.

I love her!!👸🏾👸🏾👸🏾👸🏾🙆🏾👸🏾🙆🏾👸🏾👸🏾

Goosebumps! Nothing but the truth.

Thanks Sistah for this AMAZING presentation of truth. ✊🏾✊🏾

Written lyrics to these poems would be amaaazing!✊🏽

people like you are so relevant. this poem alone brings truth closer to the surface. thus poem alone opened the eyes of many. I applaud you.

I cried watching this

Yaaaasss, slay my life with all this truth and knowledge!

On a bit of a poetry spree this evening and stumbled upon this channel. Every video, every poem, and each and every word from every voice has moved me. I am so thankful to have found this channel. Phenomenal poetry, all of it.

This speaks volumes

"slavery is over now, it's just called prison system" my god.

Wowwwwwww this is amazing I'm sharing this👏

Thank you sister

amazing!

She performed this at my University. She's so talented and so cool.

Drops the mic🎤 👏👏👏

Wow, SOOOO powerful, so beautiful. My heart felt compliments Kyla.

She put perspective into words. Thank you for sharing this powerful piece.

WOAHHHHHHHHHHH! POWERFUL! ❤

BOOM! Mic drop!

Sis went off!👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

TRUTH!!!

I have been educated thank you

Absolutely in love with this piece!

i will never get over this

deadass facts b

Speak on it! 👏🏾

COME ON SIS!!!!!!!!!!

actually moved me to tears

The dislike is a pressed white person

This made me roll my eyes

im shaking after watching this.

YES YES YES!! Young black artists are on the rise and they're only getting better and better! I love this!

I don't disagree with anything you said and not because I'm black. It's because I understand the bs they pass off as history.