Empty Seats

Written by JC Hughes (aka C Hues)

May 30, 2025

Blacks  standing  over  empty  seats;
Invisible people sitting down...
Invisible people standing up...

Montgomery buses
seg re gat ed

When white men integrated,
Mulatto was created.
And Brown was debated...

Sep a rate
On the bus

Integrate in the shack,
In the shed,
In the police car,
In the dark---at knifepoint...
The Southern gentlemen show their Southern hospitality.
Please, show us the errors of black brutality---
How dare we stand?
How dare we speak?
How dare we select peace over war?
Colvin, Smith, Browder, and McDonald---
They are our Mount Rushmore.

REFERENCES: At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance—a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. Danielle L. McGuire. 2010. First Vintage Books Edition, October 2011. ISBN: 978-0-307-38924-4. P 14, 32, 64, 65, 69, 71, 72, 73, 119, 132, 133, 160, 161, 178, 179.