Freedom, But For Whom?

When Ghana became free, 

they raised a flag over Ghana, 

bight as dawn. 

They said we were no longer slaves, 

Kwame Nkrumah spoke of freedom like it was a door flung open for all. 

But I was born after the drums quieted, 

after the cheers became history. 

Nkrumah spoke with hope and everyone believed in a better tomorrow. 

But today I still wonder, 

I still ask who walked through that door? 

Did  that freedom reach everyone?

They said we were free from chains yet I watch my mother bend like borrowed land. 

Her dreams folded into ' yes' and endure. 

I see women told to stay quiet, 

to endure, to accept, 

to shrink. 

We were free as a country,

... 

they said the nation was reborn, 

but what of the daughters it carries, 

they who bleed in silence, 

who are taught to shrink before they speak. 

The street have new names, 

the masters new faces. 

But a woman's body still feels like territory owned, 

judged, 

negotiated.

So tell me, 

when the flag kissed the sky that night did it see us too? 

We can walk the streets, 

yes

But not without fear. 

We can dream, 

yes

But not without limits placed on us.

Freedom came they say. 

It feels like freedom came halfway, 

it stopped before reaching us, 

it came with speeches and fireworks, 

it didn’t knock on every door. 

So as a son of this red gold and green still stand and ask again, 

not in anger,

Freedom But For Whom?