The third of four children to King Tahir, Queen Kleopatra is who she says she is. Her authority is something she asserts constantly, which suggests she’s had to fight to be seen as powerful. She declares herself a Black God, one of the powerful celestial beings that oversee life for those born to the black diaspora. Her harshness feels like a response to systemic and social pressure. She embodies the burden placed on Black women to be: strong at all times, in control and unquestioned leaders
Queen Kleopatra
“You’re right. I don’t know history, I am history. I’ve been to the past. I’ve seen black churches burned down with women and children locked inside, smoke painting their lungs. I’ve seen churches, with innocent black believers, shot to their death by their deceivers, blood on the pews up and down the aisles. I’ve seen black people, shopping for eggs and milk, gunned down for no reason at all, groceries decorated with the blood of the innocent and even while we were innocent, we are guilty. Even when we were free, we were enslaved. I’ve seen the worst prisons, filled with black bodies and black minds for little to no crime, black genius being siphoned away. I’ve seen hospitals, injecting poison into the veins of unsuspecting black men, women and children, their tears and cries haunt only us. I’ve seen black men, being experimented on, being reformed and deformed until they need form, their black bodies, twisted for sadistic pleasure. I’ve seen us, in chains, wrapped into our flesh, from the east to the west, the north to the south, with wires in our mouths. They ate us. When they could no longer consume our bodies freely, they consumed our dreams, hopes and being. I’ve seen black children, in poverty, eating only one meal. How can they heal when their problems aren’t real? They were killing us for pennies and inexpensive rags. Do you even know what we were, nothing but hashtags. You see I’ve been to the future, everything’s turning black. Its best we all go now, because they’re coming to put us back. Back in chains, back in coffins, back in their stomachs, back in line because we have never left their minds.” QUEEN KLEOPATRA