9/11 eighteen years ago

yesterday was 9/11. eighteen years ago planes crashed into the twin towers. almost three thousand people were killed. but then you saw the news too, right? i was living in the house on riverton in north hollywood. ex lover and i woke up to the news. i was booked to perform in new york a month later. was new york safe anymore? was there anywhere safe anymore? was there ever safe space on this soil? it didn't take planes to crash our buildings for black folks to know we always had to watch our backs. but we never had to watch the sky. always the ocean. forever the land. and now the sky too. we could die by sky. some say it was an inside job. everything is an inside job to us. here we are always outside the inside. eighteen years ago seems like yesterday and forever. eighteen years ago jay z's album dropped too. on the same day americans knew we were not infallable. that we were human too. that we could die. not just kill. not just destroy. that we could be destroyed. could be afraid. could walk around in ashes. ashes. dust to. dust.