Poem - Beats From My Past

I have family that raised me
Family that is still alive
That were once owned by slaves
And who lived the shackled life
Shackled lives
And in shacks for life.
So what does that mean
That I should hate the current manifestation
Of the person or people
Who's skin is the representation
Of the pain & mutilation
Of the people of my past?
Or should I let go
Of the anger
From the past
Which burns
In my present
Which threatens to
Burn up my future
Even if
It's the anger that I'm lured to
Cause anger is easy to hold to
Cause it's simple to spew hate
And takes no thought to make hurt
But to love isn't as easy
Cause to love requires change
And change takes work
And change requires risk
Which also leads to hurt
And I never know
Is the pain worth
The change worth
The reward
Worth going for
Or should I revert to the past
And look again at my past?
My great grandfather
Was beaten 'til he was bruised black
But since he was already black
They just kept beating
And though his skin was bruised
His heart kept beating
And he held his head high with pride
But they repeatedly beat him
Tried to beat out his love
Tried to beat out his pride
But what left him first
Was the beating of his heart
But his will?
They could never touch
And though
His heart physically gave up
Spiritually his heart never let up
So now it beats within me
In beats with I
So though your words
And your rules
Beat upon me
Your ways
Your hate
Won't beat within me
And you will
Nor will I
Ever beat me
Cause I will win
For the drum of defeat
Is not in me
So the beat of defeat
Beats not in me
So I choose to change to be
The best version of me
With the love of my ancestors
Beating in me
Cause the blood from their veins
Beats within me
So the pain
That comes from change
Far under weighs the reward
That makes change
And my dreams
Worth going for.