This is to all Those
(nameless, faceless ones from hungry nations)
who in your inestimable avarice
uprooted us,
uprooted us from the mother
and transported
our exotic
our strength
and indomitability
across the vast expanses of the ocean
in filty, crowded ships of death.
Where we withered and pined
and bled and died
and accepted our fate
and recovered
and grew stronger,
and walked in the sun,
and worked in the sun
sweat gleaming on our ebony skin,
smelling like a giant armpit,
living in our waste,
bathed by salt water,
our skins getting tough, calloused,
our souls bleeding,
our spirits fighting
to remain free
to remain whole.
This is to my baymen forefathers;
Richards, Flowers,Youngs,
Wagners, Goff, McCoullough,
who ate the good of the land
and left nothing in return
Whose legacy is bitterness
and hatred
Prejudice and strife
self-abnegation and mental bondage,
who tore apart my families,
and scattered us to the four winds,
who gave me Jesus Christ: a cross and a gun
and destroyed my culture,
who cursed my skin color,
despised my physical capabilities,
profited from my adaptability
and usurped my soveriegnity,
destryoed my individuality
corrupted my spirituality
warped my sexuality
steeped me in depravity
and left me in poverty.
This is for my great-
6 greats removed-grand father
Imago Bodigunie Abagario Obu (John Smith)
who did what he knew best to do
who fought a battle of the wills
whose skin was white
whose soul was black,
who owned slaves,
a slave himself
who made a nation
who gave me a heritage
who brought me here
to be who i am today;
To accomplish my destiny
to be a voice, two arms
Two legs, a dick and a mind,
have a conscience, and a spirit,
to be strong, to have purpose
To not live his life,
but to live mine.
This is for the Resistance
for my brothers in the
North, South, East, and West.
In Georgia, and Alabama,
In Tennessee and Louisianna
In Rio de Jinero and Belo Horizonte
In Jamaica and Cuba
and Grenada and Antigua,
In Costa Rica and Honduras,
In Nicaragua and Panama
In Soweto and Jo'burg,
Who stood up then,
Who stand up now
Who REFUSE to be Pawns any longer,
Who ARE strong in their beliefs,
Firm in their resolve
Radicals for the cause
Sold on their convictions
of their rights;
to be big,
black
badass mutha's
This is for my angry
little brothers and sisters
who roam the streets of our lands,
rebellious and mad as hell is hot,
who do not esteem life
who have no sacred creed,
without vision or direction.
A generation of Bastards,
Fighters, Haters, beaters,
Shooters, Crazies, Lazies,
Hopeless Daisies,
Defiant, Unreliant,
Complacent,
Unproductive, Destructive,
Mad, Bad, youth.
These who are a product of
Tar baby
the X-Factor,
White Right
The Resistance,
and (In) Times Like These.
To all of you I give thanks.
For you have made me what I am,
Who I am,
Your bad and your good,
Your productive and destructive,
African, European, White, Black,
Carib, Indian,
All a part of the mix
I am whole now,
I am complete,
I am a man
I am a woman,
I am a boy
I am a girl,
I AM BLACK.
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