June-Teenth, 2009

yesterday, today and tomorrow


YESTERDAY

i can hear the laughter in the village
i can feel the racing heart beats of playing children
i can feel the beating of the hide on handmade drums
i hear the village
momma hum as she tends her little ones
i can smell the aroma of muddled grains
i can see the wild animals grazing open plains
i see our ancestors free i see decorative tribal swag
i hear the sassy in a young wife's nag
our ancestors reigning donning confident poise
no shackles no chains nothing refraining spiritual noise


and then...



we all know the changes that occurred
whether you choose to be silent because recalling it's absurd
i cannot this dialogue has been too conveniently forgotten
the smell of shiploads of our ancestors rotting
the selfish rapture of human beings
the forced dethroning of kings and queens
ultimately resulting in self-hatred
and low self esteem
melanin was our new name
identified by the skin we were in
we were chained shackled like domestic animals left in back yards
fed scraps and garbage cooked in lard
we were
degraded
humiliated
and disregarded
see our language was mad foreign to the European ear
to them we sounded like monkeys and our gestures were weird
our mannerisms were entertaining to them
we seemed naive like children
oh how they feared and then mistreated the "different"


i bring you to...today


much has changed in way we do things
we all stood together and agreed
on something
the spoken and validated dream of Martin Luther King
the moaning and rebelling
of our ancestors
now
doubtfully
yet with NOTHING left to lose
we had to choose so with hope in our hearts...
black folks along with the majority vote
(white folks)
we pressed a button, filled in an oval submitted with a no2 pencil
an assisted vote or absentee ballot
and chose Barrack Obama, the community organizer...
no feeling felt higher
even so, HE couldnt remove that divider
that would take a real insider
me
you
and them
us
she
and
him
they
those
and WE

so what about tomorrow...???

our children will talk about today
what will they say
they heard us when we said: YES WE CAN!
and then what?
do we go on to do what we believed we could?
do we become the change we hoped we would
do we
continue believing
reaching
forgiving
creating memories for our children to model
inspiring babies to want to be like their mothers and fathers
as i look at your faces
all the beautiful races
i see me
i see U-N-I-T-Y
i see true beauty
in the gathering of community...
celebrating
Juneteenth....

Wake Up Call

Wake up sleepy head, they comin'

they want our men, children and women
I know they done told you you could sleep
but what God-damned promises do they keep
wake up! wake up! wake up! WAKE UP!
you know them peoples is comin
i aint sayin we gotta start runnin
just wake yo ass up and be ready for 'em
its ok to rest but Royalty they comin
whether you bow to allah, jesus, jahova, budda, or satin
whether its the sun the moon the stars i aint hatin
you all sleep while they just intentionally waitin
in their secret societies planning and deliberatin
bout: population control, genocide, one world order, and fascist regimes
shiiit, just bout any tactic to take over the world it seems
so wake your ass up cuz the war aint JUST IN or ON iraq
its on YOU, US, right here in AMERICA- WE are under attack!
tubman, parks and king aint here fight for me or you
as much as they have done we are ready for a new crew
our new kings and queens have been crowned
all i wanna know is are you down
we cant keep thinking because we celebrate "us" in february
that we have armed ourselves from known and unknown advisaries
on the contrary my blessed family-
we stand on our stages and call ourselves "Toby"
we take the medicines cuz "they say it will cure me"
that shits PURE bologne
the invention of AIDS and its tentacle of lies for instance
has plaqued our society with promises of death due to ignorance
they say, to keep a secret from a black man just put it in a book
or to keep him DOWN-- telling him, he aint shit is all it to ok.
there are men and women who have the ears of those who need to wake up
but wont utter a word cause right now its time to focus on make up
Society has conditioned you to believe its YOU against the world
well its been said before and i will say it again "WE are the world"
it takes them it takes you it takes all of us to make a difference
more than you hate to hear me speak on this you know it makes sense
its what you think about in-between your many shout outs and hustles
your bank accounts your pimped out rides and cock diesel muscles
I want you to succeed-- fuck that i need you to succeed!
but when you get there (and you will) on no degree
should you forget about me- your sister, your brother, your baby
we will be here when all that seemed right goes wrong
when they no longer want to play your song
if you plan to forget the forgotten -forgettit!
because the forgotten wont let you forget how you got it
even though you worked hard and sacrificed everything
everything cant include YOU, no matter whatnever give that up
Dont sleep- only rest family, and join me in waking our people up.

THIS HAS BEEN YOUR WAKE UP CALL...