Where is revolution in the black political mind?
Where are the movies about black people coming together to fight injustice?
Have we given up that vision to blend into the melting pot?
we whine no one will finance those films
so we make the color blind ,no wave making
black people in white face B.S. they love to see
Do you really think if you just work hard and don’t call attention to your blackness or your culture
that one day master will treat you like an equal or increase the size of crumbs he lets fall from the table
they exiled Assata and locked up Mumia
assassinated Oscar and shot down Trayvon like wild dogs in the streets
everyday millions are tortured in the belly of the PIC
our babies political pawns bounced around a crumbling miseducation system
guinea pigs for private companies
experiments for bright eyed graduates
trying to eat while proving they don’t hate POC
They live to prove racism is something only poor white people do
or something their parents use to do
they are different after all they voted for Barrak
naively we leave our children’s minds in their hands
and hope they get enough education to not end up as poor as we were
being too black too proud too strong too you
too different
is too dangerous
so we no speak of revolution no more
that make master mad
that makes the black middle class uncomfortable
we no speak of revolution no more
we no create art that defies the lies of vote or die
we just keep hoping praying voting and voting and dying and dying
fill your mouths with food like products
like happy gluttons consuming Tyler Perrry sitcoms
dreaming of your place in the black middle class
laughing away from danger towards ignorant bliss
self denial and denial of self
refusing to be real about the true state of us
denying the reality of us
too ignorant of self to celebrate the complexity and beautiful medley that is us
you are too busy dismissing the idea of a an us you need, owe, and can’t really be free without
fill your mouths with food like products
like happy gluttons consuming, buying, listening, inwardly dying
seeking refuge in religion,free enterprise, and individualism
we no speak of revolution no more
we no create art that defies
that make white man in black suit spread lies
shoot gun send tax man or brother man in blue uniform
being too black to proud to strong too you
too different
thinking critically
is too dangerous
so we no speak of revolution no more
we no speak because we don’t know who we are
and are ashamed to admit it
too proud to face the self hate
seeking the status quo for affirmation of self
for a dipped in vanilla and gold all american likeness …I mean whiteness
or anything but who they say we are in the media ness.
all the while our people are still being lynched in the streets often at the hands of the police
to often by their brothers, distant cousins or crazy uncles
our daughters still fear the walk home
and endure too many cat calls
working hard fitting in buying more and more shit never felt quite right to me
and struggling within do gooder organizations is not working for me
501c3 grant out comes chained activism is killing me
so what about this revolution thing
revolution of values cried the King
revolution in the Arts sister Sonia and brother Barakka still cry
youth rise up reverberates through the poems of professor Eware
social change social justice whatever you want to call it
somethings got to give
revolution in the black political mind must live
it rages in me
it screams give us free
as I sit behind a desk at a non for profit
peering into a PC sweating struggling to craft the right words for funders
it moans and grumbles at the site of closed school after closed school
tired of sitting in when the deals are already done
decisions already made
your protest is but a parade
entertainment for the sheep who
drank the free market economy and democracy will save us lemonade
so why cry revolution
we don’t speak about revolution no mo
because thats all just a fantasy
they murdered, exiled and jailed
us when we screamed that loud and proud in the 70’s
after all its 2013
haven’t you heard of Barak Obama? Oprah Winfrey?…Jay Z?
look at them if they can do it
it has to be true
if you just work hard of enough we all can one day…
we no speak of revolution no more
cause we scared, drowning or drunk off that
“the free market economy and democracy will save us” lemonade
to keep comfort we gladly
keep voting and dying
sipping and supporting
“the free market economy and democracy will save us” lemonade
after all its 2013 we prefer or revolutionary assassins
cheap, slow, sugary, and sweet
Dirty Art Boi 