Three Poems

“It wasn't Malcolm”

Who taught me to love Thomas Jefferson, who lived the same life of
abominable luxury and privilege, wrote an essay entitled "The Innate
Inferiority of the Negro", and attributed the pigmentation of black people
to a virulent form of leprosy?
It wasn't Malcolm
Who taught me to ignominously quote Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or
give me death!" while not telling me death is what he gave the black
slave?

It wasn't Malcolm
Who taught me to love Abraham Lincoln as my liberator, when in actuality
the Emancipation Proclamation applied only to the Confederate States, over
which he had no authority, and who also stated in no uncertain terms his
belief in the inferiority of black people, and advocated their exile from
America?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me to mindlessly honor your “Independence Day” and your days
honoring the genocidal enslavers of my progenitors?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me to fear the very sight of a white person with a heart seized
with terror?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me that your pious mouthings of justice meant the nearest tree?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me the shame of emasculation as you vilely used the black woman?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me to make cowards of my children in the hope that such would
ensure their survival as half-women and men?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me to cover the very poison responsible for the pillage of
Afrika and her enslavement?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me to view the blackness of my skin with shame and
self-loathing?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me that the “American Dream” is an alcoholic or drug stupor for
so many?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me to disdain Afrika as a continent of savages worthy only of
ridicule?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who taught me that all beauty was white?
It wasn’t Malcolm
Who woke me up with a hail of bullets on February 21, 1965?
It wasn’t Malcolm…
When Malcolm is realized
When Malcolm is realized
No more black children will be shot by the police
With D.A.s saying justifiable homicide
When Malcolm is realized
The Hitlers of America
Thomas Jefferson and George Washington
Who held people in subhuman bondage
Will no longer be recognized as anything
But the criminals they were
When Malcolm is realized
The black minds forever bent
By the oppressive horrors of racism
Shall become a memorial to that
Which shall never again be
When Malcolm is realized
The drug and alcohol-stupefied
Shall disdain everything
But the reality of freedom
When Malcolm is realized
The pain of self-hatred
Shall give way to the
Exaltation of self-respect
When Malcolm is realized
The Black woman shall no longer bear
The divers yokes of white America
When Malcolm is realized
The soul weary with stripes of subjugation
Shall know the healing waters of dignity respected
When Malcolm is realized
Black people shall no longer fear their rage
When Malcolm is realized
The minister shall scorn everything
But the truly liberating message of freedom.
When Malcolm is realized
The affective pain of a loved one
Afflicted by racism shall be no more
When Malcolm is realized
Responsibility and not reliance
Shall be the hope of black people
When Malcolm is realized…

“Soweto 16 June 1976”
It stuns the senses

Like a sudden blow to the head

Over four thousand wounded

And seven hundred dead

School children protesting

Learning the language of their oppressor

Mowed down

Like they were the immoral aggressor

Where was the world’s conscience

Where was its rage?

Did the United Nations say this we cannot countenance

For war let’s set the stage?

Or could it be

The simple truth

Is that for black like me

Sham reproof is the substitute

When the issue is white supremacy?

Malcolm contemplation

Sleep deprivation

Food adulteration

Blood and mucus defecation

Kill orchestration

Mail desecration

J. Edgar Hoover propagation

Subject-a-nigger conversation

Mental assassination

George Rockwell denigration

Surrender to this revelation

My soul is fat on Malcolm contemplation.

“WINNIE”

They say you are corrupt

Morally bankrupt

They say you should bow down

Because you are no longer worthy of the crown

They say you are a disgrace

And should forever hide your face

They say you’ve become weak

And your own agenda seek

They say you are mad

The killer of a fourteen year-old lad

They say you are a liability

And should be cast aside like an enemy

They say we are too blind to see

The tears you cried to set your country free.