black oppression
is racism
black suppression
is racism
black inequality
is racism
black injustice
is racism
calling it something different only fools others
it doesn’t fool me
and doesn’t make it sound any better
nor do I feel any better
but don’t be shocked
I’m not
I call a spade,
a spade
what do you call it?
Culture
Capitalism is Social Distancing
racism is a competitiveness
a competitiveness between groups of people
where people compete
against a group of people
capitalism is a competitiveness
a competitiveness between a free market and industry
of people
against a free market and industry
of people
that is why capitalism
breeds racism
therefore capitalism
is inherently racist
because capitalism
pits people against each other
because capitalism
separates winners from losers
because capitalism
only seeks a bottom line
therefore people
are only a bottom line
to be separated
not unified
now separation
is legislated
privatized
structured
and systemized,
as unity is
deconstructed
destroyed
and illegitimate
but if you catered to more than your bottom line
could love
be the new
bottom line?
or is that too socialist?
how can humanity
be reached
when
anti-socialism
anti-socialists
and
antisocial people
keep their humanity
out of reach
and
socially distanced
I Would Like to Smile
I want to smile
in fact
I love to smile
universe willing,
I think I shall have several smiles today
and so I turn on my TV
I happen upon the Chauvin trial
impossible to crack a smile
constant replaying of a man’s death
to win an officers trial
yes,
verily much much too hard to smile
I turn the channel
and I see the killing of a child
mass shootings all around
the border adorning an overbearing crowd
that have walked for miles
nationwide protests and riots abound
failed inoculations
recalled vaccinations
fear of vaccinations
not enough vaccinated
voter restrictions legislated
broken wedding vows
oh, how can I ever smile?
turning off the TV now
glancing around
I spy drug addiction-
narcotic and prescription
I hear insults
my nerves onslaught-ed with tension
inhaling smoke
tasting the odorous polluted air
still, I can not smile
so I peak out of my window
I spy hopelessness
spiritually exempt bodies
walking in circles
repeating the same cycles
around and around
and around
even amongst the lush majesty of nature
I see it tormented by our treatment
the world today,
has only given me reasons to frown
even reasons to weep
so I close my eyes
to set my spirit mind and heart at ease
hoping to experience a sense of peace
and dreamed,
that I smiled deep in my sleep
America is Great
America
Is
Great
be-cauuuuuuse
America is Great at innovating new ways to oppress and suppress black people each new generation
America is Great at blinding the eyes of most of its citizens to the actual iniquities, inequities, and inequalities of its black and lower-income population, making them believe that these things do not exist and all are given equal opportunity that some choose to capitalize upon and others choose not to
America is Great at turning a blind eye to privilege, nationalism, and white supremacy, while reacting with the full force of the law and military to the gatherings, protests, and pleas of civil rights
America is Great at picking justice at opportune times when the whole world is looking, giving the illusion of both an unjust system and process working, and a country on the flux of systemical change that works for its darkest citizens as much as its lightest
America is Great at working with a headstart, covering up the trails of injustices and generation plight left unacknowledged and unaccounted for
America is Great at spoon-feeding, taking its time handing out rights one and at time
America is Great at replacing rhetoric to guise the steady condition it places upon its black citizens that it and other citizens profit from
America is Great at criminalizing and over-policing its black citizens
America is Great at canceling the voices of black people yet censoring cancel culture
America is Great at abstaining from accountability
America is Great at being late
America is Great at having its hands forced but slowing its steps for anything that it does not profit from
America is Great at changing after black bodies pile up
America is Great for who if not me?
am I not American?
is the success of individuals here and there within the few in a group, indicative of opportunity as the greater many still suffer from democracy’s failures to them?
America was Great because the whole world tuned in
and yet it still isn’t Great at changing comprehensive legislation to make accountability a landmark of justice
America is Great at not being Great to me
what about you?
America is Great at being Great to a chosen few
America is Great at having two sides
and I am one of but the many,
that are victim to your Bipolar Greatness
the Shade of your Greatness blankets my existence
but the sun casts its shadow
and so I guess I must find Greatness in the shade of your shadow
hoping to know the light of your acclaimed Greatness for more than an instance
so I too can say,
America
Is
Great
History and Reality Put in Perspective
an estimated 50 million taken
an estimated 13 million didn’t make it
an estimated thousand in a 200 capacity fort forged basement
and every soul locked in place with chains and tears drowning their faces
crying on each other
urinating on each other
defecating on each other
because they could not move, and all they had, was each other
designated to manifests of a boat religiously pardoned,
onto an unknown land
human cargo, the name “Adam and Eve”
to the first boarded woman and man
an estimated 90 days at sea-disease death rape cannibalism
and murder, unwritten parts of the plan
shackled bodies stacked like sardines in a can
those whom died
thrown off over the side
taken by the tide
or the jaws of sharks swimming nearby
an estimated 37 million auctioned on blocks
an estimated 37 million became a new-world’s first exchange of stocks
an estimated 37 million became a new world’s crop, farming crops
an estimated 37 million in a new world’s history forgot
and today “black lives matter” is all we got
in reality,
the best indicator of future actions, if I’m asked
are the historical actions of the past
Rhetoric by Design
to qualify
the quality
of equality
you must first believe in
and successfully conduct
the qualifying
quality
of inequality
otherwise
why remind,
and enforce within a people
a birthright of humanity
if you did not first
instruct with a crude measure of
inhumanity
to have balance
one must know and act
in the state of
imbalance
therefore to empower
you must first
be willing
to give power
not the illusion of
creating a belief
in a reality
that may never manifest
for all groups
as much as
some groups
or
one group
by design