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My Struggle

September 24, 2018 by 4 Comments

By AF

They lock us in these cages
And throw away the key
Say it ain’t no hope for me
I was only sixteen
When they gave me eighteen
Man if they really really knew
All of the s*** we go through
Maybe they’ll provide a better way
And lil bruh still be here today
These streets is unsafe
Or do they really even care
That this s*** is unfair,
We living in the slums, so you better not run
Cause they’ll shoot you in your back
And justify your death
Say I took away his breath
‘Cause I thought he had a gun
And wasn’t nothing in your hand
Now do you see what I’m saying?
History keep on showing us
That America don’t accept us
But don’t listen to lil ole me
Just watch and see
Trump about to show you
That this ain’t that land of the free
Nor the home of the brave
Money, lies and graves is what this country really about
And how it was made…

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Speak Child Speak

August 24, 2018 by 4 Comments

By MS

For my daughter

Speak, child, speak,
hold not your tongue because the question that you ask,
the answer that it brings may be the solution that saves us all

Speak, child, speak
Because ignorance is not bliss,
it is apathy to the mind.
It is the residue of stagnant thoughts that destroys itself fully
with the passions of time
& stagnation is death to young & old minds.

Speak, child, speak,
your voice may be the one that touches the world & shapes reality
into a paradise that women, men, & children may grow & peacefully live in.

Speak, child, speak,
Because my voice is old & un-remembered.
It is the weeping in the bowels of coffin ships & it is the creak of rope & wind
& silent kingdoms swaying in a sultry southern breeze,
it is the shackles of falsehoods binding me to inferior thoughts of mental slavery,
It is the sound of a fast life lived & lost in court rooms
silently weeping in cells trying to escape my self-created hell.

Speak, child, speak,
Because you are the Grace of God & the Dreams of a Nation.

SPEAK, CHILD, SPEAK

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Drumming Pains

November 27, 2017 by 2 Comments

By TO

Listen to the pains of the beating drum
Mental Anguish
Ba.dum.ba.dum.dum
The sounds of a mind taking a beating
Sent to the ghettos, stripped from their kingdom
Bum.Dum.Ba-dum.bum
Its hide screams at every beat that comes
Ba.Dum.Ba.Dum.Dum
Rhythm & Blues; Pain never sounded so good
Embracing our culture, if they only understood
Ba.dum.Ba-dum.bum
Heavy bass on the beat soothes my mind on these streets
Nighttime, my baby went to sleep on my heartbeat
BA.BUM.BA.BUM.BA.BUM
Voluptuous hips rock to the heavy beat of the soul
Synchronized to the sound of its own
Whum-bum.Whum.bum.bum
A powerful nation, the beat of its throne
An unstoppable machine feared cuz they know
Ba.dum.Ba.dum.Bum
That soulful beat passed down for centuries
Voices are heard from lungs never empty – full of life
These drumming pains have history
Ba.dum.Ba-dum.Bum
So next time you hear heavy bass or that bellowing drum
Listen to its spirt; that beat where I come from
Ba.dum.Ba.dum.Bum

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Human Nature

October 2, 2017 by 1 Comment

By SAT

Every day I struggle and ask are we fighting for a cause or just because.
Ain’t no sense in raising your fist if you don’t even know what you’re fighting for.
But I’m scared to put my hands down to keep from getting hit in the face.
I won’t just brace up against anything, but I refuse to turn the other cheek.
There’s a very thin line between caution and paranoia,
but I’m not gonna keep looking over my shoulder
and I won’t keep peeking out the blinds.
Outside of my windows there’s someone peeking inside.
I keep telling myself to pay attention and stay focused.
I can’t afford to lose my mind; my heritage gives me pride.
Cause my ancestors died for me to live.
I’m equipped with a mustard seed that moves mountains and I’ll prove happiness is priceless.
To be confused will cost you to become self-righteous and self-centered.
My feet are cemented in the streets.
A product of the fiend my mother was and she was never there…but my father was?
And that’s a flipside of the black family portrait.
We are depicted amongst society as failures.
We’ve inherited hell on earth cause heaven ain’t within crumbs distance.
Unless, I put my brothers and sisters on my shoulders to get closer to grab the ribbon in the sky.

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The Difference Between Dr. King And Me

September 16, 2016 by 7 Comments

By SH

I don’t believe this is the dream Dr. King had for me
Somewhere along the timeline, my decisions rewrote history
My choices had voices
Those senseless noises shoulda been avoided

But here’s the difference…
When King was taking a stand and marchin’ for a cause
I was taking a fall and wasn’t marchin’ at all
Couldn’t cover the distance of 3 days and 54 miles, in search of a vision
That the march on Selma, for those who didn’t get it

King stood for peace
While I stood for the streets, which lead me to a place I no longer wanna be
His life brought us Civil Rights
And I sold my freedom to time
Those decades are now deceased and laid to rest in my mind

King will forever be a legend
While my reputation seems like it’s not worth remembering
When my baby momma showed a picture to my child and asked
“Do you remember him?”
I was a strange face to them

King sold a belief that lifted more lives than I put down on concrete
He moved a nation
I moved to any cell that was vacant
King was an activist, a philanthropist
I was on the active list of warrants that only a felon can get

We both had mug shot faces with a rap sheet
King’s rap sheet bled through with integrity
When he was assassinated on a balcony
My rap sheet bleeds ink, when you read about the worst in me
That a character suicide cause I made up my mind
That I was gonna do or die and that frame of mind
Will never lead me to a Nobel Peace Prize

King’s leadership paved a way with the potential to be great
My leadership dug graves, where I laid my potential to waste
He prayed for better days
I prayed for a better way when it all seemed grey

While King was trying to reconstruct a nation and bring an end to segregation
I’m in the pen politickin’, ready to ride on other races and bring an end to segregation
Situation into a permanent placement
He tried to educate us
I wasn’t trying to be educated enough

King was dream chasin’ and I was chasin’ a buck
That’s penniless sense that no longer adds up

Now here’s the big difference between King and me
I’m living this nightmare and King died for the dream

I think it’s time to wake up and make the change and redirect the course of things

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