No Animal
Black Man ain't no animal
Just because you hunt, shoot, and kill him for sport
Don't mean you get trophy his head on precinct walls
Interesting how he never becomes endangered
Funny how he survives after years and years of buying, selling, trading and killing him off
Black Man ain't no animal
And although he is a rare bird,
Doesn't mean you get to strategically pluck and clip his wings with a full clip as we watch a clip of it on social media
See he be ebony Phoenix
Rising despite gun smoke
Soaring high above expectations with every degree
Every black owned business
Every sacred marriage
Every son and daughter that knows him and every community that depends on him for their very existence
I'm telling you,
He ain't no animal
Because if he was
He would have ripped yo ass open long time ago
Sank his teeth in, dragged your lifeless body back into the cave
Devoured your ignorance and left your bones discarded for all to see
See,
He don't want none of yo kind running though his veins
Never wants to become like the animals that treat him like prey
But since he is hunted,
He knows when to run
How to hide
Doing his best to dodge bullets
Traps and trick ropes just so he don't end up hanging from one
BLACK MAN AIN'T NO ANIMAL
Running don't make him no punk
He is breaking free from the cage they tried to put him in
He could never be tamed or trained
No matter how much you whip him,
The shape he is in will never be for your benefit
The day he turns animal, is the day,
The jungle falls!
Double Dutch
They wouldn't let me play
Yesterday was different
We laughed, traded a peanut butter sandwich for a Thermos of gumbo
Capri Suns and Juicy Juice
Double Dutched with a friendship rope
Made up dances and braided each other's hair...
Toothbrush and Pro-Styled slicked down edges
I only needed more water
Rode bikes and skated pass the cute boy's house
A liquor store run for penny candy, Nowlaters and bags of chips!!
I paid for everything and more
We played until porch lights flickered and our mamas called us home
But today, I was alone
Today I wasn't a part of or a reason for their budding sisterhood nor would I reap the fruit of it
My hair was too long today
My skin, too fair to be seen standing next to theirs
My tomboyish swag was too rough to be one of the girls
Today, I was alone
No one cared if I cried or what new dance moves I brought
Today I was a threat
"You think you all dat" they said
Funny how I felt all of nothing
I wanted to play and they was being mean
I didn't understand why
On the same porch we did each other's hair, they told me I couldn't come near
Rejected
I stood still
Hoping the sadness that showed on my face would be enough for my "friends" to just stop
Reconsider
But it didn't
Why didn't I walk away?
Why did I stand there and allow them to hurt me more?
It's like the longer I stood there in my light skin, long hair, and tomboyish swag
The more ammo I gave them to send me running home crying
And I did
I cried and ran
And they laughed and chased me
Chased me like a mob running a witch out of town
I kept running
Alone
Defeated
I gazed over my skin wondering what was wrong with vanilla
I didn't care that they were caramel, butterscotch, or chocolate
I have all these flavors in my family and we were a big ole sundae
Full of sweetness
Why don't they like ice cream?
I guess my 31 flavors were too much for their selective palates
I couldn't help that I had and liked variety
I was raised that way!
Didn't matter if I was black
My black wasn't they black
I was just a white girl trying to be black and I must have been out-blacking them because they were trying to remind me I was white
Never used those terms to describe my "friends," let alone anyone else
But today, I was all of that and nothing else
Standing Naked In Front of Amiri Baraka
Who you be
This body has be all twisted
Yella woman
Goodly breasted
Belly birthin beast in fire
Who you be
What dirt they blow you from
What Louisiana plantation porch shade yo great gramma high yella house nigga skin field from
Yella woman
Hair wrap and legs wrap 'roun massuh
Create linage
Whip neva touch yo' skin
What you know'bout hurtin
Stop yo cryin
Stop drownin in yo sorrow
Jump up and swim in sun
I see you shining yella woman
Who threw you in darkness
Who stole yo stars
Who you be... Tell me
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