Don’t Steal My Art

I stand before you grounding myself

Planting myself in this spot.

Not like a seed in Mother Earth

Not like a man’s seed in the womb of a Nubian Goddess

I am standing here before you.

Physically speaking.

Man.

Physically speaking.

I am not the person who shouldered a nation.

Not one whom has picked up arms against the White Devil Establishment.

I didn’t bring with me tools from the Motherland

Or awoke with nightmares of being chained with my African brother’s songs keeping me alive.

Or having the spirit endowment of a continent that is in fear of castration.

Nope.

I’m just a Black Man, born in Harlem, to a teen-aged mother

Who’s father was too caught up in irresponsibility and fucking other Ho’s to stick around.

So why am I up here before you?

I’m here to inundate whomever listens with

words of metaphysical expletives,

then have those words bounce back many times

thus giving me a semblance of a room full of self gratification

and maybe,

just maybe I’ll get it through to a third party.
Become bought.

Finally understand the voices of  Black Poetry.

I mean, I saw the pyramids of Egypt and they didn’t call to me.

I felt the sands of my African ancestors between my toes

…. and by the way, it did more to burn my corns than emotions of traditions lost.

I saw the chains that were used to bring my ancestors to the shores of America.

Ivory Coast to Plymouth Rock.

And I wasn’t mad.

I was more informed if anything else.

Milk and honey that fed mankind,

Rice and beans the food of a nation.

Goya … Oh Boya and 2 for $2.99.
I had food for thought and on my table.

What I guess I’m saying is that I know where I came from.
I know where I am.

And with the resource of mind, body, and spirit, I know I’ll be all right in the future.

I am not lost.

So I ask,
where is my Black poetry?

Where is my hate.

Where is my poor.

I know my History first hand.

I haven’t been whipped, stripped, dipped, raped, castrated, or fucked over.
I don't sing the Blues
and Rap in Rage.
My soul music sooths
and my Jazz music grooves,

so where is my Black poetry?

I can’t see a Celestial Gate held open by a King of Kemet

Or the ancient embodiment of an Isis something or another.

I don’t see African blood washing to the shores of an evil nation,

Or the bludgeoning of a young mind by a legion of devils who fear my penis when I walk into a room.

I never felt it, never saw it, never really cared about it like that.
My conversations with GOD is loving.
My kisses with my Mother loving
and I have my father's eyes.

So where is my Black Poetry?

I am a Black Man

That I know.

I know I can’t escape that shit.

Call me African-American,

call me Nubian,

call me Hemetic,

call me a Warrior,

call me a person of color,

call me a Son of Shabazz,

call me a Son of a Bitch.

But if you have an issue with any of that, I have a Ph.D. in Psychology
so you can call me direct too.

I’m paid by the hour and I round up for the extra minutes.

First initial visit is free
cause I know how you all like the free shit.

Ignorance aside,

I am Black.

Darker than most, privilege even less.

I know I lost 10 cool points from birth

And you know what?

I’m not pissed off cause I always liked being the underdog.

The underestimated.

In me, in you, in her, in him, in us.

Minus 10 cool point for everyone.

We all live in a minus 10 cool points of society.

We are a family of Underdogs.

Minus 10 out of a scale of 1 to 10.

And speaking of Dogs, I’d like to tell you that I cheated before.

I cheated several times.

And did that shit come back on me like a wave of Bad Karma.

You damn right.

Put my Black Ass in the hospital.

So now that I suffered,
I felt that pain.

Where is my Black poetry?

I live alone.

Up in Harlem.

And since then,

I’m still waiting for it to come back.

By the way of time I’ll reach an over ripe, lineal age of half over the hill

Eating cat food,

piss poor health care,

Clintonized ……

and living in a building full of White folk.

Yeah, that’s when Harlem will be back.

I can’t wait.

Along with that last living Black poet.

I missed the Million-Man March

But I sucker punched a cop at the Million Youth March.

I got back 1 cool point for that.

Now I keep thinking “They got my ass on video.”

Like that show on American’s Most Criminal or something.

Yeah, then I’ll get snatched up and serve 40 years for a crime I tried to lie about and said I didn’t commit.
And still I won't get it.

So somebody tell me,

Where is my Black poetry?

 Cause I ain’t got that much time.

Work is the sole property of Shazza Nakim and is published with written permission by the artist.

 (c) Copyright 2013

THE PUNISHING OF BLACK FOLK

So tell me something, WHAT IF your State’s delegates vote for Hillary Clinton and she so happens to win the Presidential nomination and wins the Presidency or what if Obama looses the Presidency in the end, do we VOTE OUT all those that did not support OBAMA? Do Black folk, all the way down, boycott Black Newspapers, the Churches or Television Shows, Authors and Musicians? Then there is the other possibility, Obama is chosen to be Hillary's running mate for Vice President BUT he turns it down. Do we still punish all those that did not support Obama's run for the Presidency still? Do we also hold the LATINO AND HISPANIC VOTER accountable for not supporting Obama?

-- We actually have more in common with our Brown Brothers and Sisters than we'd like to admit.

It amazes me how all of a sudden; Blacks are threatening other BLACKS for not falling in line for Barak Obama. Calling it PUTTING THE DELEGATES ON NOTICE, the approach reminds me the Mafia sitting perched outside your home waiting for you to leave for work because you rejected their proposal for Protection. Last I checked, 87% more people in the country are sharing in this uniquely charge to support their candidate. I can recall how a large number of Black voters threw in their lot and voted for BUSH because they liked his Christian VALUES and was willing to step up and fight the Extremist Islamic Terrorist but the real deal was he was throwing Churches money in the form of FAITH BASE INITIATIVES. Guess what? No one held those Black Churches and their leaders accountable for that. I have read on many Blogs and in conversations about Black folk holding parishioners accountable for their lack of support charging that if they consider looking at a Hillary Clinton, tithes will be withheld and a possible CHANGE in management. I find it amazing that for the first time, Black folk have come out of their deep sleep and awaken to the notion to participation and transparency is something best served ALIVE. The one problem about being this passionate about being involved at this level, you first need to know what you are doing, second you need to know what your are talking about and lastly, one needs to know what your objective is. In the end, you want to be sure that whomever you direct your PASSIONS at deserves your wrath and not lay bodies along the road because you can.

Some would argue that I am arguing Apples and Cardboard Boxes and yet the argument is about a person’s right to VOTE. Since many of the Black Leaders in office have been in Washington DC for several years, most of which have active Bills and proposals standing on the floor (most of which do effect Black People’s lives), what Black Politician on the Hill can afford to throw caution to the wind and go with a 40/60 chance with a Senator (regardless if he is Black or she is White) and find out that your loyalty can no longer aid you in getting that extra money to INVEST in HBCU's, After-school programs, Urban Planning Grants, Job Training programs for the unemployed and under-employed because he or she didn't make the cut. Now add that to those who SHOUT and misuse there new found political influence, stone, fire and pitch fork Political leaders into oblivion because of a High on Political Power and you have a movement of CHANGE, that has extend the ideology into a movement of SANITIZING everything both Good and Bad in politics because THEY CAN. Are the real issues with Black Super Delegates and or the Congressional Black Caucus is that of "Corruption" or years of Black folk's "Ignorance" of the poltical process and lack of oversight in what they are doing or do? I would error on the later. And if that is so, then chastising Black delegates for how they vote is more so a mis-directed punishment for one's lack of Practiced Citizenship. I mean for years, as a community, you are now finding out how the Political System works and in frustration, the attacks are directed at those that look most like YOU. As an outsider, this would be no different that the Black on Black crime in Urban Cities.

So as a voting Black Super Delegate, who you align yourself with works both ways. Looking at the most recent alignment of Super Delegates with Barak Obama, one cannot cheer for the likes of Ted Kennedy, Maria Shriver and Caroline Kennedy endorsing a Barak Obama and then vilify a Congresswoman Maxine Waters’ interest in choosing a candidate other than Obama. Already there is talk about removing the California Representative Waters by the end of her term regardless of the political outcome. It would seem Black folk have gone deep in their closets and taken out and dusted off the Token Uncle Tomism labels to throw haphazardly at some of their most loyal supporters over the years. It would also appear that the absolute voting POWER Black folk received early in the races is becoming Corrupted Absolutely. For all the work thus far, Black folk have exceed the limits on their CREDIT CARD OF POLITICAL POWER and may have to make a few down payments with favors and clarity in mis-directed racial assumptions, social and political apologies. Most of those apologies will be extended to the Brown Vote which it would seem will be the deciding factor for Black folk desires.

I published not long ago an article entitled BLACK PEOPLE ARE MONOLITHIC, which touched on the fact that as much as Black folk scream from the tops of mountains that they are all difference within their communities the results from exit polls have thus proven otherwise. The pre and post results have shown that RACE is a strong consideration for Blacks in this election. As much as GENDER is for Hillary Clinton voters, you cannot escape that ‘isms dominate the very psyche of America. So is Class and Religious affiliations. This vote also exposes the ignorance or lack of knowledge that Black folk know about Latins, Asians and Native American concerns and to shout BETRAYAL when those concerns do not coincide with that of the desire to see a Black President, the accelerant of a social and cultural fire isn’t too far behind.

Regardless of who is in the office of President, Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton, the benefits of a HEALING economy will not trickle down to the people that matter the most for several years. You still have to undo 8 years of Bills, Laws, Underhanded Multi-Billion dollar contracts, International Deals locked into the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, (WHICH HAS UNDONE ALMOST 15 TO 20 YEARS OF ADVANCEMENT), International debt, racial considerations, discounting a significant amount of Financial Loss (write offs) which would all happen before the United States Government can address the real issues of Black people as a whole. Then you will have partisan debates for 8 or more years more. It will take two terms of a productive President just to get the nation back into a balance remotely like the mid 1990’s. I say all this to say that like Urban Gentrification, some plans and decisions are made decades in advance. Like an Obama momentum, it keeps rolling along until it either finishes or slows down.

For some strange reason, people believe that BLACK POLITICIANS on Capitol Hill, for the most part, sit back and rake in the benefits doing nothing when really they are as much a MINORITY on the Hill as Black folk are less than 13% of the American Population. Just by their numbers alone, they have to give up a lot on the floor in votes JUST to get back a little for the people they represent (Black, White or Other). Those that follow and understand the events on Capitol Hill know that due to the numbers of the CBC and the groups that they are attached to, the radical changes that are demanded of them cannot and often will not happen without concessions. No matter how loudly one man or woman preaches CHANGE it is all the same politics in the end.

Let (Black) people vote their conscious not with a GUN to their temples. The blessing is, BLACK PEOPLE are voting, they are getting involved in the political system, they are starting to read and research and have PRACTICAL opinions on politics as opposed to passed on assumptions and conspiracy theories. That in itself is a bigger leap of Hope and Change than all the poetry and prose on the campaign trail. Regardless of the winner, America will have a DEMOCRAT in the WHITE HOUSE with a Majority in the Senate and the House and by 2012 in the Supreme Court. Instead of the back-biting, have a list of DEMANDS that Blacks want before they CONCEDED delegates to whomever, have a FRANK and SERIOUS discussion about REPARATIONS. Ex-Offenders Rights to be able to VOTE and POLITICIANS not using the numbers of Prisoners as people he or she represent for extra tax dollars and lobbying. A real CONSTITUTIONAL Amendment that will make BLACK PEOPLES' RIGHTS FOR VOTING equal to all CITIZENS of the United States and not that renewal crap they do ever so many years. Granting PERMANENT OWNERSHIP of LANDS to Native Americans (NOW THAT WOULD BE A CHANGE). These are better examples and are more constructive then going GANGSTER on politicians that are and have that RIGHT to vote their conscious for the candidate of their choice, especially if by doing that, the end result will allow POOR and Working Class peoples to purchase a home (without scandal) or a car or create a business for themselves.