Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Are You Like Me?
Bill Quigley
27 Aug 2008
🖨️ Print Article

7_foot_poet_upright_250wideby Kemet Mawakana, a.k.a. the Seven Foot Poet

Some of us are more conscientious than others, honoring obligations and paying due respects.  Some of us are honest about it, and some not.  The Seven Foot Poet reveals a little of himself, and invites each of us to look within.

 

Are You Like Me?

By Kemet Mawakana

a.k.a. The Seven Foot Poet


the audio MP3 of this poem is temporarily unavailable.

 

Are you like me?

Did you hit the cook-outs bar-b-qs?

Hangout on the deck with Heineken Hypnotic or Becks?

Chill in the backyard with tall glass of lemonade?

Beat the heat in the pool or at the beach?

Let the August sun justify a catnap or 40-winks?

Did you let August come and go and not celebrate

The Great

The Honorable

Marcus Mosiah Garvey?

Yet somehow managed to catch all you favorite TV shows

and blockbuster movies?

 

Are you like me?

Huh?

Are you like me?

 

Did you start the summer with Black Biker Week

And end it with Martha’s Vineyard on Labor day

as your last summer get away?

Did you let August come and go and not commemorate

The Great

The Honorable

George Jackson? Jonathan Jackson?

Or any political prisoner or fallen soldier of the BLA?

Did you say

next summer I’m going to get with the Black August and put in work

but for now I’ll just wear the t-shirt?

 

Are you like me?

Huh?

Are you like me?

 

Did you meticulously plan out you party or a trip

for the every 4-year political convention?

Do you refuse to take a holiday for thanksgiving or St. Patrick’s Day

And damn sure won’t be spending up your savings on Christmas gifts

Nevertheless yet and still somehow every August

you manage to forget

the Haitian Revolution?

Not even a moment to reflect

Or silence out of respect

For the commencement or significance

Of one of humanity’s greatest freedom accomplishments?

 

Are you like me?

Huh?

Are you like me?

Or do you behavior better than that?

 

 

By Kemit Mawakana (aka The Seven-Foot Poet)

Peace (when appropriate) War (when necessary)

Copyright 2008.

 

Kemit Mawakana (aka “The Seven-Foot Poet”) is a highly acclaimed spoken-word artist, and has published two books A . . . Z . . . Infinity and Crucifixion of My Soul. The collective body of his works presented weekly in BAR are in tribute to Listervelt Middleton, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, and “For The People”. Currently, he is a facilitator at AYA Educational Institute (www.ayaed.com) and can be reached at sevenfootpoet@gmail.com.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  •  Cuban Socialist Internationalist Medicine Puts Capitalist Countries to Shame
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Cuban Socialist Internationalist Medicine Puts Capitalist Countries to Shame
    22 Mar 2021
    So few of its own citizens have contracted Covid-19 – less than 300 -- that Cuba must test its vaccines in other countries, said Dr Layla Brown-Vincent, professor
  • Freedom Rider: Ending Poverty in the United States
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Ending Poverty in the United States
    17 Mar 2021
    President Franklin Roosevelt made profound changes in the US political-economic structure, while Joe Biden only does temporary patchwork on the late-stage capitalist carcass. 
  • New Cold War is Built on Humanitarian Interventionist Lies and Dismissal of Actual War Crimes
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    New Cold War is Built on Humanitarian Interventionist Lies and Dismissal of Actual War Crimes
    17 Mar 2021
    To manufacture consent for its own constant aggressions the US claims its competitors are guilty of even greater crimes – sheer inventions that never happened. 
  • Black Citizenship Forum: On Identity and Empire: France and the Colonial Roots of Black Citizenship
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    Black Citizenship Forum: On Identity and Empire: France and the Colonial Roots of Black Citizenship
    17 Mar 2021
    You cannot simply declare yourself race free, racism free, and simply think that it will generate a race free or colorblind society.
  • Prominent Black Lives Matter Activists Stand in Solidarity with Deposed Tigrayan Puppets for US Imperialism
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Prominent Black Lives Matter Activists Stand in Solidarity with Deposed Tigrayan Puppets for US Imperialism
    17 Mar 2021
    Not only confused white “leftists,” but also Black Lives Matter activists have been conned into mouthing vicious CIA and State Department propaganda against Ethiopia and Eritrea, writes A
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us