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


  • “Minneapolis Uprising Syllabus” Tells Why That City Sparked National Rebellion
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    “Minneapolis Uprising Syllabus” Tells Why That City Sparked National Rebellion
    03 Aug 2020
    Adam Bledsoe, a professor of Geography, Environment and Society at the University of Minnesota, has compiled a comprehensive “Minneapolis Uprising Syllabus” containing articles and
  • The Black Caucus and the Dictatorship of (White) Capital 
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    The Black Caucus and the Dictatorship of (White) Capital 
    30 Jul 2020
    Black politics does not exist in the Democratic Party, because the duopoly system serves only the corporate rulers.
  • Freedom Rider: Let the Movement Be Radical
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Let the Movement Be Radical
    29 Jul 2020
    Craven black misleaders jumped at the chance to side with white corporate power against radical white allies.
  • The Free Speech Fetish is American Exceptionalism on Steroids 
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Free Speech Fetish is American Exceptionalism on Steroids 
    29 Jul 2020
    Harper’s “Letter” is little more than an exercise in white insecurity and opportunism among so-called liberal sections of the establishment.
  • No to the New Cold war with China
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    No to the New Cold war with China
    29 Jul 2020
    The African radical, anti-imperialist, internationalist movement, sees the Chinese state and the Chinese people much differently than the U.S. state and its ruling class.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us