by Rev. Reynard N. Blake, Jr.
It’s 44 days for a killer to be arrested
It’s a damn “knock, knock” joke
Glib to black death
It’s white expectations of black violence
It’s Fox News jumping with glee
Always “Nigger Season”
by Rev. Reynard N. Blake, Jr.
What is “Nigger Season?”
It’s George Zimmerman walking free
It’s all-white juries
When Skittles and iced tea become weapons
It’s a “justice system”
That’s soooo proficient
Putting black people in jail
And, can’t get justice for one
It’s 44 days for a killer to be arrested
It’s a damn “knock, knock” joke
Glib to black death
It’s white expectations of black violence
It’s Fox News jumping with glee
It’s their analysis being justified
It’s “Stop and Frisk” being justified
It’s colleges and universities fiending for black athletes
But dismantling affirmative action
Killing voting rights
Here’s what kills rednecks
Specifically, Republicans and Conservatives
This is what they think:
“A nigger president”
YET
That president
Wanting a “bromance”
Having a schoolboy crush on Republicans
Acting like one
Wanting to do their bidding
He kills for them
With them
Drones and all
Brown-skinned folks run
Soon to be turned on to Americans
Spy on them, too
We go from COINTELPRO to COINTELBRO
AND they STILL think he’s a nigger
(Like their boy, Clarence Thomas)
Conservatives and the GOP
Making his girls political fodder
Sanctioning one of their fellow “Crackers”
Talking about Michelle’s butt
It’s that same Cracker having fantasies
Of days of yore
Dreaming of being a slave owner
Or, a ship’s captain
Seeking the “good ol’ days”
Having his way with nigger bitches
Enhancing his proficiency with the lash
Bible on his right hip
(Analyzing it wickedly)
Gun on his left hip
Mastering the use of shackles
Aroused at thoughts
Wiping Native Americans and Africans
Whipping Native Americans and Africans
Christianizing Native Americans and Africans
(By dehumanizing them)
Off the face of the earth
Sensenbrenner feeling good about those fantasies
GOP couldn’t even feign to disavow him
But then, why should they?
If the hood fits WEAR IT!
DAMN HIM!
DAMN THEM ALL!
Some 2520s
Thinking, but not saying “nigger”
Prejudging black people
Associating them with the worst
Expecting them to be:
“The Chuckle People”
Joking and singing on TV and movies
And in the office
Or, acting like orifices
Or, expecting them to go to the “Big House”
And, I’m not writing about the U of M football field
Although for some that’s pleasing
“Run that ball, nigger!”
(“Look at that nigger run!”)
“Jump over that hurdle, nigger!”
“Slam that ball, nigger!”
“All the day long, nigger!”
“All the live-long day, nigger!”
Then, when those “niggers” are off the field
Or, the dance floor
Some 2520s think:
“Serve me quick, nigger!”
“I’ll pay you less nigger!”
“I’m Paula Deen, nigger!”
“This is Dixie, nigger!”
“Rather, this is America, nigger!”
“You’re just monkeys, nigger!”
(“What’s a ‘honky,’ nigger?”)
(“Why do you niggers say, ‘My nigger?’”)
“You just steal, nigger!”
“You’re hard to believe, nigger!”
“Even when you academically achieve, nigger!”
“You’re still OJ, nigger!”
“Not always OK, nigger!”
“I’m going to follow you in this store, nigger!”
“Even if you can pay for something, nigger!”
“You’ve got to have bad credit, nigger!”
“Killing Trayvon’s OK, nigger!”
(“Zimmerman’s my hero, nigger!”)
“Keep wearin’ a hoodie, nigger!”
“I’ll drop a cap in you, nigger!”
“I won’t even go to jail, nigger!”
(“Cause I can get better lawyers, nigger!”)
(“That’s why I don’t go to jail on drug charges, nigger!”)
“Be gone, nigger!”
“Get out my way, nigger!”
“Know your place, nigger!”
“They’re called ghettos, nigger!”
“Or, called barrios, nigger!”
“Or, reservations, nigger!”
“All of you look the same, anyway!”
“I’m always right, nigger!”
“Because I’m white, nigger!”
So, brothers and sisters of all hues
Of all races
Considering the events of the day
Any day
In America
Or, globally
How should I feel?
What should I believe?
Based on the evidence
Based on my experience
Based on what I see:
Without rhyme or reason
IT’S ALWAYS NIGGER SEASON!
Reverend Reynard N. Blake, Jr., M. S. is an ordained Baptist minister living in East Lansing, Michigan with his wife Karen Kelly-Blake, Ph.D., a medical researcher and instructor at Michigan State University (MSU). He earned his Master of Science degrees in Community Development and Urban Studies from MSU and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the College of Charleston (SC). He has co-authored several articles on faith-based community development and is also a poet and hip-hop cultural analyst whose work have appeared on Black Commentator, Michigan Family Review, Op-ED.com, the Online Journal of Urban Youth Culture and Black Agenda Report. He is putting on the final touches on a book of political parody and poetry; no publisher yet. He can be reached at reynardblakejr@yahoo.com.
(For Ferguson, Baltimore, Million Workers March, Arab Spring, Standing Rock, Occupy, Jackson Rising, Fight for Fifteen, Extinction Rebellion, #Me Too…)
When the dust settles, as in all U.S. disasters, there will be a tale to tell of who mattered and who was sacrificed.
Colonized people, with a horrific historical connection to both science and medicine in this country, must examine science in service of the state.
The penal system remains a source of diseases that spread among prisoners at rates far exceeding those in the communities from which they came.
The necessary political demand is not that we make better, more humane prisons and jails, but that we abolish prisons and jails altogether.
