by Reverend Reynard N. Blake, Jr.
MLK wouldn’t be smiling at him
He’d be crying
Present-day marches
In DC he would not attend
If he had to share a dais with Obama
He would defy the views of Obama
He’d pray for him
Call him a stone-cold killer
The Best Americans: Black Americans
by Reverend Reynard N. Blake, Jr.
400 years of slavery
And yet, black people wait
Believe
The potential of the USA
I’m part of this continuum
My blackness
My robe
My garment
Seems like I’m an American
Most times treated like I’m not
I’m of African descent
Do my siblings from The Motherland
Treat me
View me
As a relative
When some from The Motherland
Look down upon me
See me as inferior
I’m not truly African
So, am I a charlatan?
Siblings from The Diaspora
The immigrants
Not the cargo
Or, the inhuman
Or, subhuman
The 3/5s human
(As defined by white men)
Do my Diaspora siblings realize:
When they imply
When they criticize
Those blacks
Native-born blacks
Don’t work hard
Don’t value education
Ask yourselves, my siblings
Who took most of the ass-whippings?
Who took most of the lynching?
Or, the brunt of Jim Crow?
Lessening the impact
Taking some of the hits
“Taking one for the team”
To share “The American Dream”
Why?
Because we’re family
Aren’t we?
(Did you laugh when you saw us in dashikis in the 60s?)
Tell me this
Teach me this
My Diaspora siblings:
Are you fully integrated?
In university black student unions?
Or, other organizations?
Tell me
Tell me quick
Prove my feelings were wrong
Unjustified
And I’ll leave it alone
Sorry for airing “our dirty laundry”
I don’t mean to
I know this is a family argument
And, maybe white people shouldn’t read this
But, I get angry
When white people say
“The Black Community”
Black people do too
Color me guilty, as well
(“It’s a black thing”—ha, ha)
In reality
There are Black Communities
Not a monolith
And yet
We got Obama elected
“Over the hump”
Going door-to-door
Or, even voting for the first time
Now we need voter IDs?
How do we rectify this?
How do we deal with wicked “whitey?”
In the GOP
Like Priebus
Like Rush, Beck, O’Reilly and Hannity
Or their pet Negroes:
Allen West
A pest
And, Herman Cain
A black stain
Clarence Thomas
“Uncle Tom” incarnate
Armstrong Williams
Conservative and confused
Meanwhile, what do black communities get?
A black president
President Obama
Who provides genetics lessons
After Trayvon Martin got assassinated
“If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon”
Thank you, Mr. President!
As usual
Avoid making hard-core statements
About racism in America
Oh, yes he mentions
Being followed in stores
That’s racist, to the core
Yet, he doesn’t deal with structural racism
The wickedness of Wall St.
How it fuels racist lending practices
Like Countrywide and Wells Fargo
Diablos
Blacks lose homes
And, yet blacks wait
For justice
For a strong president
That doesn’t use beer
To mediate over an individual racist dispute
Yet, again and again
Black people proved to be the Best Americans
Lobbying to fight in wars
To earn justice
And earn their way to be good Americans
Hands over their hearts
To sing the national anthem
And, the pledge of allegiance
To another country guilty of apartheid
And, like Chuck D of PE rhymed
“And the Negro, where the fuck does he go?”
“”Cause right here’s apartheid…”
“He can run, but he can’t hide”
Yet, black people march on
And the Congressional Black Caucus
Part of the real illegals
President, his cabinet, Congress, and the courts
They’re illegal
Illegitimate
If they don’t seek justice and peace for all
Or fight “blame the victim” analyses
Or dispel white myths on black life:
Lazy
Not desiring to work
“That’s why they’re unemployed”
Yet, when there are few good-paying jobs
Government is a co-conspirator
In the destruction and the stunting
The black middle class
That gained access to it
Via government jobs
Police, teachers, firefighters, administrators
Disappearing with blistering speed
No wonder why black unemployment
Has been historically been triple the rate
Of white folks
And Obama thinks he’s talking about shit
To get America to pony-up
To a nine-dollar minimum wage
When living wages are needed
To escape poverty
America waits
And, many black Americans wait patiently
And wait
And wait
For Obama
To even say the words
“Poor people” or “poverty”
Again
“The Negro”
“Where the fuck does he go?”
“’Cause right here’s apartheid”
“He can run, but he can’t hide”
And yet black people wait
For Obama to say something when he stands
His soapbox allows him to sound the call:
Black folks need jobs
All folks need jobs
Obama must holler for people to make dollars
Call out Republicans
For a new jobs bill
So bridges won’t be death traps
And public schools not demonized
(And no privatization experiments)
Say something
To the Best Americans
The ones that had to fight
Just to be recognized as human
Obama might have a willing heart
To help and lift up
But his flesh is weak
He holds his head up high, though
But it doesn’t matter if he holds his head up high
While weak in the knees
And, the puckering of lips
To kiss Republican ass
The Best Americans shouldn’t get angry with me
How many times has the CBC dine in the White House?
(Just some food for thought)
But, patiently
Black people wait
Some black people defend him
The Best Americans
The ones that have survived
All of America’s attempted death blows
How should black community fight back:
Pounding the pavements?
The Best Americans
Black Americans
Get lectured about personal responsibility
And Obama likes to chime in
Admonishing black fathers
But not white fathers
Like Joe Walsh
Over one hundred thousand amassed
To take care of his kids
Where’s the criticism?
Afraid of alienating white men?
Oh yeah
He talks to black students regarding college
Tells them that they need to study hard
Has he said that to white kids in The Heartland?
He loves to talk down to black people
Come on, man!
Get it right, bruh!
By the way,
Why does he love The Right so much?
Most of the time The Right is wrong
Racist to the core
Obama rarely challenges them
He just shuffles along
Black people seem to just sing songs
And be patient
“He’ll do better his second term”
Black people have the patience of Job
The Best Americans
The ones that should be raising hell
And, not having dreams
Because they have to wake up
And smell the coffee
I know Obama’s not a messiah
But, sometimes he should speak like a prophet
Like Rev. Wright
Called America out
There will be a reckoning
Treating black people like cattle
Stacked back-to-back
White people aren’t pristine
They just have better lawyers
Get sorry prosecutors
Sympathetic juries
And, voila!
Zimmerman got off
Justice denied
When it came to the evil that killed Trayvon
And so many others
Deaths from “Stand Your Ground”
Obama capitulates to State’s Rights
Ignoring
Superseding state laws
Federal laws
Federal action
Granting
Guaranteeing
The right to vote
Access to public accommodations
And now he’s thinking about bombing Syria
Obama—the drone master
Mastered by Republicans
MLK would be ashamed
He was the Best of Americans
Looking down on one of the most scared Americans
Barack Hussein Obama, II
MLK wouldn’t be smiling at him
He’d be crying
Present-day marches
In DC he would not attend
If he had to share a dais with Obama
He would defy the views of Obama
He’d pray for him
Call him a stone-cold killer
And wonder
How in the hell could he win
A Nobel Prize
In protest
He would give his Nobel Prize back
You can’t say MLK and Obama in the same sentence
When it comes to courage
And yet
The Best Americans
Think “The Dream” is being realized
Discuss that with homeless people
Veterans
Mental health professionals
Those that have paid their debt to society
What, then?
Don’t let Obama kill MLK again
With pretty words and no substance
The Best Americans
Criticize Obama all the time
Get his plans
His solutions
Implementation
Helping black communities
Like he helped Wall St.
Black communities’ love for Obama
Shouldn’t be patient
Black communities are in a state of emergency
Because blacks, Natives and Latinos
Have been in America’s crosshairs
And we can’t dodge bullets forever
Nor should we
The Best Americans must always fight
Or, explode
Would Obama use drones on the Best Americans?
Or, would he open the door
To make drones common
And, the Best Americans
Know COINTELPRO quite well
It allows America and hell to be one in the same:
Burning with hatred
Vengeful
Angry
Filled with falsehoods
Sound familiar?
This was the Bush administration
After 9/11
Obama feels comfortable
Maintaining this trajectory into madness
For safety?
For freedom?
The Best Americans know chains
The Best Americans know prisons
All too well
And it shouldn’t let a house Negro administer
What’s sinister
And though Obama speaks with princely charm
The Best Americans aren’t peasants
Freedom will ring
And, Obama can’t reign
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., Research Associate, Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences at Michigan State University (MSU). He earned his Master of Science degree in Community Development-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 would appreciate any input on where and how he can get it published. He can be reached at [email protected]
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