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Do You Have A Slave Mentality?
Kemet Mawakana
05 Mar 2008
7_foot_poet_upright_250wideA.K.A. "The Seven-Foot Poet"

Our resident poet asks what should be a burning question.  Readers may be certain that the answer for themselves is, No - until they discover Mawakana's criteria for defining the mentality-afflicted. Experience the written and audio versions of this week's offering from the very tall man of poetry, and re-examine your own mentality.

 
To hear this question posed in the poet's own voice, click the link below. 

Do You Have A Slave Mentality?

(live performance from the Collective Voices 2002 MLK Day Celebration at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in Washington D.C.)

Click the flash player below to listen to or the mic to download an mp3 copy of this original work by the Seven Foot Poet.

If you think the Isis Papers have something to do with the X-Men or

          Saturday Morning Cartoons

Or if you learned how a bill becomes a law by watching

          Saturday Morning Cartoons

Or if you're 30-years old unemployed and still watch

          Saturday Morning Cartoons

Or if you don't watch C-SPAN because they don't show

          Saturday Morning Cartoons

You have a slave mentality!

 

If you think the mass media is objective or

If you buy the Washington Post, L.A. Times, New York Post, Atlanta Constitution Journal or U.S.A. Today so you can see the:

Sports, comics, horoscope, soap opera updates, lucky lotto number or pretty color pie charts

You have a slave mentality!

 

If you eat Captain Crunch with every meal or

If you get sleepy after eating a sausage sandwich or

If you eat Captain Crunch and Sausage sandwiches while watching

          Saturday Morning Cartoons

You have a slave mentality!

 

If you think Michael Jordan is worthy of emulation or

If you describe yourself as "Cablinasian"?!?!

You have a slave mentality!

 

If you think the Nation of Islam is in the Middle East or

If you buy Kente cloth at Nordstrom or

If you think Asians are naturally good in math

You have a slave mentality!

 

If you know who Albert Einstein was and not who Imhotep is or

If you think "Africa" is the real name of the motherland or

If you think that:  Cooper, Harris, Ford, Dixon, Jones, Jefferson,

Johnson, Smith, Williams, Pegram, Perry, McGee, Jackson, White,

Washington, Thomas, Thompson, Carter, Baker, Hill, Woodson, Clark,

Davis or Walker - is your "family" name

You have a slave mentality!

 

If reading this poem makes you sleepy or

If you've never read a hardback book or

If you only subscribe to TV Guide so you don't miss your favorite

          Saturday Morning Cartoons

You have a slave mentality!

 

If you think everyone is the same underneath their skin or

that melanin only effects your skin or

wonder why we can't all get along

You have a slave mentality!

 

If you went to see a white psychiatrist to get rid of your slave mentality

You have a slave mentality!

 

If with every milli-second of your life

And every nano-second of your being

You strive for freedom

YOU! - Were never a slave to begin with!!!!

 
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 [email protected].

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