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 sevenfootpoet@gmail.com .
A 1989 talk by Black feminist Beverly Smith reminds us that for Black women, the right to abortion can be a woman’s right to life.
Contributing Editor Ann Garrison continues her reporting from the Horn of Africa. She is once again in Ethiopia.
John Parker is the Socialist Unity Party candidate for U.S. Senate in California on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. Parker is on a fact-finding trip observing the U.S./NATO proxy…
This week’s featured author is Nick Nesbitt. Nesbitt is Professor of French and Italian at Princeton University. His book is The Price of Slavery: Capitalism and Revolution in the Caribbean.
