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
  • omnibus

Vietnam
Kemet Mawakana
26 Mar 2008
🖨️ Print Article

7_foot_poet_upright_250wideKemet 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(at)gmail.com.

To read or listen to "Vietnam", please click on the link below. 

 

Vietnam

To listen to the audio of "Vietnam< click the flash player below

Click the flash player below to listen to or the mic to download an mp3 copy of this BA Radio commentary.

At a young and impressionable age

sealed was his fate.

Taught the enemy was an animal

sub-human

now he’s brainwashed

so that he can start boomin’:

 

“Boom boom boom yeah I was gunnin’

And then you look and all you see is . . . .”

 

The enemy’s tiny foothold from within

would not submit or bend;

thus and so the war begins.

 

“Homies all standin around just hangin
Some dope-dealin some gang-bangin
We decide to roll and we deep . . .”

 

The American went on a mission called search and destroy

killing men

raping women and girls

and crippling boys.

Napalm strikes by air support

reinforced thoughts

that the enemy was either a criminal

or should be shot for sport.

 

Because of the undeniable conflict

between his training

and the independent conclusions

reached by his maturing brain

the American turned to narcotics

to put his mind at ease.

 

“Since I was a youth, I smoked weed out . . .”

 

But the war won’t end

it can never end for him

until he looks in the mirror and sees

-- he’s Vietnamese.

 

By Kemit Mawakana (aka The Seven-Foot Poet)

Peace (when appropriate) War (when necessary)

Copyright 2008.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Ramzy Baroud
    The corporate giants fueling Israel’s war machine
    16 Jul 2025
    Francesca Albanese’s new UN report doesn’t just document genocide, it indicts the corporate machine profiting from Palestinian blood.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio July 11, 2025
    11 Jul 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss how the UK government protects Israel through terrorism statute lawfare, and media manipulation. But first, Donald Trump announced an early end to Temporary…
  • save TPS protest
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Haitian Communities Devastated by Efforts to End Temporary Protective Status
    11 Jul 2025
    The Trump administration recently announced the end of Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for 500,000 Haitians currently living in the United States. The end of TPS would end their ability to…
  • Palestine Action
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    UK State Repression on Behalf of Israel
    11 Jul 2025
    Roger McKenzie is the international editor of the UK-based Morning Star, the only English-language socialist daily newspaper in the world. He joins us from Oxford to discuss how the UK supports…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    New York Times Joins a White Supremacist In Attacking Zohran Mamdani
    09 Jul 2025
    Zohran Mamdani, the choice of Democratic Party voters in New York City, is anathema to the billionaire class. So much so that the New York Times elevated the work of a white supremacist in an effort…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us