Vietnam | Black Agenda Report

Kemet Mawakana

26 Mar 2008

🖨️ Print Article

7_foot_poet_upright_250wide Kemet 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

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio July 22, 2022
22 Jul 2022
The anniversary of the Sandinista revolution and a Central American zone of peace, the end of Roe v. Wade and American politics, and Biden administration aggression against Russia and China and the…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Nicaragua and a Central American Zone of Peace
22 Jul 2022
On July 19, 1979 Sandinista forces emerged victorious after years of struggle against the U.S. backed Somoza dictatorship. We talk to Netfa Freeman who is in Nicaragua about the significance of these…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
The End of Roe V. Wade and American Politics
22 Jul 2022
Pascal Robert discussed the impending end of the Roe v. Wade decision, and how the Supreme Court and American politics created this new crisis.
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Biden's War Propaganda
22 Jul 2022
Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley discuss Biden administration antagonism of Russia and China and the war propaganda apparatus.
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Crystal Eddins’ Book, “Rituals, Runaways, and the Haitian Revolution”
20 Jul 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Crystal Eddins. Eddins is Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at UNC Charlotte.…