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

They
Bill Quigley
20 Aug 2008
🖨️ Print Article

7_foot_poet_upright_250wideby Kemet Mawakana, a.k.a. the Seven Foot Poet

How many times have we heard that "they" control your hood, your head and sometimes your heart, to hear some tell it.  You know "how they do us", right?"  The Seven Foot Poet wants you to ask the next question. 

Just who are "They"?  

“THEY”

The audio for this poem is temporarily unavailable.

 

“Aberrant behavior is shaped by its consequences”

 

The mysterious “they” are everywhere

“they” did that to me

“they” did this to them

“they” did that too

“they” hurt my family and friends

 

“they” are going to get theirs

“they” better get back

“they” allowed it to happen

“they” strategically set up that

 

“they” thrive and continue to hide

When you refer to them as “they”

“they” lose effectiveness and get more resistance

When “they” is stripped away

 

Name the names

Tell me the addresses

Show me their pictures

I want their parents’ and their children’s identities too

I want “they” to consider immediate retribution upon them and their loved ones

Before “they” do what “they” do

Then “they” will reconsider

Sick the paparazzi on the board members

Publish the policy makers

Advertise the advisors

Broadcast the manipulators

Don’t show me reality shows that could hardly be any faker

Because it is consequences that shape behavior.

 

By Kemit Mawakana (aka The Seven-Foot Poet)

 

Peace (when appropriate) War (when necessary)

 
 

Copyright 2008.

 

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@gmail.com.

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


More Stories


  • El Obeid
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    War in Sudan: Impacts on the Horn of Africa and West Asia
    10 Jul 2026
    The war in Sudan between government forces and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) backed Rapid Support Force (RSF) continues, and so does what experts call the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The…
  • Patriot Front in DC
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Opposing Patriot Front and White Supremacist Groups
    10 Jul 2026
    Daryle Lamont Jenkins is founder of One People’s Project, which seeks to combat and expose right-wing, white supremacist groups and individuals. He joins us from New Brunswick, New Jersey, to discuss…
  • Jacqueline Luqman
    Black Alliance For Peace
    FIFA and the Red Card - A Special Bulletin
    08 Jul 2026
    FIFA and the USA are nothing more than corrupt institutions who rig, renege, and rationalize the fact that neither adheres to their own purported standards - whether it’s the so-called Declaration of…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Patriot Front and What Once Was Chocolate City
    08 Jul 2026
    The Patriot Front’s bold incursions into U.S. cities are a sign of their burgeoning strength and of the weakness of Black movement politics.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    INTERVIEW: “I was deported because I fought colour bar” Claudia Jones, 1956
    08 Jul 2026
    “I was deported from the U.S.A, because as a Negro woman Communist of West Indian descent, I was a thorn in their side…”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us