by 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.
From ICE courtroom ambushes to sheriffs' execution threats, America's domestic repression now openly wields the tools it honed in overthrowing foreign governments.
Homelessness isn’t policy failure—it’s policy. From 19th-century British 'clearings' to today’s police sweeps and Blackstone evictions, the playbook stays the same: displace the poor, privatize the…
To honor Kwame Ture is to condemn Zionism. Yet the lecture bearing his name platformed a speaker who calls anti-Zionism 'hate', erasing Ture’s clarity that Palestine’s liberation is inseparable from…
Decades of U.S. military aid and Israeli occupation created the conditions for the attack on Iran in an unbroken chain of imperial violence.
When oppression becomes unbearable, resistance erupts. The uprising at Delaney Hall exposes the brutality of immigrant detention and the power of collective defiance.
