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


  • Rep Rashida Talib speaking at her censureship hearing
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Gaza War Crimes Make a Mockery of Western "Democracy"
    08 Nov 2023
    The "democracies" of the world don't live up to this concept they claim is so important to them.
  • Lesser evil political cartoon
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Biden is the Greater and Less Effective Evil
    01 Nov 2023
    The trope of lesser evilism has died with the Joe Biden presidency.
  • STOP COP CITY
    Efia Nwangaza
    Smash Kop City Atlanta: A Hub In The National White Supremacist Bulwark for White Minority Rule
    01 Nov 2023
    Atlanta's proposed Cop City project is just the latest iteration of militarized policing which enables state repression.
  • Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly next to her book, Black Scare/Red Scare
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor , Charisse Burden-Stelly, PhD
    BAR Book Forum: Charisse Burden-Stelly’s Book, “Black Scare / Red Scare”
    01 Nov 2023
    This week’s featured author is Charisse Burden-Stelly. Burden-Stelly is Associate Professor of African American Studies at Wayne State University. Her book is Black Scare / Red Scare: Theorizing…
  • Children flying over a destroyed Gaza
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    Statement from the Afro-American Committee Against Genocide, 1982
    01 Nov 2023
    In the 1980s, African Americans understood the war on Palestine as one of genocide.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us