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


  • Europe and US Now Policing Black Migrants in Africa
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Europe and US Now Policing Black Migrants in Africa
    15 Mar 2021
    To justify US and European military occupation of much of Africa, migrants seeking jobs in the north of the continent or in Europe “are labeled as criminals and terrorists” when they are “just look
  •  Black Is Back Coalition Partners Praise 19-Point Self-Determination Agenda
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Is Back Coalition Partners Praise 19-Point Self-Determination Agenda
    15 Mar 2021
    At a webinar last week, Jericho Movement chairperson Jihad Abdulmumit said the Black Is Back Coalition’s National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination “covers everything,
  •  Community Control is Best Route to Abolishing Policing As We Know It
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Community Control is Best Route to Abolishing Policing As We Know It
    15 Mar 2021
    Community control of police advocates in the Washington, DC region say their approach is the best -- and most democratic – way to achieve both defunding and total abolition of policing as it exists
  • Freedom Rider: Trump/Biden Foreign Policy
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Trump/Biden Foreign Policy
    10 Mar 2021
    Biden rules like Trump regarding Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Haiti, because the two imperial parties serve the same masters.
  • Anti-Asian Racism Never Stopped Being an Outgrowth of U.S. Imperialism
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Anti-Asian Racism Never Stopped Being an Outgrowth of U.S. Imperialism
    10 Mar 2021
    Scant attention has been placed on the context of anti-Asian racism and its roots in the history of U.S. imperialism. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us