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

Vietnam
Kemet Mawakana
26 Mar 2008
🖨️ Print Article

7_foot_poet_upright_250wideKemet 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


  • Tamara Nassar
    Palestinians Forced to Flee US-Armed Israeli Military in West Bank
    26 Feb 2025
    Israel initiated a massive assault against the West Bank, displacing tens of thousands of people. As the terror and destruction go on, settlers continue to steal land as part of Israel's expansionist…
  • Kit Klarenberg
    USAID Exported CIA Balkan Terror to Haiti
    26 Feb 2025
    After the CIA orchestrated the 2004 coup in Haiti, the U.S. ushered in a genocidal paramilitary organization from the Balkans to violently remove all resistance to regime change efforts.
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio February 21, 2025
    21 Feb 2025
    In this week’s segment, we hear about US policy towards Somalia, which is again the target of US policies of destabilization and military attack. But first, we talk to an organizer about the…
  • Donald trump signing executive orders
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Afeni on Mobilizing Against Neo-Liberalism and Imperialism
    21 Feb 2025
    Afeni is a Washington, D.C., organizer and an Electoral Justice Table member of the Movement for Black Lives. She joins us from Washington to discuss the first month of the Donald Trump…
  • Map of the Horn of Africa
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Trump Administration Continues U.S. Destabilization of Somalia
    21 Feb 2025
    Abayomi Azikiwe, is the editor of Pan-African Newswire. He joins us from Detroit to discuss U.S. policy towards the Horn of Africa nation, Somalia. The Trump administration recently carried out…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us