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


  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    COMMENTARY: The Shrinking American Empire, Glen Ford, 2009
    16 Sep 2026
    “The Iraq invasion greatly accelerated the process of U.S. imperialism’s decline.”
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Black Radicalism and the Return of the “Subversive Negro”
    16 Sep 2026
    NSPM-7 and the State Department's international campaign against "far-left political terrorism" represent new and more dangerous forms of domestic repression in the 21st century, while reconstructing…
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Colin Kaepernick’s “The Perilous Fight”
    16 Sep 2026
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Colin Kaepernick.
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    A Climate “Movement” Homonym: (Or, How the Big Apple’s Annual Environmental Gathering Surfaces an Imperative Inquiry, Climate Week or Climate Weak?)
    16 Sep 2026
    The climate movement has been captured by a professional managerial class that prefers charity galas and virtue signaling to building power.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Find me another 11,780 votes?
    16 Sep 2026
    "Find me another 11,780 votes?" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us