Kevin Rashid Johnson

Joma
Short for Jose Maria Sison,
A Union leader
When very young.
He’d later become,
One of the the greatest revolutionary
Leaders the world has known.
Founded the revolutionary party
Of the Philippines,
And the New People’s Army
To empower

Put on display
Like an animal in a zoo
You’ve been recognized as
“The first Black to…”
What does it mean
Some sort of progress?
That you’ve proven
Yourself a success?
That you’re
Better than the rest?
No, all

Yesterday a Black guard
puttin’ on for white pigs

Helped beat a young Black prisoner,
And cover up what they did.

Today she talkin’,
“Yet another unarmed kid”

“The only thing he did,
Walking home being Black”

“Was targeted by

We need a proper assessment
What is education?
Passing the torch of things learned
To the next generation.

Which makes our elders
Priceless jewels,
Indispensable to our liberation schools.

But the young
Can’t be confined,
To what was developed
In

Hubert Harrison
His name is a mystery
Written out of history
Because he left no stone unturned
From every source he learned
All exploiters he spurned
From Booker T. Washington to Marcus Garvey
He boldly exposed the pawns of racist

Comrade Jonathan Jackson
Our communist Black son
Your name be still ringing
Your praises we still singing
Took courage in hand
And ran wild
Across the history
Page
Took on the capitalist system
Dared to resist them
With

Why do we like
To proclaim,
That we are kings and queens
From royalty we came?

It was a response to
White supremacist lies,
That compared to Europeans
Afrikans were never civilized.

To counter these claims
The

Malcolm X once said
We’ll stand up to get free
When we wake up
Open pour eyes and see
Our human worth
Cuz we been degraded from birth
Taught to see something
Praiseworthy in being insulted
Spat

Some return in coffins
draped with flags,
Some with limbs missing
Some with minds in tatters and rags.

Disembarking planes
Met on runways by their missus,
And children aged in their absence
A reunion of hugs and kisses

Your experiences

During slavery
Black folks would often invent
Figures of speech and words
That were meant
To express their grievances
And anger
But in a way
As to avoid the danger
Of arousing the
Wraith and violence
Of the owners
Without