BETTER THAN BLACK (2023)

Racialization is
A status,
On which
The only thing that matters

Is your hue and
Complexion,
And the dark one
Offers no protection

Against being shot by cops
Or suffering insults and offense,
And being treated as if
You have no sense.

But some can’t accept
The fact that,
No matter how they
Act that,
If they don’t fight back,
They’ll never be better than black

So…

One step forward
Two steps back,
Does that
Make you better than black?

Funny how you wear a badge
Then you act,
Like the cross hairs are off your back
And suddenly you’re safe from being black.

Got a little money
Move away don’t come back,
Like that make you
Better than black.

Whether a warden or guard
Your foot on your own people’s back,
An overseer
Ain’t better than black.

A Hollywood minstrel character
Being told how to act,
Celebrity don’t
Make you better than black.

A dark face in a high place
But powerless in fact,
A puppet and token
Ain’t better than black.

They pat your head
Smile at you rub your back,
Does being a house nigga
Feel better than black?

A white woman on your arm
You push sistas to the back,
Does that
Make you feel better than black?

Kissing boots and asses
Your face wedged in a crack,
Does a shit stained nose
Make you better than black?

Buy a fancy house and car
Stylish digs on your back,
Even that
Don’t make you better than black

You fell through the crack
So you thinking that,
Being bougie
Make you better than black.

Your vocab sophisticated
Using proper yackety yak,
Holding your ass tight
Don’t make you better than black.

Join the military
Murder Innocents from Afrika to Iraq,
Being a hired gun
Won’t make you better than black.

You built this land
With forced labor that’s a fact,
It’s not even acknowledged
You ain’t allowed to be better than black.

One cop enters your hood
You run throw your gun and pack,
But kill your own
You hate and afraid of being black.

Imposed by those
At the top of the stack,
A system built on class and color division
Needs the lower stratum of black.

For some to be out front
Others gotta be held back,
This is why they can’t dispense
With the role of the black.

So no matter what you do
No matter how you act,
Until we destroy capitalism
You’ll never rise above being black.

By Kevin Rashid Johnson