BLACK WOMAN AND MAN UNITED (2024)

BLACK WOMAN AND MAN UNITED (2024)

by Kevin “Rashid” Johnson

Who’s been the key to
Our survival
Since our arrival
On western shores
In scores
Of slave ship holds
Under the whip
To be sold
But now when told
History is flipped
To deny her role
Her very soul
Shredded to make us
Less than whole
Our Black woman
Forced to uphold
Two roles
Father and mother
As the males
Have been ripped
From our homes
With welfare prison
Drug addiction
Victims
Of man made affliction
The cause of our demise
Division
Loss of unity
In our community
The aim of this divide
Inflicted with precision
Genocide
Nowhere do we see
In the entertainment
Industry
Any imagery
Of the Black man and woman
In harmony
Healthy intimacy
Either they’re
Alone or tied to another
Color
A Black man or woman
With a white lover
Which is no bother
If it weren’t happening
As part of a process
Of turning our people against
Each other
Our communities
Under attack
Gentrification
Loss of role models
And disrespect
The basis
Of how we
Interact
Our women degraded
Not loved but despised
Men jaded
Called boy
Infantilized
Generations ago
We couldn’t call
Sistas hos
Or bitch
But now things done switched
During the Panther era
When there were
Women right there with us
On the front lines
Facing the pigs down
With carbines
And razor sharp minds
They stopped
Straightening their hair
Didn’t care
About European beauty standards
Or despair
We gotta fight it
Think far sighted
The torch of our past struggles
Reignited
Do you even understand
Why we must stand
Hand in hand
Unity between
Black woman and man
Look back at history
It’s no mystery
That in this land
She was the force
Holding us together
Didn’t matter whether
It was
During slavery
Jim crow rape
Or genocide
She was there
Firmly by our side
Down for the whole ride
Even as we tore down
Our own communities and towns
She stuck around
Till we found
Solid ground
And there she
Helped rebuild
Shelter and homes
But now she’s left to stand alone
Under forced
Defense
Black women left to claim
Independence
From black men
Which makes no sense
We gotta mend this fence
Like George Jackson said
And I put in quotations
“The black man and woman must be united
In our struggle
For liberation”
So where do you stand?
What you gonna do?
Keep boxing her in
So we can’t get through
The doors of freedom
We need ’em
Our women
Redeem ’em
To reclaim
Their rightful role
As our community’s soul
And be so bold
As to take her hand
In a firm hold
And not let go
Until we reach that freedom land
Taking the milk and honey
Not chasing toys tokens
Cheap fads and money
This is why we gotta
Identify the true enemy
And fight it
But to win
The Black woman and man gotta be united