OUR BELOVED CHAIRMAN FRED (2025) By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson

I am a revolutionary!
he said it without pause
empowering the people
that was the cause
I’ll never bend or bow
won’t die in the streets
will live my life in rhythm
with the people’s beat
don’t want to stand on a mountain
nor shine like a star
down in the valley is my place
where the people are
I love the people
will die for them
their voice music to my ears
like a gospel hymn
it’s not a whim
my calling
to serve with my all
to live for the people
till the day I fall
and even then
my contributions won’t end
it will be remembered that
I dared to struggle
so in the end we’d dare to win
I vowed not to die
slipping on ice
nor in pursuing
any personal gains or petty vice
but rather for the people
the only way I’d go
and even then
the pigs would know
I was there
like George Jackson said
I’ll haunt them from the grave
the specter of
a revolutionary slave
I am a revolutionary!
he said it loud and proud
the people joined in with him
he always moved the crowd
the pigs feared him for
his unifying feats
he revolutionized racist whites
and gangs in the streets
up at the crack of dawn
the entire day given
to leading the Panther Party
in community building
serve the people programs
like free breakfast for school children
he showed slaves how to be free
so the enslavers killed him
on December 4th
1969
a day we should remember
for all time
the day they made him a martyr
shot him as he slept in bed
point blank in the head
our beloved Chairman Fred