Mama, where my daddy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He should have been here long ago<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baby I know and I’ll try to explain<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why he just couldn’t show<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Mama, does Daddy love me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Child you know he do<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Truth be told son<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bad men took him away from you<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They call theyselves lawmen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You see them everyday<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They the ones that give you<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Evil looks from patrol cars while you play<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They think you a problem<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s why it ain’t safe to lock eyes<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When they see you they see your Daddy<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And wanna take you for a ride<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throw you in a cell<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stomp and kick your head<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Give you life in jail<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or even worse shoot you dead<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But why Mama what I do<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To make them hate me so bad?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You ain’t do nothing baby<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But be a Black male like your Dad<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They think you stole they chance<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To be a man theyself<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You poor and struggling live in despair<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But they act like we got the wealth<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s the thing they don’t get<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s the rich men who put them there<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And got us all struggling<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They the ones who make things unfair<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the cops and some white folks<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Would rather not make a scene<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With those in power so they come to our<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neighborhoods to let off they steam<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We’re an easier target<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We got no power no defenses<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we get billy clubs slugs and drugs<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plantations with razor wire fences<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Juvenile prisons overflowing<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With male children of our kind<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schools run by bad men just like the pen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To feed the school-to-prison pipeline<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just look what they done to Tamir Rice<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A 12 year old playing in the park<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They ain’t care he was a baby with a toy gun<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They shot him dead cuz his skin was dark<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or take little George Stinney<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Executed in the electric chair<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An innocent baby same age as Tamir<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he was Black so they ain’t care<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or Emmitt Till not much older<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They beat him till he was dead<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His Mama kept his coffin open<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So folks could see how they smashed his head<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or how about Trayvon Martin<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stalked by a wanna-be cop<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who shot him dead cuz he turned and said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why you following me? Man stop!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For centuries it was made clear<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our own babies we couldn’t protect<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our girls were raped boys were lynched<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we still get no respect<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I’ve always said keep your head low<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hoping you’d be safe<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Black Mamas been trying to save our male babies<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since back in slavery days<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuck you back in the womb<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To protect you each night I pray<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let you escape the evil men and tomb<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That took your Daddy away<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Mama how you gonna hide me<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A target cuz I’m male and Black<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can’t change that<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But we can learn to defend each other and fight back<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If all we do<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is learn to hide cower duck and run<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our communities and homes will never be safe<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And you’ll be giving this same talk to my son<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mama, where my daddy? He should have been here long ago Baby I know and I’ll try to explain Why he just couldn’t show But Mama, does Daddy love me? Child you know he do Truth be told son Bad men took him away from you They call theyselves lawmen …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-3869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3870,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3869\/revisions\/3870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rashidmod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}