Black Poetry : WHO'S REALLY FREE ??

[GYPSYMAN]

WHO'S REALLY FREE

EXISTING IN THIS WILDERNESS
IN A STATE OF COMBAT FATIGUE
CANT SLEEP WITH THE
CLACK ! CLACK !
OF THE BIRD BLADES HOVERIN'
SMOTHERED BY THE CONVERSATIONS
OF A.K.'S
BACK N' FORTH
IN A CRUMBLING ECONOMY
SOON TO COLLAPSE
ON BENT BLACK
BACKS
WHO
NAP
i
RISE
TO BLAZE COLORED NIGHTS
PROJECTS LIKE VIETNAM
WHERE CRACK BE THE NAPALM
PASSED FROM BOAT HOLDS
TO PALMS
ALL FOR THE CHASE
OF DEAD FACES
ON UNBACKED PAPER
AND THE WORLDWIDE CAPER
TURNS ON AND ON
SPINNING PLOTS
LIKE SATELLITE TRAJECTORIES
SPYING
DENYING
THE LIES BEHIND
THE LIES
BEHIND
THE
LIES AND THE TIES
THAT BIND US TO
THE DIAMOND TRADE AND
AMPUTEED BABIES
NO ARMS NO LEGS
CAUSE WE DESIRE THE KARATS
FOR THE SHINE
POSSESING DEADLY
LIGHT
IGNORING THE PLIGHT
BEING CAUSED
AT THE SOURCE OF
THIS
GLOBAL GREED
BLING ! BLING !
SWING ! SWING ! THE MACHETE
CAUGHT IN THE EUPHORIA
OF THE MOMENT
MONEY BE LIKE
CONFETTI
BOTTOMLESS RICHES
BE WORTHLESS
AS MARDI GRAS
TRINKETS
PLAY ON PLAYAH'
PLAY ON PLAYETT
DEATH COMES WITH MANY FACES
AND FRESH CASES FROM THE FEDS
POPULATE BRAND NEW PLACES
HOWS IT FEEL
TO
BE
A
MODERN
DAY
....SLAVE.

WHO'S REALLY FREE ??


On A Continuous Journey
GYPSYMAN

 

[Afridancr]

wondering...

Will we ever be free? spiritually yes but physically, I don't think so.

Last night I heard on the news that in Benin there were 200 children on a ship that were captured to be sold as slaves. They even said that some of the parents sell their children as slaves because they're so poor they do it for the money. Seems to me not much has changed in 400 Plus years.

A friend of mine once told me that he didn't want to work for anybody because even on the job, you're still a slave. When in an interview, they ask you what "position" you're interested in. He pointed out that no matter what way you look at the situation, good benefits/excellent pay/incentives/working conditions, we're still being "fuked!" The more I sat and thought about this the more ticked off I became. I'd been fired for looking like them to get a job, fired for being my nappy headed self and back to looking like them again (weave) for a job. Here I am, still unemployed so I'm going to be ME and pray that God will bless me with employment. Worked a week in a production factory and I hated it. I literally felt like a slave. Folding boxes, stacking boxes, filling and labeling boxes--all while this white supervisor walked around with his whistle giving orders. It was funny because he found himself comparing order #'s to the order form and fuked up. Guess who straightened out his mess....ME!! It's been two weeks, I haven't received my paycheck yet and the agency that sent me there have yet to call me for more work! Tell me that **** ain't slavery/opression!!!!!


sorry for rambling but I TRULY/OBVIOUSLY Felt this piece!

Afri

 

[shaneak]

Issues that we can't run from....

First and foremost...Gypsyman...This was tight!!! And I'm truly feeling this...

Just to be stated: We ask ourselves are we truly free...but the truth is we were never free...we as humans were never free...bound to our country..needing a passport just to travel...Vote for a president only to lose the election do to illegal practices...but we trust the government. We sit in our homes and settle for a hussle...fast cash only in the end to get bashed... brutalized and dispuised by our people who think they are now too good to go to the hood...too good to work in a factory but don't have the education nor the motivation to want to strive and do better. Are we free or do we cage ourselves...do we allow ourselves to be slaves.

Afridancr: You are truly right...what is the use of excellent pay and great benefits? But lets think like this...Because i know tons of people who love and say they want to work for themselves...To tell you the truth that's all i hear in Altanta But to work for someone with great benefits...my benefit is rather than me paying almost 200 dollars a month for health insurance or not having it at all to pay...I simply pay 15 dollars every two weeks. Or to work for someone...If you look at it as work then it will be work...your not suppose to do anything you don't enjoy..and your not getting fuked because the truth is...we are fuking each other. I look at like this...i take a company...see what they can offer me...I feed off of what they give me...length of time...hands on experience...and once i don't need them anymore...once i know that i'm worth more than what they are offering me...I move on to the next dumba@@ company that i can use to gain experience... stock... benefits...and so once again the question is who is still making themselves a slave and how can they make this world their world as they continue living and striving in it.

By the way: And as for us college students who the fact that even though we got that great education...if you got the loans..you are still losing..once again...like my poem...Now what shall we be? In debt to the GOV...its all good though... Just make sure that your hard work was for a reason...and not done in vain. Because we are born free...bound to this world by the breath in our bodies...Our bodies need food to eat...we must work to survive... to survive we must make sacrifices...we must do what we can as a humans and the love for ourselves to make it in this world.

Because me...I've been there...and I'm not ashamed to go back...if I have to...

 

[GYPSYMAN]

Thanks for the Dialogue

Afri. and Shaneak thankyou both for sharing your experiences and opinions...this I feel is a crucial area for us as a people. I have been a slave all my life to one job or another,even to various styles of livin' and yes even the hustle and all the things that go with it. Today I have my own businss but my wife works for the community college system in our city. You hit the nail on the head Sha' we take what experience and funds we can and move on, now though I believe our next step should be to become self employed, I know, still not completely free yet at least self sufficient. I am taking suggestions as to what the next step is, I believe it is to network with others though, until we have our own corporations , holdings including land, property and businesses that not only have buying power but lending power as well...this is a subject I feel we must discuss and begin to explore in an active manner in order to be a force for change during this new millenium. Once again thanks for your worthy comments.

Love and Respect

On A Continuous Journey
GYPSYMAN

 

[amirah]

Hmmmmmmm..I'm feelin this peice, GYPSYMAN and it's food for thought:
W H O' S R E A L L Y F R E E?
Freedom encompasses much in the physical, mental, spiritual and financial/BLING!BLING! realms,and if any one of us thinks and acts like we're slaves we all are..in a sense..
"A man caint ride ya back 'less it's bent"