We Get No Respect
Black people get no respect
And we never will get it,
if we ain’t got it yet
The white man doesn’t truly consider us a threat,
we’re the best peace loving people
he coulda ever met
Not one African nation has a nuclear weapon,
and that’s a good thing
But our land has all of the necessary materials,
every mineral ingredient needed to make an atomic bomb
Create mushroom clouds fifty shades of black
Guess we ain’t dumb enough to do that,
although we’ve been often portrayed
as not being too smart
Conjuring up false narratives is a dark art
But let’s look at the historical truth;
put it out in the open, in plain view
Black people in America is a special clan:
We’ve lived here nearly 400 years, and never tried
to overthrow the government of the white man
Sure, from time to time, a smattering of my people
used violence — which was wrong — as a means
to fight against systemic racism
We only wanted to throw off the chains of oppression,
be not treated as subhuman
After the white man unlocked the slavery chains,
black people became quiet, law-abiding citizens
A peaceful people who never took up arms
against the American government
We proved ourselves as the best neighbors
white people could ever hope to get
Yes, we were the most compassionate color
white people could ever hope to oppress
We forgave them for what they did to us ...
laid all of our hatred to rest
To sincerely love your enemy,
is how Jesus Christ wanted us all to breathe
Savor the taste of the salt covenant of peace
To live in harmony with your enemy,
is a kingdom of God inspired reality
The majority of black people chose to live this Christian prophecy
And for the most part, we’ve been a peaceful people
dwelling in the land of our conquerors
Yet we got no global praise
for all of the indignities we forgave
Do you think we’ve gotten much national respect for that?
No sir, we instead got a lot of hateful spit
spat in our black face
And was told often, we better know our place ...
permanent Third World class citizen
But if you first never will respect our black skin,
the melatonin cost of our suffering ...
how will you ever then accept us, and let us blend in?
We are a peaceful people,
who proved ourselves as the best neighbors
white people could ever hope to get
But, with ebony tears I regret
having to say this with somber words
coated in chocolate candid:
Black people still get no respect
And we never will get it,
if we ain’t got it yet
Copyright © Freddie Robinson Jr. | Year Posted 2017
Post Comments
Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem.
Please
Login
to post a comment