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Monday, August 1, 2011

Emancipate yourself

Celebration, elation we are all God’s creation
Yet still some of us came here in shackles and chains
After 1838 we were freed but the bondage still remains
We've replaced rusted chains with bigger shinier ones made of gold and platinum 
Substituted hoes and axes for knives and guns
Went from protecting our little ones at all costs 
To showing neglect and abandoning them with no remorse

It’s like we’re travelling back in time, from today August 1st 2009
Back to the 17th and 18th Century
When we were forced from our home carried on cramped ships
And were spat on, humiliated, raped, lynched and whipped

Today we take for granted where we have come from
The invaluable sacrifices made in human and psychological form
And the progression Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Barack
Obama 
But instead we study to make she stamamamamamama
We study the drama, the bling and living the good life

Will the slavery in our minds ever end?
When will we become at peace with ourselves?
We try to hide our beautiful dark skin and downplay the character of our big noses
We are insecure with our curvy bodies and our hair
Forgetting that’s the way God made us
Beautiful

We chase wealth because we had none?
When in Africa we were Kings and Queens with more riches than we could ever dream
So how did we reach here?
I laugh and say on ships
But let’s keep that argument where it belongs in history
Let’s deal with the unsolved mystery of a way forward  
It’s time we be strong like our ancestors and stop hiding behind the hand of the past like cowards

I propose to you my brothers and sisters
During the all the festivities and fanfare today ask yourself this simple question
Will I continue to live my life in misdirection?
Or will I love me, above anyone else
Will I dare to be truly free and emancipate myself?

© Hybrid Star August 1st 2009

2 years later it's 2011 now, and things have not changed
In fact they've become worse
So much so that I had to add some new verses
This is my solemn plea 
Look back and remember me 

I was born in 1757 and given the name John Adams 
Every day I would toil on my master’s land for 18 hours
Sun up to midnight, the price to pay for being a ’Field hand’
Whipped, punished, battered and tortured when I stepped out of line
But I was only trying to get more food for my daughter
The same daughter that grew up to be raped by my master every night

I saw so many murdered, for you
Be raped, for you
Battered and bruised, for you
Families torn apart, for you
Suffer, for you
Tears and blood shed, for you
Children mourn, for you
Fight for your freedom
Yet you are unappreciative
Yet you know nothing about where you came from
Yet you are still a victim

This new generation of slaves is worse than ours
Because no matter how many bodies hurt and fell in my day
We still had our mind and stood true to our beliefs
We believed in freedom and we got it
Only to be lost again by a more sophisticated breed to slave masters
Kudos to them, the mind controls the body

Listen carefully to my words
You are beautiful, intelligent, successful and loved
No one can tell you who you are or who you can or cannot be
Believe in yourself, because we believe in you

© Hybrid Star August 1st 2011



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