Kamau Damali
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I AM WHO WE ARE
By Kamau T.Z. Damali
(originally written: June 20th, 2001)
I AM WHO WE ARE;
I am our nappy heads,
Our broad noses & full lips,
I am our beautiful smiles
And our angry frowns
I am the tears rolling down
Our faces inflicted by
Injustice, hardship and suffering
I AM WHO WE ARE:
I am Alkehulan’s (Afrika)
Glory and her failure,
Her happiness and her misery.
Her beauty and her ugliness,
Her triump and her tragedy,
Her tenacity and her docility,
Her rage and her serenity.
her satiety and her hunger,
Her Perfection and imperfection
AM WHO WE ARE:
I am that Alkebu-lanium king
Who fought against the other
Alkebu-laniankings that helped
The Europeans steal our people
Arid packed them onto ships
Like sardines — .
I am that slave man
With the bloody scarred back
Caused by years of inhumane treatment and abuse,
am that battered wife
Who can’t seem
To stop crying,
Who is saturated in pain and feels like dying.
I am that Ghetto child
Who only wants a good education,
But the odds are his destination
Is a prison plantation
I AM WHO WE ARE:
I AM WHO WE ARE
I am that melaninated
Freedom fighter committed to
The reconstruction of the
Alkebu-lanian community.
I am that lost
brother man hell-bent
on self-destruction
I am that sister-woman
Who just waits to be
Respected and loved
I am that famous Ebony
Celebrity, that popular
Pro - Athelete
And dirty poor housing
Project dweller/Ghetto resident.
I am that church preacher
Hypocrite masqueraded
In righteousness,
I am that Imarn Muslim leader,
That Voodo, Senterian Dogun Priest,
That Afrikan Hebrew-Israeliic
And Rastafarian truth seeker
I AM WHO WE ARE:
lam the kind,
The horrible.
— The grotesque.
The believer.
The disbeliever,
, The righteous,
The unrighteous.
The humble,
And not so humble,
With pride and dignity:
, I AM WHO WE ARE!
-->
South
Africa:
A
Tribute
By
Kamau T-Z, Damali
Originally
written: 2007
A
glorious place
A
conquered place
A
diversified place
A
place where
HIV/AIDS
claims
Millions
of lives.
Orphans
millions
Of
babies
A
place where
Poverty
is
a
landscape,
A
bully to the
down trodden
Where
hope is
A
paradox
Basking
in
the
sun
Ott
the
Afrikan Savannah
Where
despite
The
hardship and agony
Joyous
laughter
From
young children
Can
be heard
Across
the country,
The
Continent
and beyond
...
A
place where struggle
Keeps
hope alive
A
place where Nelson Mandela
resides
A
place where Aparthied
died
A
place of beauty
Tn
the midsl of
an
Ugly
tragedy.
The
Jungle!
By
Kamau T,Z. Dacaali
June
2007
Spools
Beautiful,
Enrapturing,
Curious
eyes
Watch
from
A
distance...
Screams
of happiness
Swing
from
Tree
to
tree
Optimism
Glides
freely
In
the sky
Pessimism
Arrogantly
strolls on
The
terrain
The
aroma
Of
life & death
Tenderly
perfumes
The
air
Peaceful
one moment
Tumultuous
the next
Native
hands
Delicately
tap
The
Tom Tom drums
Radiating
the
Jungle's
tempo
Precipitating
Its
creatures
Of
all varieties
To
function
With
its
spirit
To
the Oppressor
By
Kamau T.Z.
Damali
Originally
written: June 14th,
1996
I
have been doing
Your
dirty
work for
A
multitude
of years,
1
helped you terrorize
My
people
and bring
Them
to their
1
watched you
as you
Raped
my
daughter,
my
Mother,
my
sister, my wife.
Debased
my lather, my grandfather,
Mv
brother, my son and
Made
a
mock of
My
life ...
for
fun.
1
am here
To
let you know
That
I
am no longer
Your
knee-gore,
1
will
no
longer
Fight
in
your wars,
Sell
your drugs
Nor
destroy my community
With
your
guns
I
will however,
Fight
your injustice,
Oppose
your oppression,
And
struggle
to
uplift
The
New Afrikan community
Out
of its current
Depression
...
Against
the Odds!
,By
Kamau T.Z.
Damali
Orignally
written: May 2007
Crying
rivers over
A
matter
long gone
Out
of control
Backed
up against
the Wall
Caught
up in a twilight Zone:
Devoured
by
the
Hungry
mouth
Of
poverty
Stumbling
over
Body
after body
No
escape:
Swept
away
by
Furious
tides of
sorrow
Hanging
on
for tomorrow ...
Confused
over how
To
overcome misery
And
depression
While
aiming for progression
Moving
forward
On
both feet
Going
toe to toe
With
oppression
Becoming
more and more
Aggressive
As
courage compels
Me
to
battle
Against
the odds —
Working to Survive
By Kamau TZ Damali
Originally written June 2007
Up and ready
At 4:30
Every morning
Destination
The local steel mills
To put in some
Work to feed
His family..
Sweating Black
From the ashes
And fumes of
The machinery
Working for less
Than ten dollars
A hour…..
Ho believe he
Deserves more
But the Boss man
Isn’t tying to hear it
Approached at lunch break
By a co-worker
To join a union
Arid protest unfair wages
And working conditions…
Intrigued by the idea
But can’t afford
To miss work or
Jeopardize his job
Because his lovely family
Depends on him
For food and bills.
Therefore
He regrettably turns
Down the invitation..
He glares at
His hands
Evaluating bruises
Left by the stell,
The drills
The hot flames,
In Shame
He puts his head down
And goes
Back to work..
-->
BREAKING
AMERIKKKA'S CHAINS
e
Composed
by Raynell D. Morgan
Aka
Kamau Tebogo Zulu Daniali
I
hove been one of Amerikka’s prisoners for over
400 years,
The
blood and tears of my people are her lakes & rivers,
She
claims to be the apotheosis of liberation,
When
fact
is,
she
enslaved two-thirds of the Black Nation, plundered the Red man
Of
his land and placed him on a reservation,
I
can still smell tile fresh blood of Afrikans & Natives, who died
in Ameriltkka's hand
from
years passed because they wanted to free. And
I
can still hear the crescendo
speeches from the
brothers & sisters of the 50' s & 60" s who vociferated:
I
am
man, 1 am a
woman,
as they marched in the street.
Blood
shot eyes from cold emotions & sleepless
nights;
I
can’t
recall
me last time I cried… I can't recall the last time I laughed…
Angry
frowns in the faces of
the prisoners,
definelong life struggles….
Ancient
memories as a youngsta; ~
Warm
hugs &
kisses
from the embrace and lips of my mother.
Screams
from new bom babies spell revolution ------
Conscious
Black men driven in hope & rage, in search
of
a
solution…
Generations
of young Black males with high esteem & dreams of going to
Harvard or
Yale
but instead they end up in one of Amerikkkars
prison cells.
Look
at me, my face is the face Amerikkka doesn't want the world to see;
Listen
to me,
my voice is the voice Amerikkka doesn't want the world to hear
Who
Am I?
'-.
I
am that brother, that Alkebulanian man whose mission is to break
Amerikkka's chains.
THE END
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