Tell me,
When you look at me,
What do you see?
Do you see my talents,
Condemned to silence,
Or a street hood drowning
In crime and violence;
A Negro-not-quite-American
On the wrong side of the fence,
Locked away in society's brig
With a life sentence?
Do you see an educated human
Who happens to be of African decent,
Or a black boy whose time would be better spent
In servitude
With a good attitude
Singing "We shall overcome"?
Should I allow you to slap my cheek
And turn the other one
And take your bullshit in stride
As you try to damage my pride
And still manage to hide
Behind the fortune you built
At my expense?
Do you see the culture
Acknowledge twenty-eight days a year,
Twenty-nine sometimes,
But only with the same tired lines?
"We at Company XYZ
Support the Negro-not-quite-American community
With facts about the Negro-not-quite-American
history."
Messages designed to commercialize
And mesmerize
My eyes
With bargain buys
And subtle lies
And deceit.
Complete with orchestrated acceptance speeches
Hoping your message reaches
Into the subconscious and like subliminal leaches,
Suck dry the mental blood
Of a people subjected to your mendacious acts.
You pretend to have respect for blacks,
Then degrade us behind our backs
Where you feel comfortable showing your true colors;
Because in reality, you're still a coward,
Despite your economic powers.
So tell me.
When you look at me,
What do you see?
As for me,
I can see clearly now the rain is gone...