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~ I DREAMT, MLK Jr. ~ by Oni Lasana
I had a dream too, Martin Luther King Jr.
that your dream came true
& people looked inside of me
not at the shape or size of me
not at the color or style of me
they looked at my inner reality
not the outside fantasy
I dreamt that your dream came true...Mr. King
Marcus Garvey wasn't ridiculed & called a fool
Ruby Bridges walked to school alone
Malcolm wasn't murdered by his own
Miss Rosa enjoyed her bus ride home
Emmitt Till was alive today
Medgar Evers wasn't murdered in his driveway
Steve Biko lived to write another day
Tupac represented the best of us
Rodney King wasn't beaten alive in front of us
&
Marvin was asking me "What's goin' on?"
I dreamt that your dream came true Rev. King
& young adults today were livin' clean
not smokin' tobacco, cronic, droppin' pills, hittin' crack
downin' 40's & gettin' wacked
dreaming stupid dreams
nothing to do but get hi & lie...or so it seems
living nightmares shooting down tomorrow's dreams
I dreamt your dream came true Minister King
& in concrete jungles everywhere
sons and daughters of criminals and righteous folks
were sitting at a table together
learning & teaching one another to read & to LOVE
I was dreaming and your dream came true Teacher King
& all children attended equally integrated schools
where students were not judged by the color of skin
or the color of Nike, ie's, Akademik's
but by the work they handed in on time
to teachers who really cared
I had a dream that your dream came true Brother King & in my dreams
I saw boys and girls of all races joining hands in agape love
little children holding hands of baby daddies
baby daddies married to & taking care of baby mommies
& they both had good jobs, careers, and businesses.
I dreamt your dream came true Mr. King &
I heard that same freedom bell ring
in every town from Africa to America,
Europe to Asia, South America to the Caribbean
starving children came running to dinner tables
filled with pesticide-free fruits & vegetables
BROWN rice, sugar, bread and molasses,
UN-contaminated water
& hormone free well-seasoned chicken
I dreamt that TV showed real people living true reality
& "FRIENDS"...didn't all look the same
Disney wasn't another name for distorted history & modern mythology
I dreamt that Eddie, Martin, Will* & the Wayan's
produced black history biographies & multicultural realities
Black & whites & all "others" UNITED in mutual funds
not only for sex, drugs & guns
I had a dream too, that your dream came true Brother King
& two weeks after your vision in DC
four little girls in Birmingham, Alabama.
Addie Mae Collins, Denise Mc Nair, Cynthia Wesley & Carole Robertson
walked home from church to waiting mommies
& the next day they went to a shiny new school
with smiling & loving classmates
and each one of those little girls graduated college
and became a doctor to heal us
A teacher to teach us, a lawyer for justice
& President of Human Rights University
Your dream came true Martin Luther King, Jr.
Because in my dream, their you were...
home with Mrs. King & your children,
playin' with grandchildren
inside the not so-white house
being the PRESIDENT of the United States of LOVE
So brave...so intelligent...so blessed
relaxing with your family & friends
& everybody knew...without a doubt
that they were "FREE AT LAST!"
& are truly somebody.
Just like I do, thanks to you
Martin Luther King Jr.,
I dreamt your dream, came true.
(C) 1999 I Dreamt, MLK Jr. ~ Words by Oni Lasana
Music - Samori Coles of lil drummaboy LLC
Recorded on Sister Wings, Spoken Wordsongs, Bass & Beats CD & available as I Dreamt, MLK Jr. the single.
*Author's Note: In 2006 Will Smith produced and starred in the film "The Pursuit of Happyness: a American biographical drama based on the life of banking investor Chris Gardner, so I no longer call Bro. Smith's name in the poem during live presentations.
Check out the video on You Tube at Oni Lasana's channel!
Sisterly love.
