The King is dead and Malcolm too;
Those who are left include me and you.
Now is the time brother, what shall we do?
The Black Power Stokley left behind
Is gone into decline; faded away—
No one remembers Kwame Toure.
Pass the White House today.
You know what they say:
“The more things change,
The more they stay the same way.
How strange.
We are back at the day of no;
Back to where they called our place.
They took the ‘yes’ out the day before;
Today we remain a struggling race.
Emerald time fades to onyx night
The yoking sun shines on the brave
Energizing ebony warriors of the fight;
Least we chose to die as a slave.
As strange as this all may seem,
Know these are not words of a dream.
The enlighten know what they mean;
Freedom remains to be redeemed.
To be or not to be is not the question.
Ours must remain total liberation—
Freedom awaits its full restoration:
Thirst of the children await its libation.