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Dear... Black Boy.
Don't you know who you are?
Don't you know... where you come from?
Or have you forgetten the stories
That your Pop Pop used to tell you
On those summer nights
When your mama let you
Stay up, past your bed time?
Don't you remember?
Your Pop Pop would say
"Boy.. don't you ever let them
Tell you that you can't. Don't
You ever let them tell you that
You're not. Because you can.. and
You are. Let them know
That you will NEVER be their
"
And maybe you were too young
Or maybe he was just an old
Senile man...
But you didn't understand.
And you would say:
"Pop Pop, I can what? I am what?"
He would say "Everything. BLACK."
And your mother would say
"That's enough for tonight jr.
It's time for bed now."
Jr.
You were blessed with your
Fathers full name, yet he was
Nothing but a story to you.
Your mama said
He left because he had
SOME THINGS to do
But you knew...
You knew better than that.
Because Little Tony around
The corner said Daddies
Who love their boys
ALWAYS come back.
So you grew up cold
His absence...
Was that icy chill in your soul
And you thought black boys
Who had no fathers
Taught themselves how to
Be men
And black mothers who had no husbands had no right to
Try to teach them.
Cause in the end...
You were just another
Little .
And you must have misconstrued
What your Pop Pop said
When you're
Holding Mack 10's
To these "Lil s " heads.
Black Boy....
Do you remember who your
father is?
I mean, do you remember who
Your FATHER is?
He blessed you with more
Than a few daddies to look
Up to
Daddies who, though they
Never met you...
Would never leave you
Daddies who died
So you didn't have to be...
A little with no daddy
One who physically FOUGHT
For your rights
While the other, fought for
the peace
Malcolm X..
Dr. King
If you listened to your daddies
Maybe you wouldn't be
Just a little
From the streets
Moving weight
Selling keys
Saying "I'm taking care of
My mama. I don't need her.
She needs me. "
But you're just a little boy
What did Pop Pop really mean?
I can only imagine...
He must be turning over and over
Doing cartwheels and back
Flips in his grave.
This is not the way
His only grandson was
Meant to behave
He walked with Dr King
Though he was a little black
Boy himself, he saw the dream.
He said let them know
That you will NEVER be their
But now everybody seems to be your
Friends who see you say
"That's my ! "
But who are you really?
Just some .
Black Boy...
There is so much more
To you than the darkness
In your heart
And that melanin in your skin
That makes them call you
Their
Or that
That sorry little black
Never had a daddy
So he fathers a trigger
That
That angry little black
Only thinks he's a man
Because he's pulling a trigger
That
That boy..
That poor, angry, sad black Boy
Dear black Boy....
Don't you ever be.....
Their .
