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Our history holds misleading stories
printed, repeated, published, and sold.
Yet, our true history is priceless.
These stories are like precious gold.
In the dark, generational curses
find a home from which to circulate
A litany of mystic tales that serve
to seduce, confuse, and sedate.
This drugged-out platitude
blurs our path and alters our course.
A crooked road becomes the path
blindly embraced and then endorsed.
Truth serves as the Light
that emboldens our priceless spirit.
Lies embrace the cunning dark.
Those tales are profane and without merit.
For lies that are perpetuated daily
without being fact-checked for authenticity
disfigure “The Souls of Black Folk”
and what we, by tradition, signify genuinely.
Like the lie that we are lazy,
dirty, no count, and lack self-respect.
Like the lie that we are sassy, savage,
disunited, and not self-sufficient.
Like the lie, “We’ve produced and produce
nothing to advance universal destiny.”
There are countless inventors and entrepreneurs
who’ve made and make contributions to humanity.
The lie that most of our children can’t
thrive in school is a downright shame.
Institutionalized low expectations
bell-curve-stunt academic and social gains.
Darkness is now entrenched
in rituals, ceremonies, and norms.
Capes of obscurity — a pitchfork of death
burn and burden the spirit when starkly worn.
WE ARE NOT Mandingos, Bucks, Thugs,
Sapphires, Nannies, Coons, or Mammies.
WE ARE NOT Toms, Sambos, Welfare Queens,
Magical Negroes, Pimps, or Pickaninnies.
WE ARE NOT Beggars, Thieves, Self-Haters,
Ignorant Wanna-bees, Jackals, or Slaves.
WE ARE NOT the labels ascribed to us
from the cradle to our grave.
WE ARE victims AND brave survivors
of a horrible genocidal holocaust.
WE ARE valuable outside of entertaining
on some stadium, stage, platform, or court.
WE ARE a people who, while branded by lies,
support a system that may not always help us.
WE ARE a people who are international trendsetters
in industries that minimize our interests.
WE ARE a people who aspire to labor hard
as believers to break any chronic curse.
WE ARE what has been divinely given.
Scriptures reveal this, verse after verse.
Shattering the dark course
and curse of propaganda
needs pure Light to bid it farewell.
Bad stories have bad intentions.
Among us, they cannot dwell.
Live our Light through solid stories.
In trusted venues, embrace this often and well.
We choose Heaven on earth and beyond
Instead of the filth that fashions hell.
©2023 All rights reserved
Keywords: The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois (1903)
Black History Month, Black Love and Unity, Prosperity,
Family Values, Inspiration, MLK Day.
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