Through self education I developed an intense sense of pride
but, also began to feel an obligation to my
heritage
So when my
parents just
Up and moved me
from Oakland to white suburbia
to improve educational opportunities
I knew it was the right thing
to do
I just didn’t want my Blackness
to disappear through years of
un-use
Got to keep it real said the silent whispers,
to this impressionable young, black
youth
And I to fell under the impression
that I needed an outward expression of my inner, black
truth
Only later did I have the self assuredness of mind
and the physical
presence
To apply an innate aptitude for logic
– and question society’s first
premise
What followed was a transformation of feet
routed in self belief as I stood
up
To their monopolistic definitions and asked a catalytic question
- Real
What?
Real like this bile-like terminology that I’m trying to throw-
up?
Real like young black men of every description
feelin like "
bein real" means actin
tough?
Real like the statistic result of this way of thinking making numbers add
up
To black men being six times more likely
to be murdered in America than whites,
floatin face
up- real
what?
Real like the popularization of gang culture in my native California
– and west-side hands being thrown
up?
Or real like my father ten years old,
and 3 thousand miles from home in a new ghetto gettin chased off the
bus...
For breakin the unspoken
rule
Which in his neighbourhood
was
that anyone tryin to bring his books back home from
school
Was a mother-f*ckin
punk
Not surprising given that
all successful black American role models are
rappers or can
dunk
A basketball without even
jumpin
So it wasn’t all that fun in the ghetto
when you were tryin to do
something
- Different
© Metis, 2006 (all rights reserved)
