A poem for the Jena 6

My spirit is at unrest, as I have followed this story for months. I wrote a poem for the Jena 6 and I encourage you to donate your time, talents and resources in helping these children regain their freedom.

Mouth Shut
(a poem for the Jena 6)

Dogs have bigger barks
Than a black child challenging racism in America
As the media keeps racial discussions
Around the welfare of animals
Six children
Their future’s hanging in the nooses of racial injustice
Bite their nails and pray for sympathy
From a country that won’t even document their plight
The South is out of sight
Folks will protest and throw money
Toward millionaires who make mistakes
Athletes who fumble their responsibilities
Celebrities who whore for magazine space
Yet keep their mouth shut
When their babies plea for direction
In a place still warm with the sweat
Of Civil Rights protests

Activists would rather
Gain press
With their pressed hair
Pressed about pop lyrics
Heralding the same things always heralded
In pop lyrics
But keep their mouths shut
When the true underground
Who yell ‘fuck the police’
From an unwarranted prison cell
Scream silently

Street poets and hot boys
Would rather defend Nappy headed hoes
And their right to crown queens as
Nappy headed hoes
Than use their prosperity and power
To overturn Jim Crow

Next time
I’m looking for a place to
Throw away $12.99 or
Spend a Sunday afternoon for entertainment
I will remember those Black men
The richest of the Diaspora
Who we have expected little
From the wealth we have given them

Next time some rapper feels disgruntled with Bill O’Reilly or
Lambasted by conservative media
Next time some ball-juggler slips up
And beats some dog or some white woman
I will keep my mouth shut
I will remember six boys
Lives paralyzed in a prison cell since December
Who should be breathing their futures

Donate your time, talent and resources to the Jena 6 here