Who’s been the key to our survival since our arrival on western shores
In scores of slave ship holds
Under the whip to be sold,
But now, when told history is flipped to deny her role,
Her very soul shredded to make us less than whole,
Our black woman forced to uphold two roles,
Father and mother, as the males,
Have been ripped from our homes
With welfare, prison, drug addiction;
Victims of man made affliction.
The cause of our demise, division, loss of unity in our community,
The aim of this divide, inflicted with precision, genocide.
Nowhere do we see in the entertainment industry
Any imagery of the black man and woman in harmony, healthy intimacy,
Either they’re alone or tied to another color, a black man or woman with a white lover,
Which would be no bother
If it weren’t happening as a part of a process of turning our people against each other,
Our communities under attack, gentrification, loss of role models and disrespect
The basis of how we interact.
Our women degraded, not loved, but despised.
Men, jaded, called void, infantilized.
Generations ago, we couldn’t call sisters hoe or bitch,
But now things been switched.
During the Panther era, when there were women right there with us on the front lines,
Facing the pigs down with carbines, and raising their sharp minds,
They stopped straightening their hair. Didn’t care
About European beauty standards or despair.
We got to fight it. Think far sighted.
The torture of our past struggles reignited,
Do you even understand why we must stand hand in hand,
Unity between black woman and man.
Look back at history, it’s no mystery
That in this land, she was the force holding us together.
Didn’t matter whether it was during slavery, Jim Crow, rape or genocide,
She was there firmly by our side, down for the whole ride,
Even as we tore down our own communities in town, she stuck around
Till we found solid ground,
And there she helped rebuild shelter and homes, but now she’s left to stand alone
Under forced defense black women left to claim independence
From black men, which makes no sense.
We got to mend this fence.
Like George Jackson said, and I put in quotations,
“The black man and woman must be united in our struggle for liberation.”
So where do you stand? What you gonna do?
Keep boxing her in so we can’t get through
The doors of freedom? We need them.
Our women redeem them to reclaim their rightful role as our community’s soul,
And be so bold as to take her hand in a firm hold and not let go
Until we reach that freedom land,
Taking the milk and honey,
Not chasing toys, token, cheap bags, and money.
This is why we gotta identify the true enemy and fight it,
But to win the black woman and man got to be united.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.