Status Updates From The Panther and the Lash

BIBLE BELT

It would be too bad if Jesus
Were to come back black.
There are so many churches
Where he could not pray
In the USA
Where entrance to Negroes,
No matter how sanctified,
Is denied,
Where race, not religion,
Is glorified.
But say it—
You may be
Crucified.

i have been seeking
what i have never found
what i don't know what i want
but it must be around
i been upset
since the day before last
but that day was so long
i done forgot when it passed
yes i almost forgot
what i have not found
but i know it must be
somewhere around.

I could tell you,
If I wanted to,
What makes me
What I am.

But I don't
Really want to--
And you don't
Give a damn.

Dreams kicked asunder,
Why not go under?

There's a world to gain.

But suppose I don't want it,
Why take it?

To remake it.

We passed their graves:
The dead men there,
Winners or losers,
Did not care.

In the dark
They could not see
Who had gained
The victory.

I been scared and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has friz me,
Sun has baked me,
Looks like between 'em they done
Tried to make me
Stop laughin', stop lovin', stop livin'--
But I don't care!
I'm still here!

I am the American heartbreak--
The rock on which Freedom
Stumped its toe--
The great mistake
That Jamestown made
Long ago.

I play it cool
And dig all jive--
That's the reason
I stay alive.

My motto,
As I live and learn
Is
Dig and be dug
In return.

Uptown on Lenox Avenue
Where a nickel costs a dime,
In these lush and thieving days
When million-dollar thieves
Glorify their million-dollar ways
In the press and on the radio and TV--
But won't let me
Skim even a dime--
I, Black, come to my prime
In the section of the niggers
Where a nickel costs a dime.

So funny to read “The Backlash Blues” because I’m just hearing in my head a specific live performance of Nina Simone singing it

Justice

That Justice is a blind goddess
Is a thing to which we black are wise:
Her bandage hides two festering sores
That once perhaps were eyes.

… finding parallels with my other current read Invisible Man

🖤