An Ode to Chris Matthews!
Below is a clip from spoken word artist Mario Willis. It’s a freewrite inspired by Chris Matthews’ “I forgot Obama was Black” comment. Willis is a poet out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and often juxtaposes humor and sorrow in his poetry to talk about the struggles of inner city America. Check out his “challenge”, it’s pretty funny, yet extremely poignant. The rest of the freewrite is after the jump, and it is pretty damn entertaining as well.
photo by Isaiah Merriweather
** a challenge**
for the next week every time someone says something smart or important, remark that you forgot their race. Like “Wow, you did a good job today Tom, I forgot you were German”, “nice report Patty, i forgot you were Polish”, “Thanks for the help with my homework, Chananya, I forgot you were a jew”…
more of Mario’s freewrite after the jump.
I was born in the ghetto
to teenage parents
unprepared for the stumble ahead
have went hungry
ate appetite for dinner
slept on floors
frostbitten
have seen violence on street corners
in front of liquor stores.
and dead bodies
before my 5th grade year
had a Grandmother who gave me faith
like a 50 yard pass for a first down
nearly impossible, if not just improbable.
have stepped over failures
on my way to a school bus
that would take me
1 hour
to a school room
where a teacher
would see more nigger than student.
have made decrees that God was dead
if not just improbable
then seen miracles so awe inspiring
that the shroud of Turin might cry.
to see faith reassembled
I confess
have stolen, lied, and cheated.
ate chicken, watermelon
and danced to drunk to remember
but I pray with all that is within me
every weary, tattered, barely breathing bone in my body
You never forget that I am black
never say those words about me
for a hour or a minute,
a nano second.
Mr. Matthews
we are a strong people
stand with the blood of middle passage.
imprints of fish hooks in our jaw bone
have been caught up
hoodwinked and bambozzeled
lost.
have been subverted
killed for looking at what we might want
had our soul legislated away
been cattle
then walked, marched, died
to find some sort of justice
some prayer for freedom
you said that for a hour
you forgot that he was black
like my skin was a disease
an affliction
to be remedied with disregard
as if my sons and my daughter
black as the hour after midnight
should lose their ethnicity
like keys
to prove they are worthy
we are a proud people
Mr. Matthew’s
have been hung, chained and arrested
called many things in the shadows
other than black
other than nigger
that have left us poor and disenfranchised
but we are clearly American
they pained to pull every ounce of Kimit
from my flesh
leaving my DNA pocked
with the inferiority
to at first listen when you spew such rhetoric
but you must have LOST YOUR MIND
don’t you ever forget that I am black
if equality comes at the price of my heritage
then let my great grandmothers bones
be lifted from the grave
so that I can push one threw my nose
so you can see me
as Black as I am
is that African enough for you
let me cover myself in red kool-aid and tap dance
a jig for you and your Mammy
is that Black enough for you
will lean with it rock with it
like little black boys hanging from tree limbs
President Obama looked the politician
“capitulation” and rhetoric be damned
but he most assuredly looked black
as black as a people
who fought every war this country has lied in
as black as
first responders who died on 9-11
black as Crispus Attucks
the first man to die for the cause of revolution
black as Martin, Malcolm, A. Philip Randolph, W.E.B. Debouis
and the millions of souls
lost in the ocean
to the greatest crime against humanity
this world has ever seen
Mr. Matthews
he looked so black on that podium
and weren’t we all proud…
** a challenge**
for the next week every time someone says something smart or important, remark that you forgot their race. Like “Wow, you did a good job today Tom, I forgot you were German”, “nice report Patty, i forgot you were Polish”, “Thanks for the help with my homework, Chananya, I forgot you were a jew”…
[...] spoken word artist MARIO WILLIS [...]