There Are Some Black Men

By Ras Baraka

There are some black men

who don't represent Nike around the world

that are not poster boards or cartoons

some that never shuffled

There are black men that can't dance

That are not pop stars

Or that don't say nigger in every other word

Or paint bull's-eyes on our children's backs

Some black men walk hood streets

Not as pimps or gangsters

Who don't need to be seen

That never sold a vial of crack

Or bag of weed

Or smoked a black and mild

They're comfortable with the sweat on their brow

how dark they get in the sun

or the man their momma made them

There are some black men

that work sun up to sun down still

that kiss their children to sleep

that walk them to the corner store

that despite their pain poverty and subjugation

fight back with love and gentle stares

with purpose and dignity

that raise their families

Black men that build for themselves

That will never accept slavery

That died on plantations and killed too

Some Black men actually loved their wives and

Provided for their families

There are black men that are not apologist mouthpieces

Or that get paid to defecate on our hopes

Or sell us right wing dreams for larger smiles

A seat on a talk show and a hat full of coins

Some black men are not funny

They know no punch lines

They can't act

Don't giggle in corners

Or look at the ground when they speak

There are some black men

That spoke fire

That gathered millions

That burned plantations

That challenged lies

That stood in the way of hatred

That cursed poverty

And found cures

That smashed jim crow

That held their fist in the air

That told the truth!

There are black men

hundred of them

That were never criminals or begged or stole

or victimized their community

But as steelworkers, longshoremen, laborers,

sanitation workers, custodians, teachers, fathers,

and even some as grandfathers

There are black men that stood up and died

for democracy

From sea to shining sea

From the segregated south to the south of Canada

men that were black on purpose

Race Men

Revolutionaries

Workers

Heroes!