Black Star Keep Shining

In honor of Black Star’s ten-year anniversary, Proud Flesh is calling for works that speak to the impact and legacy of their masterpiece album, Mos Def and Talib Kweli are…, for an upcoming journal (www.proudfleshjournal.com).

Remember Malcolm

“i am neither a fanatic nor a dreamer. i am a Black man who loves peace and justice, and loves his people.” -El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz

May 19, 1925-February 21, 1965

Murmurings of a Cosmic Negro

if you think i’m crazy let it be for the reasons that i truly am and not for those you think me to be, for there is nothing worse than calling one crazy who is really just misunderstood. it’s a title not all deserve, nor have they all earned. or maybe that’s exactly what craziness is—just one big old misunderstanding like when you catch your partner with your best friend. now that’s crazy. yeah, yeah that’s it. a misunderstanding not like poor translation, but rather incapable media. you know? a “words can’t carry the weight of experience” sort of thing. anyway, craziness is relative, like a cousin or uncle or something. see?

Shadow Black

i’ve given up
on revolution
forever. now

i just glide on
will. i live
by decree and don’t fear

my shadow. Black
brirds sing my peace
and Joy reigns from the earth
like Purpose pursued.

-amari

Barack Can’t Do (the impossible): a response to my man Amir

You may call me a fanatic.  Or a vicious hater.  But for real, this ain’t about Barack.  i just want us to see that we gotta be careful and very aware of who and what we’re dealing with.  How can you change what has structured this very nation?  A house built on a cement foundation will always have a cement base.  america, based on hatred, murder, and oppression, will always have that as its foundation.  Barack cannot change this.  He cannot turn that cement base into mud or metal.

So my man Amir hit me up on facebook with some questions.  This is my response, written to specific his questions.