Rise UP

Rise up I say, why you gotcha ya head bowed

This ain’t what our ancestor had in mind when they feet hit the ground

Running as fast as they could, never looking back at the enemy

In their mind picturing vaguely, you and me

They ain’t know us but they knew somewhere they had to draw the line

For their kids, grandkids, nieces & nephews, and now it’s OUR TIME

 

Get up off ya knees, my sista and my brotha remember we were once Kings and Queens

That crying and praying last for so long, now it’s time to hear their screams

Screaming in terror as they see a sea of us coming down these streets

Pull drawls out ya cracks, and come together Kansas City

 

Show them when one of us gotta problem, WE ALL GOTTA PROBLEM

Straighten that back, hold that head high and walk straight up to em

Let em know that mess they pulled may have worked back then with my Great Great Grand Motha

But this is now and I promise you THIS GENERATION is like no otha

 

We WILL NOT tolerate the disrespect, or racial boldness you want to portray

Just cause you voted for TRUMP doesn’t mean he’s gonna come and save the day

I cry every time I see one of our babies on the news,

Because if it’s not them, it’s their mother and nobody can fill those shoes

So the ball dropped at the Black Panthers, not their fault but let’s pick it back up

Show them yes we fall but we get back up harder and stronger because we been that tough

 

All that keep silent and never say a thing is for the birds

And my mouth pretty big so I’m gonna make you feel my words

I’m tired of seeing my people put down and stereotyped against

Let’s remember y’all don’t like us but wanna be us at ANY expense

Y’all want our music, our fashion, and let’s not forget the injections in ya lips and hips

Let’s also not forget almost EVERYTHING you got WE MADE THAT SHIT

 

You wouldn’t be able to pick up the phone to call Carol if it weren’t for Lewis Latimar

And if it wasn’t for Frederick Jones, you wouldn’t be able to save those unseasoned leftovers

Black church in Mississippi got torched and tagged Vote Trump,

But where he at when ya face is getting stomped?

 

Stomped into the very ground you forced Eric Garner on, dying while in a choke hold

Same ground Alton Sterling died on while just trying to get his CDs sold

Not throwing shade I’m throwing the whole forest

I’m making moves now, this was y’all decision, y’all chose this.

 

Y’all chose to become bold with the racial hate, and tension

My people finna rise up tho, ain’t bout to be no division

Stand up my brothas, my sistas, my beautiful baby boy I love you

It’s time to do what they wanted us to follow up, and do

 

Put all that drama to the side cause it aint worth it not between you and I

We got bigger problems that needs to be seen with a bigger eye

Just like a typical black family, only time we come together is at a funeral

Stop killing and fighting each other cause that’s the ammunition you giving them

It’s 2019, they changed a street sign without our say, and for what

That’s like giving a kid a cookie so they could shut up

 

They want us silent while they continue to put us down

Well I’m here to let them know it’s gonna stop and it’s gonna stop NOW

Don’t you dare say “I have half black kin or black friends”, that’s so cliché

Because if things were still segregated, keep it real you’d like it that way

 

May 31st 1921, we were finally thriving and growing as a black community

Y’all bomb that up, cause we were better than y’all could ever be

Living in a world where the system was designed to target us from birth

Taught us to hate the color of our skin, and not know our worth.

 

They smile in our faces, and hate our guts behind our backs

They the ones who don’t want the struggle, but wanna be black

We created Black Lives Matter to focus on our colored men and women dying unnecessarily

Y’all couldn’t deal with seeing us on ya TVs, so y’all created All Lives Matter unfairly

 

Where was this All Lives Matter, when I watched us die, one by one, day by day

Oh y’all was quiet then right, ain’t have nothing to say

Break the chains that they have on our minds and souls

And let’s tame this beast before it gets out of control

Let them know we not going down without a fight

It’s a new day and age and y’all got the right

 

The right generation this time around

You gon’ hear our voices and they bout to be real loud

The same people in the white house are descendants of those who stole this land

And now they wanna have the power to say who can come over and who can’t

This poem is not to tear us apart but, bring us together

If you stand with us then STAND UP I don’t care whether

You’re black, white, brown, gay or straight

I just wanna make this a point before it’s too late

 

A war is coming and we need to be prepared

To let them know if they want we can definitely take it there

So put ya weapons down and let’s link up, arm and arm, hand in hand

Let’s protect our sons, our brothers, our fathers, The Black Man

Y’all only with the movement when it gets y’all likes and attention

But what about the movements that could save our very existence

 

Rise the hell up I said, pick up them feet

Now is not the time to accept defeat.

We fight for those who lost their lives

Because justice is coming and we on our time

We not waiting for it to come to us

Our fight for survival is now a must

 

Our little girls are going missing but where’s the media attention

They first on the scene, if it was one of their little girls’ who went missing

I’ll probably end up dead somewhere down the line

But at least I can say I used my voice and tried

Tried to make us finally realize

We all the same in the white man’s eyes

 

We are not our enemies, stop turning against each other

Life’s too short so take this time to love on your brother

Tell them you love them now, and hold them close and tight

We’ll never know what happens tomorrow, or when they’ll put out someone’s light

Get the hell up my black people, ain’t no other way to say it

If you ain’t hear me before, I hope you hear me when I yell it

They raised money to remove a black mermaid that hasn’t made it to television

But yet and still it’s been 1, 899 days since water been poisoned in Flint, Michigan