With a Readiness to Assassinate Characters
There are many trapped Negroes,
Still left behind.
And sitting on verandas, waiting...
To define themselves with wishes.
With dismissals picked,
That are easy to find!
As they pray to reopen doors...
Long abandoned,
On closed plantations.
Desperate were their needs then,
To be freed and released...
From an increase of oppressive treatment.
But mental struggles kept,
And harvested by those purists of bigotted limits.
Believing they are God's gifts.
And annointed to suppress and punish others...
As perceived from their own restricted lives lived.
In a valued wicked sickness.
And has left their land and taken stances,
Accepted as racist.
Showing their grievances on their bitter faces.
There are many trapped Negroes,
Still left behind.
With mindsets confined and enslaved.
Praying that an obeying.
Will deliver them with souls saved.
In the heavens suspended,
With harps and wings.
And praises to sing!
There are many trapped Negroes,
On expanding lazy butts!
And loving unaccountable responsibility...
That leave generations,
Annoyingly spoiled and absent of guts!
But strutting their vacant beliefs...
On filthy streets that reflect their philosophies.
There are many trapped Negroes,
Crying on the outside.
Yet denying on the inside...
They have no identities at all!
And they are lost.
There are many trapped Negroes,
Hating the fact they call themselves 'black'.
With desires to be found as clowning 'nigguhs'.
And doing their best to 'Step 'n Fetchit'.
On a backward track.
And sustaining a hip-hop gladness about that!
'Whoa...Hey!
Don't you feel some will find what you reveal offensive? '
Of course!
Especially those who oppose being referred to as Negroes.
And those African-Americans who can't stand to be called 'black'.
But not those mulattos who are thrilled to represent...
Just what it means,
To be descendents of Queens and Kings.
And proud it's digested.
Confessed and expressed.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Must Be Freed
The ante-bellum Negro prayed,
For God to intercede,
And God in answer to him said,
'Your children shall be freed.'
The hand was seen upon the wall,
The fates at once decreed
That Negro bondsmen one and all,
Should soon be free, indeed.
'If Abraham Lincoln's president'
The South said, 'we'll secede;'
They apprehended he'd consent,
For Negroes to be freed.
To battle North against the South,
O'er states rights was agreed,
But echo from the cannon's mouth,
Said, 'Negroes must be freed.'
Confed'rates did with marked success,
McClellan's steps impede,
Till Abr'm Lincoln did confess,
That Negroes must be freed.
The Union boys with heaven's strength,
From that time did succeed;
And fought with valor till at length,
The Negro slaves were freed.
The Jim Crow car for Negroes made,
To crush their pride, indeed,
Has on the harps of thinkers played,
Those people must be freed.
The right of suffrage from the men,
Is taken out of greed;
A better day is coming when
They shall from this be freed.
Black men before the lyncher's rope,
In vain for mercy plead,
But justice cries, 'There is a hope,
From such you shall be freed.'
From ignorance and poverty,
From superstition's creed,
From those who crush his liberty,
The Negro must be freed.
The hand has written on the wall,
The clouds must all recede,
For God Whose word can never fall,
Says,'Negroes must be freed.'
poem by Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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... The electoral franchise has been conferred upon the Negroes in almost all the states in which slavery has been abolished, but if they come forward to vote, their lives are in danger... The same schools do not receive the children of the black and of the European. In the theaters gold cannot procure a seat for the servile race beside their former masters in the hospitals they lie apart... Not only is slavery prohibited in Ohio, but no free Negroes are allowed to enter the territory of that state or to hold property in it.
quote by Alexis de Tocqueville
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Cultural Exchange
In the Quarter of the Negroes
Where the doors are doors of paper
Dust of dingy atoms
Blows a scratchy sound.
Amorphous jack-o'-Lanterns caper
And the wind won't wait for midnight
For fun to blow doors down.
By the river and the railroad
With fluid far-off goind
Boundaries bind unbinding
A whirl of whisteles blowing.
No trains or steamboats going--
Yet Leontyne's unpacking.
In the Quarter of the Negroes
Where the doorknob lets in Lieder
More than German ever bore,
Her yesterday past grandpa--
Not of her own doing--
In a pot of collard greens
Is gently stewing.
Pushcarts fold and unfold
In a supermarket sea.
And we better find out, mama,
Where is the colored laundromat
Since we move dup to Mount Vernon.
In the pot begind the paper doors
on the old iron stove what's cooking?
What's smelling, Leontyne?
Lieder, lovely Lieder
And a leaf of collard green.
Lovely Lieder, Leontyne.
You know, right at Christmas
They asked me if my blackness,
Would it rub off?
I said, Ask your mama.
Dreams and nightmares!
Nightmares, dreams, oh!
Dreaming that the Negroes
Of the South have taken over--
Voted all the Dixiecrats
Right out of power--
Comes the COLORED HOUR:
Martin Luther King is Governor of Georgia,
Dr. Rufus Clement his Chief Adviser,
A. Philip Randolph the High Grand Worthy.
In white pillared mansions
Sitting on their wide verandas,
Wealthy Negroes have white servants,
White sharecroppers work the black plantations,
And colored children have white mammies:
Mammy Faubus
Mammy Eastland
Mammy Wallace
Dear, dear darling old white mammies--
Sometimes even buried with our family.
Dear old
Mammy Faubus!
Culture, they say, is a two-way street:
Hand me my mint julep, mammny.
Hurry up!
Make haste!
poem by Langston Hughes
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Trapped
Brother john saw visions of god
So they put him in chains
For acting too odd
As the crowd shouted, off with his head
The priest said, have mercy
Lets burn him instead
Trapped
Trapped in a world that he never made
I woke up with my head on the floor
In a windowless cell
A room full of doors
I got lost, now Im so far behind
Took so much advice
Forgot my own mind
Trapped
Trapped in a world that I never made
We cant be slowed down by a big bunch of lip
And nobody cares about your paranoid trip
You know death and the devil sure got it easy today
Souls come so cheap some people give theirs away
Youve got to break out, youve got to prove youre alive
What makes you think that the weak survive
And if you dont have the stomach
For all this radical crap
Then have the guts to stand for something
Or youre gonna be trapped
Trapped
Trapped in a world that you never made
song performed by by Utopia
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Trapped In A Box
Trapped in a box of tremendous size
It distorts my vision, it closes my eyes
Attracts filthy flies and pollutes in the skies
Sucks up our lives and proliferates lies
Trapped in a box
Trapped in a box, four walls as sky
Got a screen for a window about two feet wide
My mind rides and slides as my circuits are fried
No room for thought, use the box as my guide
Trapped in a box
Trapped in a box
Watch the world as it flocks
To lifes paradox
Were all trapped in a box
Trapped in a box Im not alone
I know of others with a box as their home
Light only enters from a crack or a hole
This is not enough for a human to grow
Trapped in a box
Chorus: always wanting a different view
Instant gratification for you
Reality gone in a single click
Just hope that that switch wont stick
Trapped in a box my life becomes void
All I thought for myself is now destroyed
Controlling my mind, what to eat, what to buy
Sublinal rules: how to live, how to die
Trapped in a box
song performed by by Gwen Stefani
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Trapped
Well it seems like Im caught up in your trap again
And it seems like Ill be wearin the same ol chains
Good will conquer evil and the truth will set you free
Then I know someday Ill find the key
Then I know somewhere Ill find the key
Well it seem like Ive been playin the game way too long
And it seems the game I played has made you strong
Well when the game is over, I wont walk out a loser
And I know that Ill walk out of here again
And I know that someday Ill walk out of here again
But now Im trapped...oh yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah!
Now it seems like Ive been sleepin in your bed too long
And it seems like youve been meanin to do me harm
But Ill teach my eyes to see beyond these walls in front of me
And someday Ill walk out of here again
Yeah I know someday Ill walk out of here again
(chorus)
Well it seem like Ive been playin the game way too long
And it seems the game I played has made you strong
Because Im trapped...oh yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah!
Im trapped...oh yeah yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah yeah
Trapped...oh yeahhhhhh
Trapped....oh yeahhhh
Im trapped.
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Trapped Again
Here I am baby, right where you found me
Trying to break these chains that surround me
If I look a little different, its because Ive changed
Half-painted pictures are all that remains
I cant let my past mistakes
Let em bring me down
I aint waitin on no angel of mercy
Ive tried my best and I cant help myself
And Im trapped again
And I cant get out without losing you
And Im trapped again
Why cant you feel what Im going through
Im trapped again
I need an answer girl, cant you see
Im trapped again
Come and rescue me
Monday morning came so fast
What a fool to think that dreams would last
Close my eyes and its still so clear
Remember the night girl, the world disappeared
Cant let the hand of fate
Let it drag me down
I cant get no angel of mercy
I cam to stay but I got swept away
And Im trapped again
And I cant get out without losing you
And Im trapped again
Why cant you feel what Im going through
Im trapped again
I need an answer girl, cant you see
Im trapped again
Come and rescue me
Cant let the hand of fate
Let it drag me down
I cant get no angel of mercy
I cam to stay but I got swept away
And Im trapped again
And I cant get out without losing you
And Im trapped again
Why cant you feel what Im going through
Im trapped again
I need an answer girl, cant you see
Im trapped again
Come and rescue me
And Im trapped again
And I cant get out without losing you
And Im trapped again
Why cant you feel what Im going through
Im trapped again
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Jim Crow Cars
If within the cruel Southland you have chanced to take a ride,
You the Jim Crow cars have noticed, how they crush a Negro's pride,
How he pays a first class passage and a second class receives,
Gets the worst accommodations ev'ry friend of truth believes.
'Tis the rule that all conductors, in the service of the train,
Practice gross discriminations on the Negro—such is plain—
If a drunkard is a white man, at his mercy Negroes are,
Legalized humiliation is the Negro Jim Crow car.
'Tis a license given white men, they may go just where they please,
In the white man's car or Negro's will they move with perfect ease,
If complaint is made by Negroes the conductor will go out
Till the whites are through carousing, then he shows himself about.
They will often raise a riot, butcher up the Negroes there,
Unmolested will they quarrel, use their pistols,rant and swear,
They will smoke among the ladies though offensive the cigar;
'Tis the place to drink their whiskey, in the Negro Jim Crow car.
If a Negro shows resistance to his treatment by a tough,
At some station he's arrested for the same, though not enough,
He is thrashed or lynched or tortured as will please the demon's rage,
Mobbed, of course, by 'unknown parties,' thus is closed the darkened page.
If a lunatic is carried, white or black, it is the same,
Or a criminal is taken to the prison-house in shame,
In the Negro car he's ushered with the sheriff at his side,
Out of deference for white men in their car he scorns to ride.
We despise a Negro's manhood, says the Southland, and expect,
All supremacy for white men—black men's rights we'll not protect,
This the Negro bears with patience for the nation bows to might,
Wrong has borne aloft its colors disregarding what is right.
This is called a Christian nation, but we fail to understand,
How the teachings of the Bible can with such a system band;
Purest love that knows no evil can alone the story tell,
How to banish such abuses, how to treat a neighbor well.
poem by Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer
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The Negro Schools
Please be silent now, my country, while I fill the speaker's place;
While I point out some abuses that we constantly embrace,
Listen with your best attention to the words that I shall say,
How the Negro schools are managed, in this Commonwealth today.
All the officers are white men and together they conspire,
To undo the schools for Negroes, of such deeds they never tire;
Oft we find among the trustees men who cannot read a word,
But when speaking of the Negro, they are certain to be heard.
Education for the Negro they discourage, and they say,
'It will bring dissatisfaction to such people ev'ry day,
Make them crave for something higher, such as white men should enjoy,
Which will spoil the other Negroes that we have in our employ.'
Shorter terms are recommended many times as low as two
Are the months to Negroes given, in a year—now this is true,
Longer terms the whites are given in the same communities—
They conform to such a standard of the right with perfect ease.
Poorer pay to Negro teachers, driving good ones from the field,
Schools are let to lowest bidders to the same they're forced to yield,
Higher pay and better teachers for the white schools is the cry.
While encouragement is given Negro schools to starve and die.
Rural libraries established for the whites on ev'ry side,
But when application's made for Negro schools it is denied,
Thus they deal with education for the mass of Negro youth,
Posing still as great exponents and conservers of the truth.
From the sword of fierce Goliath we may all a lesson learn,
How while planning death to others on your head it may return,
In regard to schools for Negroes, cease their welfare to neglect,
For the same will come upon you in a way you least expect.
poem by Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer
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When I Was a Negro
I remember the days when I was a Negro...
Free to go about where Negros go.
There seemed to have been,
A dignity and pride we all showed outside...
And kept within then.
Until the call came to be black,
With a proudness some said others lacked!
And the attack on Negroes by blacks,
Began to hold those of color back.
Renaming and claiming African-Americans,
We were now in one group packed!
Stacked together,
But not unified...
As we were before,
When we all were ignored.
Although a respect we had
Was gladly shown...and adored!
And now our thoughts are on each other to trap.
Just like those who fed and started this crap.
Affecting everyone with mentalities...
That are thoughtless and senselessly,
Way off track.
Today...
No one appears,
To be who they 'is'
And that 'bees' clearly a fact!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Trapped Today, Trapped Tomorrow
The days are gone when the girls
Used to kiss his nose
To wake him up in the morning
He looks at his wife once she was young
But now shes older
Than himself and all that happend without warning
Trapped today, trapped tomorrow
Trapped in love, and trapped in sorrow
Sorry my train, wont stop at your station
Trapped today, trapped tomorrow
Trapped in love, and trapped in sorrow
Sorry my train, wont stop at your station
And no explanations
The days are gone when the boys
Used to bring her flowers every night
Just to please her
There was this man, now shes his wife.
Theyve got two kids
He works from 9 to 5
He put her in a freezer
Trapped today, trapped tomorrow...
song performed by by Fury In The Slaughterhouse
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Southern Press
When a Negro comes in question you may watch the Southern press,
See how bias its opinions, how his ills are given stress,
Prominence is given headlines, when accused he is of crime,
Emphasizes all the evils of the Negro ev'ry time.
If a white man comes in question you may watch the press again,
How its dignity it loses in a compromise with sin,
Down in some secluded corner you the story may behold,
Where the public may not find it, sadly there the tale is told.
It condemns the sins of Negroes which in white men 'twill excuse,
If a Negro's crime is grievous here's the heading it will use:
'He's a candidate for lynching,' in a type that's bold and plain,
If a heinous crime's committed by a white man, 'he's insane.'
When the Negroes prove their manhood and their homes protection give,
They're pronounced as desperadoes and too desperate to live,
Nothing like its ever published of a white man, though his case
May be ten times more revolting and far deeper the disgrace.
At some public place if Negroes are mistreated by the whites,
When policemen won't arrest them or defend a Negro's rights,
Though the proof is overwhelming and the public ear it gains.
How conspicuous the silence that the Southern press maintains.
When a good is done by Negroes of the same you will not hear,
With their ills the press is busy and the good cannot appear,
Wrong, if found upon a Negro, will be charged up to the race,
But if white, with him 'tis ended, brings his people no disgrace.
See! the Southern press is bowing to a god that's made of gold!
And the populace is crying in a way that's passing bold,
'It must run to suit our fancy or the gold we'll take away!'
So the press can rise no higher than the common people say.
Humbleness will be exalted, exaltation be abased,
To the press it sounds a warning blest humility to taste.
Exaltation in a measure waves its banner over all,
But such pride will bring destruction, haughty spirits bring a fall.
poem by Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer
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Though we are negroes, we are men, and have souls.
If the Negroes are to remain forever removed from the producing atmosphere, and the present discrimination continues, there will be nothing left for them to do.
quote by Carter G. Woodson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Behind The wall
Why I always feel
Trapped behind the wall
waiting for the spring
To give me joy's call
So I can join in
And enjoy this lonely game
Known as ups and downs
Of life's basic aim
Why I always feel
Trapped behind the wall
Waiting for the summer
To give me joy's call
so I can move on
with time to catch
what fate has sent aside
For me to match
Why I always feel
Trapped behind the wall
waiting for the winter
To give me joy's call
So I can sing a song
Of joy and mirth
And find a purpose
To be on this earth
That God has created
For all of us to stay
Where time moves on
like waves in the bay
With its ups and downs
From the start of day light
And stretches till the curtain
Falls on the peaceful night.
poem by Seema Chowdhury
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Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.
quote by Martin Luther King
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Retribution
When Egypt said, 'Exterminate
The males among the Jews,
Fair Goshen's land make desolate
And bid them glad adieus:'
The darkest hour then was brought
Upon their slavery,
But God came down, with Egypt fought,
And made the bondsmen free.
No means of peace within the bout
Could pay the price—'tis plain—
The measure they had meted out
Was measured back again.
For blood of Hebrews had been spilt,
And justice did demand
Egyptian blood to cleanse the guilt—
The firstborn of the land!
America! how canst thou tell
Thy tale of bondage sore?
How blood as rain from Negroes fell,
Till many were no more!
The blood of Negroes cried so loud,
For vengeance from the ground,
Till clouds of sorrow wept and bowed
And heaven's anger frowned.
No peaceful means, 'tis understood,
Could end the dread affray;
For justice cried, 'Slave-owners' blood
In war the debt shall pay!'
The Negroes of the country now
Are held in open scorn,
To other peoples forced to bow,
Though often higher born.
To lynch a Negro is no crime,
The courts of justice say;
And so 'tis done at any time,
A mob may set a day.
The night is darkest near the dawn,
The voice of nature speaks;
The blood that's from the Negroes drawn
A retribution seeks.
'Revenge is mine, I will repay,'
The God of right declares.
The savage mob, with regal sway
A nation's curse prepares.
America! a warning take,
Repent! forsake the wrong!
Thine evil ways at once forsake,
Thy time cannot be long!
The morning star begins to rise,
The darkest night dispels,
Its ray of hope illumes the skies,
And precious dawn foretells.
America! rouse up! awake!
For God is living still,
Who will of wrong a sample make,
When sin has drunk its fill!
poem by Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer
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Negroes at last were on Broadway, and there to stay. We were artists and we were going a long way.
quote by Will M. Cook
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Trapped In Success
I am trapped in success and,
I need a safe house to be in;
I an trapped in the mystics of many talents!
So, do give me a helping hand to reach up there.
Success, success, success!
I am trapped in success and i need help from you;
I am without a clue like a glue and,
My situation is like a paradigm of a proactive show.
Open the doors for me to enhance my various talents,
Of a readable and a compelling account of the myths of realities!
Who am i?
For i am trapped in success without a clue like a glue.
Like a sweeping story of pride is this message to your ears but,
Smartness in appearance fosters the smartness of the mind.
Be my guest into the world of wisdom and success,
For there is no vision except by faith;
And you may find what you want by looking for it.
To look beyond the blue lines and to be what i am today,
But i am trapped in success!
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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The World Before Later On
I'm trapped in a world before later on,
I'm trapped in a world before later on,
Where's my hovercraft?
Where's my jet pack?
Where's the font of acquired wisdom that eludes me now?
We're trapped in a world before later on,
We're trapped in a world before later on,
Where's our telray?
Where's our space face?
Where are all the complications we won't see around?
song performed by by They Might Be Giants
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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