Rise My Young Brothers

Rise my young brothers

And meet your destinies head on

Don’t be swayed by the false promises

Found at the bottom of a bottle of Hennessy

Because, in case you didn’t drinking Incredible Hulks

Makes you neither incredible nor the hulk

Rise my young brothers

Understand that you worth

Cannot be measured in the number of women you body

Asses you tap or pipe you lay; measure

Your worth in the strength of your character

The love in your heart and the good that you do

Rise my young brothers

And stop playing nightly games

of Russian Roulette with you lives

on beaten city streets with dealers

who have nothing left to lose

You don’t want to be on the losing

Side of a deadly game

Rise my young brothers

And stop emulating Bigger Thomas

Looking for freedom in blood stained hands

Running endless laps within the four walls

Of a self built cage; while tourists are shuttled

Through your hood to gawk at you

Like lions in a concrete jungle

Rise my young brothers

And take your thrones as kings

Instead of living life as peasants

Pacing the streets looking for your inspiration

In a Jim Jones track; Might I suggest

The likes of Dread Prez or Black Star

Rise my young brothers

And break the cycle of fatherless sons

Man-children raising themselves to

Hate the women who love you;

Silently blaming them for your solitude

And strife

Rise my young brothers

And understand that police interactions

And criminal behavior are not the norm

And that the life expectancy of men-of-color

Can rise with the very changes you decide

To make

Rise my young brothers

And say fuck you to the low-standards

That have been set for you and achieved

By your forefathers; witness yourselves

Exceeding the expectations of those

Around you

Rise my young brothers

For the love I have for you is deep and true

And if you have never felt loved before

Allow yourself to feel it now. For I,

Am your mother, your sister, your guide

Your mentor, your friend