When I pic my 'fro in the mornin'
I think of the people who have come before me
Rosa Parks, Dr. King, Harriet Tubman and India Arie
Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Malcolm X and every slave
all fighting for me
to be free.
When I pic my 'fro in the mornin'
I see my people being stuck, bonded and strapped to the projects
Lookin' for a better way than gangs, pain, sufferin'
sellin' like a drug machine,
alcohol their only friend,
Brotha, can it ever end?
When I pic my 'fro in the mornin'
I imagine the powerful continent of Africa
ransacked, under attack, robbed, beaten, shanghaied and whipped
with hatred and prejudice,
The white man's greed stronger than need be
Take me home, we cry, but the only path be to die - not to try.
When I pic my 'fro in the mornin'
I envision beautiful black women like me
worthless, ashamed, ugly, afraid
Does no one want us?
Will no one find our brown skin lovely;
our full bodies godly
Will we ever compare to the "prize" of the white man ...
Shall we ever see honor in this land?
When I pic my 'fro in the mornin'
I think of the black man strong and proud,
being knocked down to the ground
falsely accused, mentally abused
never good enough, always too tough
not a man, still a slave
refusing niggeration; accepting assimilation.
When I pic my 'fro in the mornin'
I see a world hurt by segregation
wanting affirmations, reparations, revolutions,
a better nation -
Suffocation - inevitable; and liberation ...
Condemnation - inescapable; and liberation?
When I pic my 'fro in the mornin'
I think of schools like mine where Blacks are
watched, guilty til proven innocent, that's a fact,
looked down upon we always lack.
When will they teach of my history ...
Aren't I a part of this country?
Must I wait till February,
so you can keep educating me, on slavery
to put me in my place ...
Is there nothin' else about me ...
Have my people done nothin' great
for the United States?
When I pic my 'fro in the mornin'
and spray it for a lil' shine
I do it for those of us dead, silenced, broken and beat
I do it for the woman forced to remove
her "unprofessional" African braids or work the street;
I do it for the man stuck in jail who will know no justice
I do it for the gang-bangers and crooks with no other way,
given a gun before a good book.
I do it for the ones in the projects sellin' weed to see tomorrow -
Give them another look!
When I pic my 'fro in the mornin'
Oh, when I pic my 'fro in the mornin'
I know what people will say each and every day,
but I'll keep on picin' ... for life ... my ... life ...