young black girl said I have to tell you something
don’t believe them when they try to put you in a box
and leave you there to rot
you can give the world a talk walk yuh walk

young black boy said I have to tell you something
you are brilliant and beautiful and strong and rare
do anything you dare
you can teach the world your truth know yuh roots

because I am more than the roundness of my ass
and the width of my tits
the thickness of my thighs
and the depths of my lips
the glimmity glammity hold him tight
all through the night
is not necessarily my numba one priority

I play ball like a ballah
my body pre-sculpted centuries of mule-hauling
cotton-sugar-cane-picking
sometimes even my own grave digging
does not mean my only dream is to become a basketball star
or track and field negro or soul singing sambo
I can be an athlete or storyteller if I choose
knowing these are not my only options

I am young and black and brilliant
my ancestors resilient and stubborn
and built on their backs
bloodlines of futures insistent on survival
we redefining some tribal box
and encouraging them to get corrective lenses
so they can truly see we we

we walking through metal detectors in school
that refuse to detect the rape and pillage
we recolonized by some great harris-tocracy
we experiencing the military’s militarization
of high school and middle school education
police officers turned hall monitors
like the war on terror this war is actually a war on people
war mongers terrorizing youth of colour
not for oil but for the future the future the future the future the future

preserve the façade
caz brown and yellow and red and black populations
are growing exponentially
and they are spilling over the multi-culti melting pot
and we keep saying keep the natives off the land
and the immigrants beyond the borders
and if that doesn’t work
suspend them from school
and if that doesn’t work
expel them from school
and if that doesn’t work
then close close close close close down the fucking school
sending them to learn trades instead
streamlined math and english f class
no university for we because we are the new underclass
a new generation of worker ants
while we ignore them sending mostly poor young
brown and black, yellow red and white children
and white children and white children to die at war

young black girl said I have to tell you something
to survive these times you gotta be strong of mind
don’t be afraid to shine
hold your head up high and stride walk with pride

young black boy said I have to tell you something
I know it takes a lot to become a man
sometimes it’s hard to find a good foundation
but be your own example son refuse their guns

after-school projects cut
while they make projects out of my neighborhoods
and recreate the new apartments gentrified
moving us out of our neighborhoods
extra curricular activities
replaced by what? malls and prisons and prozac and suicide
gun suppliers supplying young black brilliant dealers and buyers
of an old boys’ club economy

caz whether it’s crack cocaine or cotton cotton cotton
we steady picking picking picking picking picking
and somebody steady reaping reaping reaping
and black mother steady weeping weeping
caz my brother’s dead or inna jail or inna madhouse
or my sister just been beat up or ganged raped or diagnosed as manic depressive
yo yo yo yo
we want more than malls and prisons
we want more than prozac and suicide
we want more than 10:30 curfews and coca cola happy meals
or the latest escapist joy ride
caz sometimes we are not happy
sometimes we are not happy
we are young and black and brilliant
wanting more than a piece of dry-up dry-up apple pie
infested with small pox hepatitis and aids aids aids aids aids aid aids aids aids aids aids aids aids
and aids-tainted blood

young black girl said I have to tell you something
you have a right to liberation
you have a right to self-protection
you have a right to happiness and
love inna di land

young black boy said I have to tell you something
you haffi fi fight dem segregation
fight dem criminalization
demand respect and admiration
and love inna di land

because you are young and black and brilliant
and afrikan and canadian and caribbean
and american and east asian and south asian
you are south-east asian you are first nations
you are european you are afrikan
and because I love you
and we love you young black girl
we love you young black boy
I have to tell you something
you are why I sing