AM I BLACK- Renair Amin

Sometimes we have instances where our soul cries out and for me, this is one of them:

Am I Black
It really amazes me
Totally blazes me
That I am only black if I am not gay
I know that people might say
That I am overreacting
Extracting what I want to believe to be truth
There is no use in trying to convince people
How feeble
That mentally we are all on the same level
So I will bury that with my shovel of reality
If you understand my point, will you follow me
If not, you can stop reading right now
Yes, I could crowd you with statistics
And I may do that in a minute
But first let me bear my soul
Now I will not profess to be some radical fist-pumping- afro-wearing
Feminist Lesbian wearing peace signs
While standing high on my podium holding on to my point of view
And please do not get offended as if I am talking about you
I am just saying what I am not
As I plant my anger seeds into a pot of conviction
Because I am guided by the idea that I am not black if I am gay
I listen to what people say
About how we as a community have to fight to stick together
We have to march through whatever the challenges we face
Ban together as victims of race and struggle
The numbers of racial profiling has doubled
And the man has kept us down
Gather around the burning cross that still lights the night
Listen as we hear the latest plight
One attack after another
Believe me, my heart beats for my brothers
And my sistahs
But I would be remise if I did not count my ENTIRE community
So I take it the murder of Sakia Gunn should not have mattered to me
I don’t remember too many people marching
As I matter of fact I remember people marking out reasons why this was okay
Hell she was out late that day
She had no regard for her safety
But really gets me
Is they seemingly excuse the attacker
Talking about after this is over maybe more will learn
How many more of us have to get burned
Beat like a piece of fabric needing to be cleaned
No I don’t mean to sound mean but do you realize
That when “others” have died
They came together at their side
I am telling you, I believe that I am only black if I am not gay
I don’t care if you get mad because of what I say
It is the truth
Right now we are focused on Jena 6
And I am not saying that is not important but shit
But what about our other youth that are rotting away
Defending themselves for their crime of being gay
This here ain’t happen yesterday
We all gathered for the Newark girls
Whose story was only told to their world
Portrayed as a gang…a wolfpack to be exact
If you don’t believe
Then check your facts or at least the New York Post archives
Believe me I do not lie when I speak up picking of the paper
And getting vapors as I read that Aggressive Lesbians want to be men
Or how we tend to think women are nothing but property
Yet it seems to me whenever someone is injured
The media paints the picture with their sexuality first
You can even see the invisible rainbow on the hearse as it drives on by
Do you have the heart to tell me that you think we should die because of who we are
No.
Well I still believe that I am only black if I am not gay
And I don’t care to play the games some play when they say it is not the case
That we are under one umbrella within the same race
Because statistics do not lie
If you do not know any stories
Do a search on homosexual hate crimes resulting in death
And if you look up orientation discrimination
Don’t rest until you have read every entry
I know this may sound elementary
But I am speaking to the dunce that is reading this ready to attack
In fact I guarantee that I will experience some ignorance when this is read
But do not approach me
Instead
Write your community leader
Or preacher
Teacher
Or Speaker
If you want me to be wrong
Start a petition a mile long and lay it on their desk
Yes, prove that I have all my information wrong
Put it in a song and have it downloaded a million times
Hide it in a chorus of a famous rhyme
Spread the word
Renair Amin is saying we don’t support the gays
Tell her she is wrong in spite of what she says
Please
Start a revolution speaking out against me
It doesn’t matter what their orientation may be
All revolutionaries are included
Have them meet secretly in a building
Plotting to show I am misinformed
Do
Whatever
It
Takes to show the nation
That it is about unification
And not about me
But until that day I remain free
To state my case in spite of what you may say
That I am only black if I am not gay

Copyright@Renair Amin. September 2007