© April 7, 2021, the Griot Poet
Proto the current nonsense,
Remember when the right canceled The Dixie Chicks?
For daring to say they were ashamed of a US president, who
Lied about weapons of mass destruction,
That didn’t exist,
In Iraq,
Where we’ve spilled blood and national treasure,
The lives of women and men who didn’t have to die,
Iraqi, or American,
To ensure an illegitimate president
Scored an electoral win,
After some silence,
Re-emerging,
The artists,
Upon reflection,
Dropped “Dixie”
As a pejorative,
Now,
The right boycotted the NFL
Because my Frat brother,
Colin Kaepernick
Nonviolently took a knee,
Protesting police brutality,
Blood running in the streets,
Culminating in the gut-wrenching trial of Derek Chavin,
For the callous murder of George Floyd,
Kaepernick made us look at a dark mirror,
It’s a reflection we can’t avoid,
The right wanted to boycott the NBA,
Laura Ingram told Lebron James to “shut up and dribble,”
Because that’s what privileged blonde Nazis would say,
As racist as her father,
Ask Laura Ingrate’s baby brother!
The right wanted to boycott NASCAR,
For taking down the flag of traitors,
Now they want to boycott Major League Baseball for changing
the All-Stars venue,
Oblivious that tax day
Due to the pandemic is delayed,
And, April 15 is Jackie Robinson Day,
Making Lebron James, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Colin
Kaepernick, and hundreds of others who didn’t exist possible,
Where every player and owners pretend,
All is well,
Wearing Jackie’s jersey number 42,
Forgetting the hell he endured,
Jackie grew up in Sanford, Florida,
Where they burned Rosewood,
Two years after bombing Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
Sanford: where a vigilante murdered,
Trayvon Benjamin Martin,
Being the first to integrate a commercial sport, after
Jesse Owens, with four Olympic Medals,
Defeating Hitler in Berlin,
Had to still go through
the back door,
Hearing the N-word from the stands,
Teammates, and opponents,
Greatness,
Was his iron will,
From Branch Rickey’s counsel,
Not to EVER retaliate,
Chadwick Boseman,
Played him,
Thurgood Marshall,
And, Black Panther,
And, a host of other positive icons,
While the actor
Was dying from cancer,
Or, that Hammering Hank Aaron,
Recently transitioned from us,
After breaking Babe Ruth’s record,
His mother came out to hug him,
Not just because she was proud of him,
But,
Because she figured,
They could die together,
You see, Hank had to hide out in the stadium,
And the dugout,
Eat concession stand food for days,
Not go home,
Because of death threats,
From Klan domestic terrorists,
None of this,
Is remotely in the experience,
Of the hypocritical miscreants,
To stop the electoral process,
For people who might be related,
Upset that the playground of democracy is tanner, browner,
Younger, less cisgender,
Unmoved by the traditional fears,
Previously used to control them,
They would [rather] you make your arguments,
With logic, science, and poetry,
Before they opt not to vote for your oligarchic agenda,
Moscow Mitch,
Telling corporate America,
To “stay out of politics,”
(“Just shut up and dribble,” I mean, keep writing those
checks!)
Orange Satan,
Asking for a boycott of Coke,
Pictured with a Diet Coke on his messy desk,
Moscow, and Orange,
Are neither duck nor goose,
Seeking to line the pockets of their [own] suits,
They’re ghoulish vultures,
Having the audacity,
To form their mouths,
Pointing their fingers to shout: “cancel culture!”
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