Roll out the red carpet
Here comes the Queen
Regaining her thrown
Wait! Wait! Wait!
The pack turned on her
Black Panthers going gray
The human & animal Kingdom eating their elders
Malcolm Samuel, Brad Loma, Kiilu Nyasha, Queen, Mama Khandi,
Black Panthers in their golden years
Living, Fighting & yes dying alone
Panthers roaming the streets in wheelchairs
Looking for their brothers and sisters
Caught up in police sweeps
Snatched up by homeland security
Left to die in prisons and shelters
Look how we treat our seniors
Queen Mama Khandi stripped by the state
Like X, state barged in splitting up Khandi’s family
Son placed in foster care
Incarcerated because she is an activist
Came back home to find eviction notion
Section eight and disability income revoked
Same story for Malcolm Samuel in Berkeley
Sitting in his wheelchair on the avenue easy target for police
Died in prison from lack of medical care
Their stories I will continue to share
On CD, Brother Malcolm Speaks
Tore up wheelchair, slept in doorways
Talked about his days as a tailor for the Panthers
From homemade black suits to sweat shop salvation army’s rags
Where is the file on Brother Brad Lomax
Brought the Black Panthers into the disability movement
Only a few knows about his work
His file is under secrecy
The Black community building for its own
Racism and capitalism ate away Lomax’s goal
Today the Oakland disabled Black community still searching for its own
Brad Lomax left out of two histories
Panthers are in every city
Let the film role capturing the beautiful revolution of Kiilu Nyasha
We all are getting older pass this poem to someone younger
On the wheels of steel respect the panthers in your community
By Leroy F. Moore