Brown Broken Bodies

p nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 24.0px Times" I wrote this poem in 2002 now its 2011 and I still cry out Brown Broken Bodies/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 24.0px Times" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 24.0px Times" bBrown Broken Bodies/b/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Here I stand!/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but Irsquo;m not Paul Robeson/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" surrounded by Brown Broken Bodies/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Brutality Bullets paints Blue on Brown skinnbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Bruises oozingnbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Brothers canrsquo;t run anymore/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Bones snap by the swing of Batons/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Four wheels equals wheelchairs/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Brown Broken Bodies are one thing/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but Brown Broken souls are deadly/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" No rehabilitationnbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" now he is weak physically and mentally/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Manhood has disappeared/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Heads hang down low/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" He is still youngnbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but he feels looks old/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Here I stand!/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" holding Brown Broken Bodies on my Back/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" while Broken souls fills up my heart/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" giving me a heart attack/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Wheelchairs, crutches, canes and schizophrenic minds/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" ex soldiers now are ex residentsnbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" living on the outskirts of their communities/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Picking up faces from the ground/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but for what!/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" to see more oppression/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" to hear racist comments/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" to feel systemic blows/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" to stare down the burl of a gun held by a black blue uniform/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" to beg for spare charge/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Mother nature looks better than manrsquo;s societynbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Here I stand!/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" with books entitlednbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Why We Canrsquo;t Wait Here I Stand/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but even on span data-scayt_word="MLK’s" data-scaytid="1"MLKrsquo;s/span and Malcolm Xrsquo;s B. day/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Brown Bodies are being abusednbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Going back in time so where is Harriet Tubman/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" cause wersquo;ve dug up Masta and now hersquo;s in the White House again/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Both George Washington George Bush are a lot in common/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Finishing the King Alfred Plannbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" James Byrdrsquo;s Broken Body didnrsquo;t create domestic war/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" But Broken Bodies in New York and Washington are being usednbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" to send more bodies into battle/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" creating more Broken Bodies and mindsnbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Here I stand!/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" shouting on an isolated island nbsp; nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" sending out an S.O.S. to the motherland/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Marcus Garvey I want to go home/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Even in Africa Brothers Bodies are Broken/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" A disabled world nation/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" and Irsquo;m their spokesman/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but the world wonrsquo;t give a mike/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" so I write with my brotherrsquo;s blood/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" They speak to me when it is quite at night/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" My book is a flood/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" of their wants, needs, anger and talents/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Brown Broken Bodies might be scattered all over the world/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but their thought patterns are unified/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" fornbsp; a seamiest to sew together/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" creating a warm blanket, cradling and nursingnbsp; newborns/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" and covering cold Brown Broken Bodies/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Leroy F. Moore Jr./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" 5\02/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;/p