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by Kevin Ryan

what is radical?
to kick a copper in his clavicle?
to make your skin mallable?
or to teach the gullible
to keep their souls soluble
to look at yourself critical
and not judge others as simple?

what is progressive?
to call out others as subjective?
to lose sight of the objective?
to fight for people's perspective?
or to put them in categories as selective?
from your mind to Che's ear directive
as if you are the progressive gods one collective

who is the left?
those tired of america's theft?
those who think they're smarter than the rest?
or those who push others to parties with crystal meth?
those whose hearts are full of hate and death?
or who believe they fly above the nest?
those who want to be the best
at the expense of our humane request?

what kind of world should we have?
the ideas from the long dead european path?
to live in the world of the past?
(the good ole' days!)
to let people live hard and fast
(sex, drugs, death)
to remove all of our fanon masks
(can you take it off?)
to step back and kill the ignorant mass
(they are ignorant aren't they?)

what is revolution?
discussing texas style execution?
or developing stylized marxist institutions?
debating theories of our evolution
that leave confused minds in a state of devolution
maybe eating vegan is the solution
or cleaning up political and corporate pollution

who is blacker than black?
an urban kid with boom bap?
a country boy with a gunny sack?
they're both featured on "when cops attack"
or does black mean you must like r&b or rap?
what about joe strummer and fleetwood mac?
or is it those quick to condemn the melanin you lack?
what about those who put pop culture on the map?
or those who use the word nigga as a cultural stamp?
sending negroes running on an entertainment lap
round and round with the corporate profits in tact
or is black a label and not a pact?
that produces more and more flack
for those who look in the mirror crack'd
and believe what is told is fact
who is the most hardcore activist?
the well read, college educated anarchist?
the well read, college educated marxist?
the well read, college educated leninist?
or maybe the maoist?
perhaps the troskyites?
many of them preach like philosites (canonites)
and fight with each other like palastinians and israelites
while poor folks battle to feel the sunlite
(because everybody loves the sunshine!)

freedom is different for everyone
for some its a gun and for others its games and fun
all our slogans, riddles and puns
left intellectual hot cross buns
or a hot potato
that will enable us to table the movement
so we can fly a kite
or win cash prizes on price is right
(come on down!)
but still everyone
feels the sunlight
bright like the bulb
that shines in your ind
as we search to find
our human kind
beneath the rubble and bullshit
that we claim as
a quick wit
we say don't nitpick
we'll fix it
stop being a ninny
to which i say
i will rise
because i ain't going back
to the cottonfields skinny
and you motherfuckas
i ain't ya pickaninny
ya nigga or ya nigger
i'm much bigger
because i'm human
fightin for humans
on mother nature's lands
and none of ya'll
will stop the progress
jus dig the process
as i rocks it
steady
cause i'm ready
for the birth of
a new earth

Kevin Ryan is co-founder/director of La Lutta NMC. Look for his next performance with Antonino D'Ambrosio and the Resistance of Slaves

(c) Copyright 2002 Kevin Ryan