This Black Man Just Bore Witness, And His Words Will Astound You!
V. Saxena
September 10, 2015
Eric L. Wattree, staff writer for the Thy Black Man blog, wrote an amazing poem this Wednesday about the black community’s — and dare I say all of society’s — false idols, and I think it deserves to be both shared and celebrated:
“I BEAR WITNESS
I sit, I watch,
and I grow ever more obsolete
as I bear witness.
I bear witness
to a once vibrant people greedily gulping down society’s hemlock. Even as they claim to be “keeping it real,” they continue to maim, kill, and despise their own in hot pursuit of the prime directive with the passion of a sheetless Klan.
I bear witness
to Black fists in the air in false solidarity promoted by self-serving poverty pimps as the world looks on and giggle at crooked fingers pointed elsewhere.
I bear witness
to the superficial attempt to ban the “N-word” while the new “un-niggas” stand around watching children killing children and fathers drugging sons, as they celebrate, lionize, and enrich those who denigrate the very womb of their culture with impunity.
I bear witness
to a generation of lost knowledge, cut off from its roots by Ronnie’s “Just say no” generation of crack, greed, death, and political corruption; A generation where the new N-word is pronounced “Responsibility” and the keepers of the flame completely ignore the destructive power of “bitch,” “slut,” “hoe,” and “tramp.”
I bear witness
to the reckless disregard of the words “uneducated,” “irresponsible,” and “classless.” Should we not ban these words as well, or should we ban banning words altogether as we celebrate their meaning?
Yes, I do bear witness.
I bear witness to a new world –
a world where gross ignorance comes disguised as enlightenment, and funky sneakers look down with disdain upon the sweet smell of Florsheim; a world where saggin’ pants and gaudy glitter enable country bumpkins to masquerade as elegant, and the exquisite surrender of eloquence is the very essence of what it means to be hip.
Where’s Langston? Where’s Baldwin? Where’s Oscar Brown, Jr.?
We need you stormin’ this beach, because . . .
I now bear witness
to a world where motherhood stands alone, to be “dope” renders a smile, and posterity is forced to embrace the wind for paternal sustenance; A world where the walking dead strut about rapping the wisdom of idiocy, and we praise the illiteracy of vulgar nursery rhymes as profound; a world where the mother of salvation’s final gasp is compared to the pigmentation of brown paper bags.
Malcolm, Martin, where are you?
I once stood with a crowd.
Now seemingly alone,
I’m forced to bear witness –
horrific witness . . .
to the imminent demise of our people,
And my heart bleeds.”
//
Frankly, that poem made me emotional because it perfectly captured the dilemmas faced by not only the black community, but by society in general.
I especially love what he wrote about “[a] world where the walking dead strut about rapping the wisdom of idiocy, and we praise the illiteracy of vulgar nursery rhymes as profound.”
We really do live in an age where the ignorance of the most vile people on Earth — rappers, porn stars and other such filth — is viewed as wisdom, while the logical, rational and intelligent musings of the genuinely wise are dismissed as “blasé,” as the brainwashed youth would say.
It drives me insane, but it speaks to the gross erosion of values occurring in America.
Regardless, to read Wattree’s full piece, which by the way includes an in-depth article prior to the poem, look here.
http://downtrend.com/vsaxena/i-bear-witness-by-eric-wattree
