Run On

Run on, Bantu
Go up North, follow the star
Run on, Ashanti and Igbo
Run for lives, yours and ours
Run on, Maasai and Zulu
Freedomland will always seem far
Run on, Free Man
Still much ground to cover t’marr

Run on, Owens and Coachman
You carry the hopes of the people
Run on, Ali and Ashe
Overcoming hurdles away from the track
Run on, Smith and Carlos
Show the world that we are equal
Run on, Johnson and Louis
Keep on forward, never look back

Run on, Wheatley and Equiano
Your words turned horror into eloquence
Run on, Sojourner and Tubman
Showing us how to strive for excellence
Run on, Zora and Langston
Voices in a renaissance with no precedent
Run on, Baldwin and Walker
Telling the truth with no hesitance

Run on, Garrett and Granville
Innovators shifting life to sophisticate from agrestic
Run on, Joplin and Bologne
Le Chevalier de Saint George and Ragtime’s Majestic
Run on, Henry and Benjamin
Fierce, fighting wars abroad and domestic
Run on, Yasuke and Reeves
Unheralded giants of honor, warriors angelic

Run on, Robert and Bessie
Ambassadors of the birth of America’s sound
Run on, Coltrane and Bird
Blowing life into brass, heard Miles around
Run on, Kool Herc and Bambaataa
Creators of a culture that knows no bounds
Run on, Nubia and Kemet
The foundation, the roots, the fertile ground

Run on, Chisholm and Douglass
Unbought and unbossed, trails you blazed
Run on, Medgar and St. Maurice
Martyrs whose souls we raise
Run on, Barack and Michelle
You proved that it could be done
Run on, Martin and Malcolm
Unify, love, and respect everyone

Run on, Cinqué and Turner
Run on, Yanga and Vesey
Run on, Toussaint and Deslondes
Fought for freedom even when it got messy

Run on, black boy in the street
Run on, black girl, quick on your feet
To that officer, your life is of little concern
This is reality, lessons you all must learn
He can’t serve and protect your person
When his burner’s turned toward your sternum
You could be a scholar, a harlot, or a Hollywood starlet
In Charlotte, drinking Sparkletts in front of the market
Eyewitness news might witness you in a pool of crimson and scarlet
Sometimes, holding your hands up only gives them a larger target
Trigger-happy. Hair-trigger. Trigger man.
Trigger finger. Trigger word. Zimmerman.

Run on, black diaspora
Know the past, run toward the future
Ignorance reigns supreme in some
That’s why they aim to shoot ya
Your dark skin isn’t a marked sin
Yet all these marksmen act like we’re marked men
Harken this call for you to embark on
A mission to light a spark in your dark kin

Now let the heart darken

Run on
R – U – N. Are you in?
Run on
R – U – N. Are you in?

Yes, you’ve run far already
Yes, the journey isn’t steady
No, this race ain’t for the weak
No, this race ain’t for the meek
Yes, our race ain’t for the weak
Yes, our race ain’t for the meek
Yes, apathy can be heady
But, people, you better get ready

So we run on and on like a Badu Song of the South isn’t the direction in which we should be Moving on up like George and Louise Jefferson and don’t forget Florence who was really in charge like Charleston South Carolina another brother got shot in the back there Where? In the back I got your back you got my back Breaking hard work to break out of this cycle of savagery and psychotic behavior Behave yourself when you conduct your business in the street Smarts don’t matter like brown and black lives, says the magisters of brown and black strife so should we splatter blood of those not down with jack knives, then go kneel down and stack tithes, drown our frowns in Jack and pack dives, or defend our towns, begats, and wives, or attack the system that lacks the wisdom to act against such a cataclysm and embarrassment of harassment and justice but it’s just us, Jesus, Lady Liberty is supposed to have a chat with Lady Justice about our liberty and justice but they’re too busy taking selfies in front of chalk outlines on Sable Streets, Ebony Expressways, Onyx Avenues, and Obsidian Boulevards so that talk won’t happen so don’t make me laugh and you don’t want to miss a thing so don’t close your eyes and you’re not suicidal so don’t hold your breath ’cause that bitch is taking too long, taking her sweet-loving time, toying with the scales of Justice just to fuck us, she’s like, fuck us, fuck us, fuck us, focus…the onus is on us to own us…one us.

Run on.