POETRY: NIGGER by Reggie Drake

"You better run NIGGER,

You better run,

Because if I catch you,

Ill wring your motherfxckin neck."

So I run.

Full stride eyes wide

Through this,

Jungle of oppression that has for years ensnared us

NIGGERS.

Dashing past blood stained whips,

Our torture devices

The symbol of our ever present nightmares

Each lash psychologically re-calibrating the mind

To acquiesce to an authority distinguishable by 

The pigment etched within our flesh.

Each lash reminding us,

That they are the masters,

And we are simply

NIGGERS.

I, hear the galloping footsteps of the crusaders

Giving chase to my dreams 

Their hands,

Callus free,

Devoid of the affliction we endure 

Hope to put a stranglehold on freedom and,

Kill equality

By putting those little nigger nooses

Around our ebony necks

Declaring us "noose-ances" 

tying lifeless bodies to trees,

That grow seeds,

Planting compliance

Inside the fertile minds of our offspring 

Until we subconsciously generate an army of subservient slaves

Until we realize,

Until we grow to accept 

That this is the land of the white man

And, we are simply

NIGGERS 

That word NIGGER keeps me running,

Even though my legs falter from fatigue

I stumble over natures debris,

But I ignore the rocky roadblocks jeopardizing my escape,

Focus straight ahead,

The smell of blood

The blood of my ancestors infiltrates my nostrils,

Suffocating my lungs with the spirit of survival.

I feed off of their energy,

My legs propelling me forward 

Like gears operating a time machine 

Racing me through history

To a time where we are free,

My legs move me straight into the 1960s where,

Civil rights seems to be the new fight to fight 

New age slavery

"You better NIGGER 

You better run"

I hear his voice ricocheting inside my cranium

So I run,

Past blacks and whites that show persistence for coexistence 

But its no different,

Then it was years past

Each one harboring the Jesus-Judah complex,

Waiting for the other to betray

They whisper

"Look, there goes that nigger 

He, thinks hes one of us but hes not"

You can smell the animosity in the air 

Like armed forces forcibly forced to converse 

Till they clash,

I see riots

I see violence

I see signs,

White only 

Black only

Picket signs.

I see fire-hoses

Police dogs

Fights start 

Bodies Fall

Assassinations from long-range

Then I stop,

At change.

I take a break,

Breathe a sigh,

Relax.

Our struggle is finally over...

Then I hear,

"You better run NIGGER,

You better run"

They still give chase,

Our dreams deferred,

The shackles of the past havent been removed 

They've simply been replaced with welfare checks and 

Food stamps that Uncle Sam dangles 

From the top of our hanging tree 

Distracting us just long enough for him to place those,

NIGGER nooses around our unsuspecting necks 

We are lulled into poverty and complacency,

Then strangled by genocide,

Our dreams dry up like raisins in the sun

Guns blast holes through car doors like its cardboard

Killing young boys whose aspirations crumble under the weight 

Of our infinite struggle 

We struggle,

To put down those food stamps that stamp inferiority 

Across our chests

Openly broadcasting to the world

"Hey, i dont wanna enhance my livelihood 

Im okay with barely staying alive in hoods 

Until I die for good,

Until they bury me,

Right underneath that hanging tree 

Where America places those 

NIGGER nooses then let

NIGGERS noose NIGGERS necks

Till they snap,

Bones crack

Fracturing the backbones of black homes 

I still hear them damn echoes

"You better run NIGGER,

You better run"

Well Ive been runnin,

For hundreds of years 

Only to see my brothers calling each other 

The same word Ive been running from,

NIGGERS

Where Im from,\

NIGGERS is the same word they used when they beat our backs 

Till black turned blue

Where Im from,

NIGGERS aint shxt

Where Im from a NIGGER,

is 3/5s of a person,

As if God didnt make us all from the same dust they place 

Our face in,

That word made us weak,

But we dont discard, 

We embrace it.

I run when I hear it on the radio,

I run where I hear it on the streets

But,

What am I running for 

Im so tired.

So wake me when Im not a NIGGER.

I dont wanna run

NO MORE.