I am a Black Man.
See me.
I am the language I do not speak.
Hear me.
I am rivers of emotion.
Feel me.
I am the fruit of life.
Taste me.
I am the earth of Africa living all over the world.
Touch me.
I am song and dance and tribal rhythms,
the heartbeat of life.
Know me.

I am King Ramseys, Moses, Tutenkumen, Hannibal, and
Shaka Zulu and…

I am the man who stood on auction blocks, head high,
teeth bared, stripped naked so the eyes of the world
could peer envious at my nobility.

I am the man that worked the fields of these lands singing
spirituals under the sun, who stole away into the night on
freedom’s flight. I am Nat Turner, and Gabriel Prossor,  and
Denmark Vessey when the only solution was revolt and
revolution.

I am Cojoe, Toussaint,  Christophe and that mean Jean
Jacques  Dessalines, the baddest liberators the world has ever
seen.  Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver and Huey P too.  Make
em frown, I’m also H Rap Brown.

I am the first to die for liberty in America.
That’s  a fact thanks to Christpus Attacs.
I am the turning point in the Civil War.
I am all the souls of the Massachusetts 54th

I am Henry Highland Garnett,
and Frederick Douglas.
I am Harlem’s Fighting 369 marching to jazz music in time,
while shooting a gun in WWI.

I am the Tuskegee Airman flying high in the sky,
proving that Black men can indeed fly.
I am a Blood in Vietnam, killing strangers for Uncle Sam.

I am the cowboy on the cattle trial.
I am Bill Pickett and Nat “Deadwood Dick” Love,
Cherokee Bill, and Black Bart, he’d put a hole in your heart.

And, I am the strange fruit,
hanging from strange vines at dusk.
Sing Billie!
I am the Scottsboro Boys, Emmett Till,
And the Tuskegee syphilis experiment without consent.

I am a Black Man,
I created spirituals, and ragtime, jazz, and blues.
I am Scott Joplin and Buddy Bolden
Satchmo, The Duke, and The Count.

I am America’s classical music.

I am an intellectual aristocrat,
fighting the racist ideology I constantly combat,
I am Carver, Dubois, Garvey and old Booker T.
And today I am taking all challenges,
debating against the best,
I’m Lois Gates, Tavis Smiley, and Cornell West,

I have known rivers because I am Langston Hughes,
I am a native son giving a fright, from the pen of Richard
Wright.  I am Ralph Ellison giving Invisible Men insight.
I am James Baldwin in Givonni’a Room, creating Blues for
Mister Charlie for The Fire Next Time.

I am Canada Lee in, “Another Country.”
I am Paul Robeson playing Othello, singing “Old Man River,”
talent so intense they had to put me on a Black list.

I am the Renaissance Man.

I am the baseball player riding a rickety bus
from one hot dusty Jim Crow town to the next,
proving I was better than the best.
I am Josh Gibson, Kool Papa Bell and Satchel Paige
Jackie Robinson, Hammering Hank and Willie Mays
I am Bob Gibson and Bobby Bonds, Darryl Strawberry too,
But I’m not just a drug abuser, I’m also Ken Griffey Jr.
I am that Black kid playing basketball under  inner lights at
night.  I am the Harlem Globe Trotters, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill
Russell, Connie Hawkins and The Big O putting on triple
double show. I am the attack they call Shaq! The creativity of
Kobe, the  elegance of Dr. J, the magic of Magic.
No! I don’t want to me like Mike, I am Michael Jordon.

Want me to stop, I’m not because I am Bee-bop.
I am Dizzy, and Monk, Miles and the Train. I am Cannonball,
and Charlie Parker going insane.

I am Walter Payton and Gale Sayers playing for the Chicago
Bears.  Man, I am the Juice. I am Doug Williams throwing five
TDs winning a Super Bowl. That day I was the man
even if I wasn’t invited to Disney Land.

I am Jim Brown, LT,  and Deacon Jones, breaking bones,
Barry Sanders and Emmit Smith, And I am the latest greatest
I am Michael Vick.

I am citified and countrified, old school and new.
I am Martin ringing the freedom bell and his blood at the
Lorraine Hotel.  I am Detroit Red dancing the Linde Hop,
and, I am the Malcolm they had to stop. I am his blood on the
floors of the Autobon Ballroom.  And, Al Sharpton too, with
the greasy hair –do.

I am all the days of Nelson Mandela’s
resistance on Robben Island.
I am his ticker tape parade down the
“Ave. of Heroes” in New York City.
I am the freedom of South Africa.

I am Cassius Clay becoming Muhammed Ali.
I am all the sweet sugars of Robinson and Leonard Rays.
I am the motor city Hit Man. I am Marvelous! I am smoking
like Joe Frazier.  I am even Mike Tyson fighting and biting.

I’m Denzel living the life of Rueben Hurricane Carter,
and Wesley Snipes being a vampire in the night.
I am acting with the action of Samuel L. Jackson.
I am Sidney Poitier,  Sirring with Love
In The Heat of the Night, but  “Call Me Mr. Tibbs!”

I am Barry Gordy founding Motown.
I’m Smokey, and Marvin, the Temps, and no jive, The Jackson
Five.  I am Black man getting down, I also James Brown,
“Say it loud, I’m Black and I’m proud.”

I am OJ s verdict and I’m Johnny Cockcrane “If it doesn’t fit
you must acquit.” And for some of you, I’m Chris Darden too.

I am the Sugar Hill Gang.
I am Ice T s definition of nigger.
I am Run DMC, Tupac, and Biggie Smalls,
Snoop Dogg, P. Diddy, Dr. Dre,  and LL Kool J.
“I’m gonna knock you out!  Mama said Knock You Out,”
Cause I’m a Bad Boy, A Public Enemy, On Death Row.

I am a Black Man, still harvesting the fields of these lands,
hustling on the streets, driving buses, and delivering the mail,
attending Harvard, Grambling, Howard, and Yale,
and rotting in jail cells….. I am doctoring and lawyering,
inventing, not relenting.

And I am the target of genocide.
Dying on the streets, nodding in alleyways,
smoking crack another attack,
but I’m also Claude McKay, fighting back!

I am combating racism, living with pride,
And refusing to die!
I am having faith in God and questioning men god.
I am looking the world in the face,
And saying I ain’t going no place.

I’m saying “yes” to “Yes I can!”
because I am Barack Obama!!!!

Because I’m the president, a Black man!

Are you getting my drift on this rift?
This is my anthem, the grand sum in the new Millennium.
See me right!!!!!
I’m not a stereotype.

I am a Black man.
Feel me.
I am a Black man.
Hear me.
I am a Black man.
Taste me
I am a Black man.
Touch me.
I am a Black man.
See me.
I am a Black man
Know me.
I am a Black man!

Levy Lee Simon

Photo by L. K. Thayer

© 2011