I am King

i wrote this for my AA prose fiction class. it's supposed to be an interpretation of what we would be doing if we were Martin Luther King, Jr. had he not been assassinated. enjoy.

I am King.
And there is no BET
And black people roam free
Throughout the south.
From SoCal through the desert
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia
Parts of Texas and Florida
Cause they gave it to me
In 1970 because I said
If you don’t you’ll have problems
Bigger, Louder, and hotter than Detroit and Chicago.


I am King.
And I am not the father
And neither is Tyreeq
And this is not Keisha’s 17th time on Maury
Telling her story
Bout how he GOT to be the baby daddy
Cause ain nobody else left in her neighborhood
To point DNA swabs at

I am King
And white people don’t teach bigotry
At HBCU’s
And they won’t see you
On the nightly news
Black male suspect in crime of…
We don’t fit a profile
And we don’t live the lifestyle
Of senor dope boy fresh
Yes
I understand that once upon a time
You had to slang
To buy anythang
But not after we unified
Became one nation under God
And under the Mason-Dixon line
And through the sands of time we’ve tread.
And taught our dealers to use their heads
To make cheese and bread
No, real cheese and real bread.
Self sufficient communes replaced the ghettos
Educated entrepreneurs replaced pimps and hoes.
Aligned with the Panthers
Because those brothers and sisters
Were making changes
And in my pious haste I declined
But later had to recognize
That we were all just arrows
Aimed at the same target
If together we could all hit
The bulls eye with greater force and power
Than if separated.
Made peace with El Hajj Malik El Shabazz’s ghost
Helped Sister Betty raise those girls
Cause it was my responsibility
To encourage and embrace my brother’s children
He came back from Mecca a changed man
And I didn’t whole heartedly shake his hand and smile
I see us on tee shirts together and remember
Who I was and who he could have been
To all

I am King
And I still want freedom to ring
But I had to make my own bell
Cause the liberty bell’s crack
Distorted the sound for anybody black
I believed in America
Until America tried to kill me
Tried to silence and still me
America tried to kill me.
But I could not die because I am
King.

I am
Still believing in Ghandi
But I believe that Leroy and Betty Jean
And their kids kids kids
Need to hold hands with each other
And that may be more important
Than holding hands
With little melanin lacking children
From Minnesota.

I am King
And my dream became
The white man’s nightmare
I took their burden and put it on its ear.
Made it disappear
We’re not hiding in the bushes cause Obama is president
And that’s the little boy I sent
To the white house to rule
With sense

I am King
And Coretta and I are doing fine
I finally got to spend some real time
With my family
Be a daddy
And a grand daddy
And a Reverend
And a person
Who watches the Boondocks
And Girlfriends
And Politically Correct with Bill Maher
And argue politics with Bill O’Reilly
That is until I got him taken off the air.

I am King
And when Katrina came I was more than prepared
To make sure my people weren’t hungry or homeless
Nobody could steal our land
Development handled in house
No bidding for who will turn
The Baptist church or mosque or temple
Into a sav-a lot.
Look at all the love we’ve got
Right here in our own little world.

I am King.
And this is incomplete.