Black Panther Party members at the California state capitol, sharing some objective facts

banana is a terrible artificial flavor

it’s ok to shoot [back] at cops

i’m not an advocate for violence but for peace

violence is houseless evictions [during fire season]

violence is the terms houseless eviction & food waste

violence is nine-figure budgets for kkkop uniforms

you have to say it three times before it sticks

whoever invented banana flavoring hates us

banana flavor tastes nothing like bananas

annually u.s. companies discard literal tons of food

when i say it’s ok to shoot back maybe i mean necessary

maybe i mean we’ve tried everything else

maybe it’s time we buck up and buck back

there are enough structures to house every human

Captain Planet has beef with the u.s. military

a few people have decided the color of the sky

even less have decided the flavor of the ocean

schools are closing due to poison water fountains

prisons remain open despite hurricane evacuations

prisons remain open despite smoke in the vents

prisons remain open despite an airborne pandemic

public schools close in the Midwest when it’s cold

new prisons generate revenue for downtown suits

new schools don’t produce free labor forces

a student asks too many questions of the whip

a prisoner can’t call home for a guardian

with history books like this who needs a pledge

if you do the math you end up on a watch list

if you do the math you become a flight risk

if you do the math you find a gun in your hand

Kwame Ture is my favorite poet

if we love our people we’ll organize

if we are tired of this shit we’ll organize

if we want uncontaminated oxygen we’ll organize

my parents want a revolution but not a revolutionary son

obama was the most effective war criminal to date

i’ll trust a white revolutionary before a Black overseer

what we believe is a result of our understanding of history

what we believe means very little if we don’t act on it

what we believe might be what’s keeping us in chains

i believe in self defense and liberated zones

i believe in above ground decolonization

i believe in avoiding enemy lines at all costs

i believe that we will win 

i believe / that we will win 

i / believe / that we / will win.

Darius Simpson, 2022


More from this Writer

Darius Simpson is a writer, educator, performer, and skilled living room dancer from Akron, Ohio. His work has appeared in New Ohio Review, The Adroit Journal, Crab Creek Review, and others. Darius believes in the dissolution of empire and the total liberation of all Afrikans by any means available.