Were you there?

This poem is a call and response one, like rapso (Trini) or dub poetry (J'ca). Just picture yourself encircled around the firesite and responding to the drum beat when reading.

Were you there when…

When lions and elephants were our companions instead of prey
Were you there
When gold and diamonds were a simple commodity instead of a notorious luxury
Were you there
When breddas and sistas would bathe in the river naked without dirty thoughts springing forth
Were you there
When my sistas were queens and princesses, instead of bitches and whores
Were you there
When prostitution was not the oldest profession
Were you there
When kings would command from the will of God and the people prospered
Were you there
When ancestors were respected, communicated with and guided people
Were you there
When we knew we were gods and strived to act accordingly
Were you there
When prayer was said to God the Mother and the Father
Were you there
Where at the side of a great man would be a great woman his equal
Were you there
When women once ruled alongside men and governed mighty a nation
Were you there
When the people sat and listened to the voices of sages

Were you there
When Godliness was a natural phenomenon instead of a supernatural occurence
Were you there
When foreign nations were taught the secrets and philosophies to which we adhered to
Were you there
When these foreign children bit the hands that fed them
Were you there when they plundered, colonialized, enslaved, brutalized, genocized, devitalized, hypnotized, demonized, antagonized, victimized,
Judainized, Islamized, Christianized and took all of the prize?
Were you there?!

Were you there
When Kunta lost his name, his limbs and family?
Were you there
When Harriett led the captives out of bondage
Were you there
When Nani
Were you there
When Sojourner
Were you there
When Bookman, Bussa, Nat Turner, Steve Biko, Lumumba, Nkrumah
Were you there
When Marcus made the call to "Rise you mighty people!"
Were you there
When Minister Malcolm had to defend his family from the cocktail bombs
I dare ask the question
Were you there?
But how soon we forget

Would you be there?

Would you be there?
When the children of the Diaspora remember to honour their mother
Would you be there
When these children study, learn and master their ancestral legacy
Would you be there
When they become the masters of their destiny
Would you be there
When they learn to appreciate each other and their beauty, their majesty
Would you be there
When the uprising takes back the community
Would you be there
When they sing songs of liberation and true freedom
Would you be there
When they Prosper

So rise oh fallen fighters
Rise and take your stance again
We who fought and run away
Have lived to fight another day
For this fight is a righteous fight
Against the mentality which oppression has fed unto I
And my children for generations
I say to remove yuh back dey from d wall
I say to remove yuh back dey from d wall

(sing) Afrikan children be alert (X2)
No time to splurt
Realize your worth
Reclaim your place on this earth
Peace