On this poem Blackman Preace collaborated with poet Erica Hawthorne and it is a part of the chapbook collection.

Click here to listen to Blackman Preach read this poem.

Am I African Enough?

By Cedric Bolton and Erica Hawthorne

As I stood under the goodnight moon

POSITIONED
absorbing the sounds of the
African drums

as the elders lead the ceremonies
 through the valley of truth and history

I did NOT move

 I did NOT say a word

even If
the STING of the African Killer Bee STUNG me
It would not have bothered me, ya see.

I’m looking out & envisioning
the lay of the land
AFRICA!

I look out onto the city landscape
and want to escape from the injustice

I see

get lost in sacred ceremonies

that take me far from these city streets
b/c all I have is this memory of societies
built on the backs of people like me
whose color they dismiss
whose very essence they insist is not
African enough

 
DESPITE

our history.

Can you hear it? The drums and the flashin’ of
three-dimensional dancin’ faces movin’

like clubs scenes with hip-hop beats groovin’

to tunes of traditional African congas beatin’
on the hearts of Africans with skin like
MUD and the Tribal Marks to prove

to the sound of "what's going on" hearts on march in
Washington,
firm fros and raised fists to symbolize the new

"the rhythm Africa”

the revolution of Black America

the people African

the African-American people

listen up educators of the world

Africans are coming out
with
360 DEGREES of self knowledge
taking trips from Global Campus to Kumasi,
Liberia and Zimbabwe

to visit our relatives

who have been waiting for us

and they’re clapping
and they are clapping

 heavily

for the doctors
lawyers
engineers
and teachers
singers
dancers
poets
AND
preachers
turning blind third-eyes into believers

 who will come back with the culture of the
Africans in America?

So, tell me
Am I African enough?
If I use the African Drums to drop hip-hop beats
Am I African Enough?
If I cut a piece of Kente to make my clothes
Am I African Enough?
If I took the first fruits to start a celebration

and

combined it with the African to seal the combination,

So, we’ll never be separated from those who we have been
away from
for centuries upon centuries

but

the breakin’ beats in the African Congas will connect the
Warrior with the Scholar

and the Scholar with the Warrior

and

they will chant as

Marcus Garvey chanted

Africa for the African,

Africa for the African
IN America

Africa

to those who believe,

AFRICA FOR YOU

AFRICA FOR ME

but

we know that
there will always be someone outside of the circle

one who don’t understand the purpose

of
bridging
lines

of African and Black American hearts and minds

and

you’ll still find that

 there are those who will still ask’
with corporate dreads and Baldheads,

tight Easter suits and alligator shoes,

P-H-A-T Hip-hop attire and two way sky pagers

during this interlude

Black Americans will continues to ask
in economically challenged communities

 
 there are those who will still ask
if I’m doing my community duty
if paying homeage is in vain
or if
I’ve forgotten my African name
or if
my braids are just a front
for some tie to my history

 that I want…

but

to all of this we reply…

I AM AFRICAN ENOUGH!

Click here to listen to Blackman Preach read this poem.

BlackCommentator.com Spoken Word Columnist, Poet Blackman Preach (Cedric T. Bolton), is a poet (spoken word artist) and producer, born in Pascagoula, Mississippi and raised in Paterson, New Jersey. Cedric received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Washington University and currently resides, with his wife, in Syracuse, New York.  He is the Founder of Poetic Black Fusion, a writers' workshop that provides access and opportunities to poets of African Ancestry living in Central New York.  He is also the co-founder of Voices Merging, a student-run poetry organization (spoken word) at the University of Minnesota that provides a social outlet for undergraduate students to develop as writers, network and express themselves on stage. He has been writing poetry for 14 years and is published in the Ethnic Student Center's Newsletter at Western Washington University, The Spokesman Recorder, and St. Cloud Times. Click here to contact Blackman Preach.