Endangered Black Woman
Oh say can you see by the dawn of creation
I'm the queen of all queens
I gave birth to all nations
But y'all don't care about me
If I ain't standing here naked
You can't have it for free
And you can't come and just take it
My body, my choice my temple, my doctrine
My mind and my voice
My rights and my options
Fuck at all with your rules
Not concerned with your judgments
You ain't God or my king
Shit, you ain't even my husband
But who would you be without me?
Baby, what's clarity without the moon?
You wanna control everything
So you never have to control you
Let a nigga come in try and sit on my table
And only came with a fork
Trynna leave with the neighbor
Now because of my joy
I'm just 'posed to stay dribbling?
Nigga, I'm so confused
Is this what you call winning?
But hey how you gon' shoot without me?
See dust can't clump til
Something make it move
You wanna control everything
Imma just toss this into the womb
Everybody with whom we have come into contact
Has systematically taken advantage of us
History is only a testimony to our
Ability to make music from noise
Just watch how we move when we're moving
How we keep loving unworthy partners
Raising children with little
Help from anybody no love
No respect from the suspicious white woman
Who criticizes the way we mother
Our children while they pay us
Almost nothing for mothering theirs
I don't even have time to address the
Fetishized hatred we endure from white men
So you'll forgive me if I don't give
A fuck about your cooperation of feelings
Fuck you for wanting me to hold
You while you sink your racist
Sexist knives into my already bleeding back
Fuck you for needing me to absolve you
Or your many many sins against me
Fuck you for putting everybody's
Needs before my
Own: black men, white men, black women
The fucking dog, the cat, my boss
The neighbor's rabbit, the
Fucking government, the
Endangered fucking turtles why
Are everybody's needs
More urgent than my own, when do we
Worry about me, my feelings, my needs
My rights, my body, my safety
My fucking life
When do we begin to send
To the endangered black woman
I am thinking the time is now
And saying the time is now
Not tomorrow, not next week
Not fucking next year
I say we begin here, now, today, this
Minute and say: Fuck
Your countless indifference
Your hesitation, my time is now, my feelings
Are now, make time for them
Make space for them, deal with your
Race shit, your gender shit
Your sexuality shit
Now before we set fire to everything
We take care of for you
Set fire to everything and watch the
Whole lot of it burn