Requiem for a Dream Deferred

Has the American Dream for cream been masked over top of Dr. King’s? These days unity between the races is easy to see, but is it truly the vision of he who gave his life for the civil rights movement? Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to see White and Black hands held together… only they’re clasping […]

Has the American Dream for cream been masked over top of Dr. King’s? These days unity between the races is easy to see, but is it truly the vision of he who gave his life for the civil rights movement?

Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to see White and Black hands held together… only they’re clasping grands in partnerships that often exploit our worst behaviors. What part of King’s dream had us providing entertainment in exchange for the flashy ‘chains’ and ‘whips’ of PC enslavement? What part of his vision foresaw the very soul of our people as an emblem for others to dangle from a chain on their chests?

We may have many successful and positive businessmen and entrepreneurs; but for every positive that exists, more negatives are portrayed in the media. But the media can’t portray material that’s not put out by the source first. The irony of it all is that to truly keep the dream alive – we need to wake up first.

“Requiem for a Dream Deferred”

a.k.a.

“The Wakeup Call”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Proctored a spark in the future esteem of freedom pursuers.

Freed from subduers, the dream’s being neutered by newer blockades.

Today’s obstacles make me wonder if it was worth it –

For the rights of our people mean nothing if we can’t preserve it…

Sold cheap in street circuits – they’re choked by looser noose knots and chains.

No longer behind the scenes,

Black folks get light lime and heavy cream

While Whites lie kindly behind and beneath –

from days of slavery, this is an incredible feat!

Blacks and Whites now intermingle to enrich pay scales –

But at what price do we continue to mix the grayscale…

Jacob and Kanye chains may sell – but such jewels evoke an ineffable breach.

It’s ironic how King’s envisioned views of how we’d end up

Has turned a platonic coexistence into a new dilemma.

His prescription’s been delivered at toxic levels.

While common economy tells me we had to fight for civil rights –

What part of equality’s comes at such a pivotal price?…

The part where our autonomy gets ritually slighted by accosting with devils.

I wonder if the tone of this noble fella would’ve turned hurtful

If he’d known vanilla ice would melt into his own fraternal circle –

White out stains Alpha’s Jewels eternal within its prestigious walls!

Our fraternities formed out of a lack of resources

To become a safe haven for Black recourses…

So how does a shield against anti-Black forces now consort with

such an egregious flaw?!!

I’m not on some Booker T./Black Panther revolt.

Even Malcolm X left that answer revoked.

I know that among God’s grander yolks, there can be no discrimination.

Jesus died to end such deeds of separation.

So I’ve got no reason to deny His desegregation…

But I can’t help my deep-seeded hesitation –

rooted in the 60’s vivid scenes of civic demonstrations.

Forty years of an ongoing march –

Yet even for these tears, I know I’ve not done my part.

In 2000, voting wasn’t once embarked, but I complained on a regular basis.

I allowed injustices in slack-jawed offices

To keep me disgusted in the acts of Congress’…

Forget Black caucuses – my causes were marauded by secular hatred.

As disdain hastily drove what I was often ignited and infused with,

I wasted the souls laid in coffins of righteous movements.

Dr. King’s life wasn’t designed for amusement – yet we take it lightly everyday.

If he could’ve seen our wasteful disintegration,

Would he have fought so hard for racial integration

Just to see us become so faithful to assimilation –

as we sacrifice Black anthems for the ways gray medleys pay?

Just because we can achieve the impossible,

Doesn’t mean we’re no longer responsible.

We should cultivate the best traits possible

before letting the world merge with our worst feet first.

But instead, we let vultures borrow the product

Of our culture’s most sorrowful conduct…

Giving praise to the hollow constructs that media circuses seek first.

In the wake of King’s dream – this is horrible nonsense.

We can’t keep exploiting ourselves without moral conscience.

Some seem to have forgotten what our struggles were all about.

Too busy taking care of self,

We lay with snakes in snares of wealth…

Trading a visionary’s travails for a dream of greed that reeks of troubled clout.

What we need now is sleep-deprivation.

There’s a better dream out that needs better representation.

If the rest of us would just awaken, we could grasp Martin King’s deep words.

But until we can remain true to our own worth

By resisting the urge to dilute our souls dispersed…

Maybe we ought to totally disown it to preserve a martyr’s dream deferred.

*

‘Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries… But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.’

– Jude 1:8; 10-13 KNJV

**DJP**