We Are Tribe

WE ARE TRIBE

We. Are. Tribe.
Yes, our tones and textures vary
but, we are tribe
Spiritual beings caught up
in a human experience
gone by the wayside

We are tribe because…
We all bleed the same
We all love the same
Our hearts all break the same
Our anger boils over the same
Our grief aches the same
We all blame the same
and it’s a crying shame
Because we are tribe

We are animals that have learned to hate
We are all caught up in this maniacal pace
We choose dates based on race
We have a morbid curiosity when we witness a police chase
and our so-called heroes kill black men with tasers and mace

There’s three white men and one brown but,
“Yes officer, I’m sure that’s the face”
It doesn’t concern us that we have fallen from grace
“Don’t come too close your invading my space”
Innocent men convicted with evidence of trace
We proceed to unravel like tattered lace
Yet we choose to ignore it and welcome it’s embrace

But…
We are tribe.

I know because,
We love our children
We crave the comfort of a warm bed
We drink the wine and eat the bread
Our hearts cry tears when any color lies dead

Most of us believe in God
And those who don’t
Missed out on love
But will soon believe
And rise above because
We are tribe

We want to close our borders
After we stole this land,
stole the very identity of native man
A trail full of tears
led to years and years
of alcoholism and poverty
because we were too greedy to just
LET THEM BE!

We resent our red brothers for their wiley ways
If it wasn’t for their casinos
I wouldn’t be a gambler and have to attend G.A.
Who are you kidding?
I still see you at the front of the line for match play
Still taking everything from them we can get for nothing
It’s not our price to pay

We turn black men to slaves
and disrespect their graves
of the lives that they gave
and we are shamelessly proud of this history

Reginald Denny gave us plenty
to talk about and
confirmed the belief that
“Blacks are nothing but animals”
forgetting the foundation of their anger
and history of slavery
which led to their poverty
and we stare in disbelief
as they steal t.v.’s
our anger reaching immeasurable quantities
because of
one.
single.
brick.

We built camps for our Asian people
and held them against their will
as tears poured from their beautiful almond eyes
we turned our heads
and closed our hearts
in order to make it alright

We complain about this golden man
and how he can’t drive
yet we buy the cars which
makes his commerce thrive
then down him for his intellect
and how he’s managed to survive
which leads to the support of
our jealousy and hypocrisy
which lie inside
as he lays his head
to sleep in a cubicle
four feet wide
for you

We are tribe
Even though we buy the fruits
of a brown laborer
and then bitch when he looks for a savior
We patrol our borders while eating bananas
brought to our table by bronze brothers
without feeling the slightest bit of guilt
We don’t ask where he comes from
We don’t care that his
floors are made of dirt
and his ceilings made of sky

We ignore his cries
which results in our greed
growing thicker
filling us with the obesity of sin
Oh, you smart Minutemen!
How he could use that one brick now

Human beings baked in ovens
like turkeys on Thanksgiving
Starved,
we marveled at their bones
and just watched while genocide
kept in stride
with the hate
of a dictator
who fixed his jones with jews
Still can’t understand why it happened?
I’ll tell you why.
Cause we were too damn late,
that’s why
And that’s the choice
we chose
to choose

But,
We are tribe
I know because…
I’ve seen you help an old woman cross the street

Hold the door for a man with broken feet
Smile at a man of color making music on the street
Admitting that there is something you love about him
You can feel it in the beat

I know we are tribe
Because religious men take vows of silence
for their beliefs
And how hard would that be
not to be able to tell someone you love them
for years just because you put all your eggs
in one basket, with the faith
that one day we will all realize the
importance of loving and
accepting one another
and how ironic is it that
it probably took him years
to talk himself into it
because, I mean, look at us
it’s kind of like
referring a friend
for a job knowing
that he sometimes
doesn’t like to show up
and doesn’t call in

I know we are tribe because
I’ve seen a high school basketball game
being won by a mentally challenged boy
just like in a movie
but it wasn’t a movie
it was for real
And when I watched it
my heart blew and love poured out
which infected me
with a spirit so strong
I was simply speechless
and tears filled my eyes,
not for the boy or the team,
but for us all
because I realized
the joy of hope
and how much of it is left

We are tribe
Because we can find it in our hearts,
even though we have to dig deep,
to forgive, though we will never
cease to weep

We will honor Gods and Goddesses
of every color
and nourish the day
when every man is our brother

Forgiving is painless,
forgetting is the hard part
but it will never resolve
unless we give it a push start

Show grace and humility
and when your first instinct
is to coil at diversity
ask yourself,
“How is he like me”?
Yes, it’s a small step
but it’s a beginning,
just watch and see

Plant a seed where love will grow,
water it with compassion,
but most important
Check Your Ego!

Follow up with a smile
You’d be surprised how a smile
Can heal the wounds
Of hate and history
and lead us to the conclusion
that we are connected equally
not separate, but one
One truth
One man
One nation
One big circle of unity
And take a lesson from
one single,
amazing,
dreaded Rastafarian brother

One love.

Just love.

Only love.

We.
Are.
Tribe.