Black Is

Black is you, black is me, black is us, black is free Black is Black is so terrible, it's terrifying Black is a thousand black faces writhing And a million white faces asking, "Oh my God, what do they want?" Black is such a shock, it's electrifying Black is a beautiful sister Walking past the Clairol sign And watching the sign literally ask itself "I thought I knew for sure, I thought I knew for sure that I was beautiful" Black is so compiled as the hole Black is a stain on the kitchen tile that Ajax cannot remove Black is us, young and old Black is this old, wrinkled-face queen Chilling on the porch and rocking away her last days Thinking of her grandchildren Black is the old lady's grandchildren Yelling "Revolution" so that their grandmother will die free Black is misery, black is pain Black is marching in Alabama And getting nothing but rifle butts on the brain And not the freedom that you marched for Black is digging John Coltrane John Coltrane as he blows No, not as he blows But as he tells you of his life Which is his peoples' lives Which is all our lives Blow, Trane, blow Listen, black people, listen Listen to Trane as he blows away your life The way white people blow you away every day Black is loving one another Black is helping your sister and brother Black is the beginning and end of white Black is that which was first Until white stole it, raped it, and imitated it But it then gained a true self and got blacker And blacker and blacker and blacked out all whiteness Black is the darkest night The darkest night that is coming whatever be Gunshots and white screams and black screams And gunshots and black screams and white screams And gunshots and white screams and black screams And no more screams The darkest night that will turn into the peaceful day Black is everyone seeing the light A light shining like a star from the east To lead us from the darkness of the west Black is having a goal for your life Put more meaning into everything you do More meaning and loving, eating and living And there will be more meaning in you Which means everything Black is the velvet of the midnight sky Black is so beautiful, it makes you cry Black is short, black is tall Let me impress that black is all But that's not all I have to find I also found that black is mind