Wattstax Page #2

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and my brother jumped up

and told me I was a n*gger.

I looked at this sucker 'cause,

sh*t, I didn't know what a n*gger was.

But these white boys, they identified

with him because he was light-skinned.

So he went in and he told my mother

that I was a black n*gger...

and that he was a white boy.

You dig? But, see, my mother's bad.

My mother checked that out, so she said:

"Okay, cool with it. I'm not your mother,

because all my kids are n*ggers."

When I told my mother what happened...

that this white girl had called me a n*gger,

and what does it mean?

So she said, "Wait till your father

gets home, he'll explain it to you."

When my old man got home,

I told him about it...

and he kind of gave me a weird look...

and he said,

"Look, let me tell you something."

He said, "The next time

somebody calls you a n*gger...

"just kick their ass. Don't ask no

questions, just kick their ass."

I think like n*ggers are the best

of the people that were slaves.

You know what I mean?

And that's how they got to be n*ggers.

'Cause they stole the cream of the crop

from Africa and brought them over here...

and God, as they say,

works in mysterious ways.

So he made everybody a n*gger

'cause we was arguing over in Africa...

about the Watusi, the Huwagada,

the Zagumbo, and the Zamunga.

You know... In different languages.

So he brought us all over here...

the best, the kings, the queens,

and the princesses and the princes...

sh*t, and put us all together

and called us one tribe: N*ggers.

This is a beautiful day,

It is a new day,

It is a day of black awareness,

It is a day of black people taking care

of black people's business,

Today we are together,

We are unified and on one accord,

'Cause when we are together,

we've got power...

and we can make decisions,

Today, on this program

you will hear gospel...

and rhythm and blues, and jazz,

All those are just labels,

We know that music is music,

All of our people got a soul,

Our experience determines the texture...

the taste, and the sound of our soul,

We say that we may be in the slum...

but the slum is not in us,

We may be in prison...

but the prison is not in us,

In Watts, we have shifted from, ;

"Burn, baby, burn,

"to "Learn, baby, learn, "

We have shifted from having a seizure...

about what the man got...

to seizing what we need,

We have shifted from bedbugs

and dog ticks...

to community control and politics,

That is why we gather today...

to celebrate our homecoming...

and our own sense of somebody-ness,

That is why I challenge you now

to stand together...

raise your fists together...

and engage in our national black litany,

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