When you get tired of dying before your eighteenth birthday
and when you’re tired of hearing that you’re worthless anyway,
that protest sign, you will put down and the fire in your soul
will burn through your body that is four hundred years old.
When you get tired of police brutality and the injustice of gentrification,
and when you get tired of the school-to-prison pipeline of no education,
that protest sign, you will put down and the marching on tired feet
will not be enough to quench the thirst for liberation and you won’t accept defeat.
When you get tired of the National Guard getting called out to stop you
and when they fire the shots at your tired, worn-out body, though that’s nothing new,
that protest sign, you will put down and you must heed the words of Malcolm X.
For no man can continue to surrender to ropes tightened around innocent necks.
And when you get tired of mass incarceration because of the color of your skin
and when the cops are on your ass from sun up to sun down, yet again,
that protest sign, you will put down and you will listen to the anger in your heart.
For no Black man, woman or child can resist the revolution and you must take part.
And when the smoke has cleared and so many lie dead or wounded from the fight
and when you think that what you did was all for nothing and that good is never right,
that protest sign that you put down, shove it up the white man’s ass and turn around
And torch everything in sight; every white man’s asset, burn it to the ground!
Written by,
Shelby I. Courtland
©2015 Shelby I. Courtland
When you get tired, my Black brothers and sisters, you will realize that protest signs, marches and hands raised in the air is not enough. When you get tired of hearing that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is to be revered for his non-violent stance of supplicating himself to his enemy and encouraged you to do likewise, you will then realize your only course of action and you will take it. The white man knows this and that is why he is hell-bent on incarcerating you off the streets; that is why he is hell-bent on donning that blue or brown uniform, once he sheds his white sheet, and commences to riddle you with hundreds of bullets. He knows what’s coming. You don’t. Not yet. But you will. Yes, that’s right. He already knows what his fate is and who is going to seal it, but you don’t. Not yet. But you will. And when you do, it is game over for him and he knows that!
shelbycourtland 
Truly inspired Shelby, ppl cannot deny the truth any longer when it becomes a daily reality. How many more must die before EVERYONE, but esp blacks, must stand up and scream ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Then back it up by utilizing our second amendment rights, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
It is perfectly just to fight against tyranny, when unjust laws persecute the innocent, when the most basic freedom is lost… simply the right to live. Malcolm X is the correct role model for these end times.
Very well expressed Ms. Shelby!
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1EarthUnited, damn straight! We have got to realize that this is it. The ballot has never worked for us. Attempting to assimilate has not worked for us, peaceful protesting has not worked for us; hell! Nothing has worked for us. We are being punished for something that we have no control over; our ancestors having been dragged here and over the color of our skin.
My right shoulder, and I am right-handed, was severely injured in a recent vehicle pileup, and so I have had to learn to do a lot of things with my left hand, but I am slowly getting some use back in my right shoulder and when the shit hits the fan, I have no choice but to be prepared. Pitchforks ain’t gonna get it done, that’s for damn sure!
And no, we don’t even have the ‘basic freedom that is the right to live’ and not one KKKop that has murdered an innocent Black person was held accountable for doing so. Now, that in and of itself, is sending us a clear message and we had better be receiving it, understanding it and figuring out what to do about it. Lame ass protest signs and rallies are not getting a goddamn thing accomplished. It hasn’t for decades too numerous to count and yet, we just continue to pretend that we are doing something when we show up at yet another rally when we know that they are coming for the person standing beside us and the next and the next and on and on it will go. Enough is enough!
1EarthUnited, I thank you most sincerely for that spot on comment!
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This was extremely moving. I feel your sentiments entirely. My blood boils at the injustice. My spirit won’t even allow me to participate in protests and marches anymore. I’m ready for the next phase – whatever that may be. Great piece!
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