Beautiful Black Bodies (A Tribute)

This is a tribute

To an amazing body God painted black

A look through decades of faith and work

And how the body reacts

This bodily journey is about players that changed the game

Leaving indelible marks with excellence

We shall never be the same

A complex anatomy

Regulated by the brain

It’s where we’ll start

Homage is paid through the recital of names

This body has a deep soul

Dubois captured the essence

Of the Black story untold

A long fight for justice

Thurgood Marshall donned the highest court’s robe

Langston Hughes listened to the blues and Blacks

Of Harlem writing poetry to musical tracks

Creativity surely doesn’t end there

Richard Wright immersed us into Bigger’s despair

Inspired by the Native Son

Ralph Ellison wrote the Invisible one

Eloquently in every line

James Baldwin forewarned in The Fire Next Time

Maya Angelou gave us Phenomenal Woman

Told us to rise

We real cool Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize

And Beloved Toni Morrison

Gave us the Bluest Eye

This body will never quit

When the evidence didn’t fit Johnnie Cochran said you must acquit

Take scholarly look, at Wilson and Gates and hooks

All the excellent books on race matters

Marian Wright Edelman advocates for children having their beautiful dreams shattered

Now through this bodily journey we further embark

Cannot forget History

And John Henrik Clarke

Cannot forget January 20, 2009

A black man named Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in to lead America for the very first time

These men and women had vision

And with sight we see

Performances on the silver screen

Belafonte and Poitier pioneered

The Hollywood dream

Cicely Tyson played roles we needed to see

Father of Shaft Gordon Parks pictured L-I-F-E.

A multitalented brother made us laugh

His name Cosby

Fox came Pryor to Mr. Murphy

Jones represented the dark side of the force

Denzel Washington took the Glory

And set a new course

Spike is to Lee as Morgan is to Freeman

In black skin hard working thespians like

Fishburne, Jackson and Mr. Summertime Smith

Look at Tyler Perry’s rise

Art can uplift

Now let us drift

Down to the area that helps music resound

Vocal Chords vibrating from oratorical sound

Billie Holiday sung of strange fruit hanging from trees in hateful towns

A blues people

Migrating Miles on a Coltrane

To perform again

Through segregated pathways

Sometimes kitchens

Where the scent was Armstrong

Preparing for fine Ellington dining

And Cooke said a change gon come

Mahalia kept us grounded in the holy one

King of peace preached profound sermons

Martin, Medgar, and Malcolm possessed undying dedication

Selfless work waking and helping to heal our nation

Overcoming, let us be

Like Aretha who sung frankly

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Then I’m yo mama, I’m yo daddy

Give love not drugs a try

Like Curtis Mayfield in Superfly

Marvin hollered back by the Motown machine

And Achieving a dream

Beating a metaphorical cancer

Tina Turner composed private dancer

Paving the way for

Whitney and Janet

Mary J and Beyonce

Cause in this world it’s like a jungle sometimes

Enter a new style of music

The flow, the beats, the rhymes

Let’s Run DMC through some history

Before the Notorious B.I.G.

Rakim moved the crowd with the M-I-C

Before Pac asked is there a heaven for a G

N.W.A. and Dr. Dre branded their reality

Outkasts to start

Aquemeni their Magnum Opus

For The Miseducation Lauryn Hill is still considered the dopest

This music speaks to the hopeless

Sean Carter to Jay-Z needs only one word

Focused

Can’t knock his hustle

Now it’s time to move on to the body’s muscle

The blood, sweat, and tears

We cheered for

Jack Johnson, Joe Louis and Sugar Ray

Great Black hopes we might all shine some day

Too pretty, can’t hit me,

The greatest Ali lived candidly

Going to Vietnam he refused

Moving to track Owens lit a Nazi fuse

Wilma Rudolph triumphed overcoming paralysis

Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised the black fist

Carl Lewis and Flo Jo swept away Golds

Jackie Joyner’s strength is incredible

For a time, Michael Johnson set the bar to the sky

A lightning Bolt appeared striking all the records down and Simone Biles defied gravity doing things we’ve never seen a gymnasts do before landing gracefully on the ground

Why do we like the sport that next

The one in which large muscles flex

Simply the beauty

Of Gayle Sayers alluding would be tacklers

Tacklers that Jim Brown punished to the ground

With Sweetness

Walter Payton played with a huge heart

And Jerry Rice’s records are going, going, gone

Up up and away

Where baseball players hit balls

Say Hey

Willie Mays brought style

Before him Jackie Robinson’s feat made black people smile

Death threats to Hank Aaron

Stay away from the babe

Towering records broken like Bond’s home run wave

Inspiring the new age

A true champion Bill Russell won eleven championships

Two Giants

Wilt led the league in scoring, rebounds and assists

The big O averaged a triple double

Dunks by Dr. J

Dunks were outlawed because of Kareem and his play

Michael Jordan’s play many thought divine

His first of championship of six was against Magic Johnson’s showtime

Now O’Ree was nice bringing black to ice

Ashe and Gibson

Held high the Wimbledon plate

The Williams sisters won with hair braided not straight

In an exclusive club, Tiger challenged the construct of race

Hearts of Champions love to compete

Two more stops the first one the feet

Entertainers make you want to get up and dance

Paul Robeson gave all his talents a chance

Sammy Davis Jr. perfected the tap dance

Ray showed Stevie his ribbon in the sky

Say it loud

Was James Brown’s cry

Music bouncing Off the Wall

New and innovative tones

Thriller a collabo with Quincy Jones

These were chapters in Jackson’s great fame

While Prince showered us with Purple Rain

The last stop in this bodily journey is its health

Through innovation, medicine and the accumulation of wealth

Today Dr. Daniel Hale Williams surgical technique is common place

And where would patients be without Dr. Charles Drew’s blood bank

We need great ideas to grow

Ben Carson’s gifted hands worked with the cerebral

George Washington Carver took peanuts as far as they could go

Now millions sit in front of computer terminals

Mark Dean led an inventive team to help these machines run like a dream

Madame CJ Walker combed until she established a great entrepreneurial legacy

Oprah Winfrey reaches all races, colors , and creeds

Knowledge is power encouraging the need to read

Books like Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun

Reginald Lewis showed how VC, LBO and philanthropy was done

This is a small representation of notable black bodies winning the game.

You’re great too

Keep your head up

Be strong

Keep doing the right thing

I think about the future

My children

What’s in Store?

Beautiful black bodies

We need More…More…More!