The Wars Ran Through Them
by B. Sharise Moore
“Peace is the White man's word. Ours is liberation.” ~Kwame Ture
And the wars ran through them
all of them
Them Baker Boys
with a hint of Seminole blood
but still mostly nigger to the bone
all of them nursed
from a breast pressed against
military fatigues since the 1940s
but what do we expect
from the formerly enslaved?
barely a generation removed from
men who couldn't read
couldn't vote
couldn't stop them nurses from
pumping them with placebo
in Tuskegee
made them a 30 year Syphilis study
while they burned down Tulsa
and Wilmington
and Rosewood
and Ocoee
but this ain't resistance
this is can't beat ‘em
join ‘em and call it pride
make it patriotism in Black face
baked in apple pie
military does something
to Blackness
basic training be a partial lobotomy
that 21 gun salute
snatches the Malcolm from
your lips before it thinks
to ask a question
crushes the truth of anti-war
at its kneecaps
pounds any trace of Dr. King’s
poor people's campaign
that might have crept
into your subconscious
to be Black and military
is a heist
a kidnapping of culture
a stumbling around
without exorcism
without priest
without communion crackers
and wine
to be Black and military
is imperial satellite
placed on one of nearly
900 bases around the world
to be Black and military
is baptism in a bottomless pool
of indigenous blood
wrapped in an American flag
to be Black and military
is those Baker Boys
nearly all of them named William
William the first
a World War 2
annihilator of Nazis
yet sooner be hanged from
an Altamonte Oak
the moment he came home
William the second
was a Black Boy born in Florida
grew up Philly
went to Korea and Vietnam willingly
willfully waded through rice fields to kill Vietcong
granted masters degrees
in music for his service
(what an ugly and ironic song)
William the 3rd
a military industrial complex accomplice
drives a Tesla Truck
infused with Congo blood and apartheid steel
Keith, the only Baker boy not named William
with a conscience
was assigned to mortuary affairs
used heroin to cope with the massacres
needed the needle after collecting
countless bodies
in body bags in the Middle East
the wars ran through them
them Baker Boys
like bad food
a bloody cough
a hurl
a gush
all of them drunk hugging
a Star Spangled toilet
state sponsored propaganda
got them thinking
they protect
they serve
yet they the weapons
they the mass destruction
the wars ran through them
them Baker Boys
Black and military
did you know William the 2nd
cast away his second son
Keith when he
buckled in Beirut in 1982?
not to be confused with William the 3rd
Mr. Lockheed Martin
makes bombs for a living
a weapons engineer
propped up as
Mr. STEM
model mentor lauded for lynching third world limbs
celebrated in his million dollar home.
missile maker darkie
white supremacy’s assassin
the wars ran through them
a camouflage
a blend in
a new skin
them think they protect democracy
but this never been
them oiled cogs in endless wars
them soldiers shuffled
in a system of global gangster gamers
Atari thumbs antsy over
joysticks and remote control drones
fresh from the Pentagon
Poof go the villages in Yemen
Poof goes the embassy in Kenya
Poof go the villages in Afghanistan
Poof go the villages in Iraq
Poof go the villages in Syria
Poof go the villages in Somalia
in Nicaragua
in Guyana
in Libya
in Laos
in Lebanon
in Gaza
when Black men become
Secretary of Defense
“they're not just the clients,
they're also the president.”
in cahoots with colonialism
the kinky haired overseer
wears military green
grins military greed
the US government thinks it’s God/speed
the wars run through them
because
“Peace is the white man's word. Ours is liberation.” ~Kwame Ture
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