Mao Is Black

Not in a literal sense

But when I read him

I instinctively grasp the knowledge

Three thousand year old culture

Ebbs and flows

Struggles long forgotten

Lao Tzu

Sun Tzu

Cao Cao

Can be

Shaka

Nat Turner

Dessalines

Indigenous struggle knowledge

Enhanced by scientific Marxism

Will crack the sky and break the Earth

Mao is black

Cuz he was oppressed

If you’re not oppressed

How can you be “left”?

Ever been humiliated

Cursed

Called slurs

Last hired

Not hired

First fired

Exploited

Reminded of your place

On the left and in society

Told to shut up

And follow massa

And adopt revisionism

And don’t rock the boat

Feel the hatred in your bones

Don’t need to read a word of Marx

But know it’s right to rebel

And do so

And be alone for a time

But look around

And see the world being turned upside down

And realize that you ain’t alone

As long as you have correct mind

And correct line

The line — determines whether we succeed or fail

Base it in the concrete conditions

No guns now

No base area now

But stick to correct line

And it’ll come

And keep pushing

And go to the mountains

And watch them ask “what Marxism is this in the Mountains”

Or the ghetto

And know that they will soon see

And feel

And know

What Marxism this is

That of practice

Not of classrooms

But class struggle

Concrete analysis

Mao is black

Rebellion is black

Revolution is black

I am black

We are black

And we will win

Because we have Mao

And we are the bottom

And when the bottom drops out

Meaning rises up

Earth flips upside down