Black Is

Black is you, black is me, black is us, black is free

Black is
Black is so terrible, it's terrifying
Black is a thousand black faces writhing
And a million white faces asking, "Oh my God, what do they want?"
Black is such a shock, it's electrifying
Black is a beautiful sister
Walking past the Clairol sign
And watching the sign literally ask itself
"I thought I knew for sure, I thought I knew for sure that I was beautiful"
Black is so compiled as the hole
Black is a stain on the kitchen tile that Ajax cannot remove
Black is us, young and old
Black is this old, wrinkled-face queen
Chilling on the porch and rocking away her last days
Thinking of her grandchildren
Black is the old lady's grandchildren
Yelling "Revolution" so that their grandmother will die free
Black is misery, black is pain
Black is marching in Alabama
And getting nothing but rifle butts on the brain
And not the freedom that you marched for
Black is digging John Coltrane
John Coltrane as he blows
No, not as he blows
But as he tells you of his life
Which is his peoples' lives
Which is all our lives
Blow, Trane, blow
Listen, black people, listen
Listen to Trane as he blows away your life
The way white people blow you away every day
Black is loving one another
Black is helping your sister and brother
Black is the beginning and end of white
Black is that which was first
Until white stole it, raped it, and imitated it
But it then gained a true self and got blacker
And blacker and blacker and blacked out all whiteness
Black is the darkest night
The darkest night that is coming whatever be
Gunshots and white screams and black screams
And gunshots and black screams and white screams
And gunshots and white screams and black screams
And no more screams
The darkest night that will turn into the peaceful day
Black is everyone seeing the light
A light shining like a star from the east
To lead us from the darkness of the west
Black is having a goal for your life
Put more meaning into everything you do
More meaning and loving, eating and living
And there will be more meaning in you
Which means everything
Black is the velvet of the midnight sky
Black is so beautiful, it makes you cry
Black is short, black is tall
Let me impress that black is all
But that's not all I have to find
I also found that black is mind