#7: Seventh Son

#7:
Seventh Son
Colin Kaepernick, Yusef Lateef, Willie Dixon

Prelude:
It’s nev-er, it’s nev-er, ever the time,
It’s nev-er, it’s never, never, ever the way
Never, ever time for free-dom fight-ing

It’s al-ways, it’s al-ways, always the wrong way
It’s al-ways, al-ways, al-ways wrong and unwise
Al-ways wrong and un-wise, to fight for free-dom (REPEAT)

The Chinese had a saying
About single sparks igniting prairie fires
#7’s that spark – for The Fire This Time …

I.

“Fool me once …”
Ah, stupid N-word me, what was I thinking?

Colin-Kaepernick-on-TIME-cover-100316-web-225x300, #7:  Seventh Son, Culture Currents He bulldozed burial grounds, sacred Standing Rock Sioux sites
He blew up the Macondo Well, killing – his team – 11 workers,
He dinked and dunked 200 million gallons of crude oil in the
Gulf, killing tens of millions of mussel, shrimp, crab, fish
and livelihoods. He spirals bomb trains through towns and cities,
fireballs exploding, incinerating residents and their homes –
No wonder freedom-loving “white” folks hate him, threaten his life!

He game planned playthings like Al-Qaeda and ISIS, propping up
War profiteers after The Evil Empire collapsed
He broke huddle in the UN running traps on Iraq, play-faking WMDs
He called coups in The Congo, Honduras, Ecuador, Venezuela, Libya,
Everybody blames Clinton for. He twerked and taunted conquered
countries and assassinated leaders: “We came, we saw, he died!”
No wonder freedom-loving “white” folks hate him, threaten his life!

He orders takeout Tuesdays, delivering hot Hellfire Missiles to
Hospitals …
He calls audibles smoking Somali babies, charcoalizing children of
Yemen – paydirt “fighting terror”; He runs PSYOPs from his FOX-box,
Intentionally grounding
Bodies by the thousands –
No wonder freedom-loving “white” folks hate him, threaten his life!

He runs draw plays on teenage sex workers, trapping police
Officers … He sends racist texts through his helmet onto police
officers’ phones …
He ran Red Lines through Hunters Point and The Mission District
He called sub-prime loans on quick counts, strip-sacking peoples’
Homes –
No wonder freedom-loving “white” folks hate him, threaten his life!

Yusef-Lateef-plays-wooden-flute-by-c-Pier-Luigi-Balzarini-300x296, #7:  Seventh Son, Culture Currents
Yusef Lateef – Photo: © Pier Luigi Balzarini

He barks, “Hut-hut-hut-’08-13 trillion-2 Big-2 fail-2-Big-2-Jail – ”
Smash-mouth bail out of banksters looting our economy; He checked-
off at the line of scrimmage – bull rushing and crushing Occupy;
He quarterback sneaked beer in the Rose Garden with po-po, post-Skippy-
Gate; He play-faked Emanuel AME with “Amazing Grace,” before taking
Tuesday’s “deep-shots” –
No wonder freedom-loving “white” folks hate him, threaten his life!

He motioned right, across formations: thousands of Black New Orleaneans
trapped on rooftops, waving flags; Then went weak-side: “Brownie’s doin’
one heckuva job!” His bomb blew up Black girls in their Birmingham
Sunday School. He shot the Black man running a fade route in the back,
and planted a throwaway gun at his feet; He picked six Black Lives Matter
Men from Ferguson for shooting and cremation in cars –
No wonder freedom-loving “white” folks hate him, threaten his life!

II.
Temperature-controlled couches, cognitive dissonant comfort zones,
land of make believe, where “All Lives Matter” to confederate flag-draped
crackers, crazy as cuckoo clocks, hooked to IVs of Bud, stuffing pizza holes
and insatiable Strange Fruit tastes … #7 sat Rosa-like on their 52-inch screens –
“shock-therapy” Carlos-Smith style,
Blood-curdling screams of Sioux didn’t do; contorted Cheyenne, Seneca
faces didn’t do; burning Ashanti, Fulani flesh didn’t do …

III.
#7 came Black like Baldwin, Nina, Robeson, “Detroit Red,” Oscar Brown-
Angela yellow; overpowering “white” master “race” and melanin mad black-
Black, super-Black to the 37th power “race” schemes.
He came shaming silly putty minds molded into weapons by oppressors
Laughing their way to Swiss banks!
He came with 7-step drops, breaking Buddha routes off 7 branches from
The Tree of Life …

Willie-Dixon-web-300x200, #7:  Seventh Son, Culture Currents
Willie Dixon

IV.
#7’s good man, though he lied saying, “Black Lives Matter”
under capitalism and then, God-like, on the 7th day he rested.
Taking a knee during money-worshipping, war-profiteers’
saber-rattling song – and all hell broke loose – warheads
Exploded with outrage, FOX-box flamethrowers took aim –
bloggers loaded bazookas with big lies, half-truths;
sports show snipers framed him in career-killing crosshairs …

V.
#7 came like Miles after blessing The Music: 7-steps from heaven –
7 circles in the universe; 7 wonders of the world; scaling 7-story mountains
for 7 pillars of wisdom; #7 came training third eye, crown, throat chakras in
incantation in The Age of Austerity.
#7’s a good man – unlike #7 where Allegheny and Monongahela make
Ohio – Goodman, Chaney, Schwerner-synthesis, torching Troll Patrols –
Trumpen proletarians defending Boeing’s song, Raytheon’s rag …

VI.
#7’s quarterback/center, core-connecting spirit, stiffened spine –
7-pointed Astrologer’s Star sending 7 rays of Cali sun
Cutting through head-fixing fog, “looking off” safeties of slavery:
Refocusing third eyes on the prize; stepping the struggle up sevenfold!
#7’s one of Mama Harriet’s children, chased by 300-pound men between
commercials and war propaganda like horseback crackers and bloodhounds
Chased Mama Harriet’s elusive energy field …

Colin-Kaepernick-Castlemont-football-team-092316-by-@CastlemontFB-278x300, #7:  Seventh Son, Culture Currents
On Sept. 23, Colin Kaepernick attended the Castlemont High football game in East Oakland, telling the team, “You stood for me. So I had to come out and stand with y’all.” During the national anthem, the team lay on their backs with their hands in the air while Kaepernick kneeled beside them. On the sideline for this photo, Kaepernick wore a Castlemont hoodie; in the locker room, he wore a Muhammad Ali shirt. – Photo: @ CastlemontFB

VII.
Now, everybody’s talkin’ ‘bout The Seventh Son
In the N-F-L he’s the noble one
Yes, he’s the one, he’s the one
The one they call The Seventh Son

He can tell the truth and throw a pass
Raise consciousness sittin’ on his ass
Study video of the latest police killin’
Call racists out when others ain’t willin’
Yes, he’s the one, he’s the one
The one they call The Seventh Son

He can speak truth that sounds so sane
Even detox a FOX-poisoned brain
He can back movements, lift the fight
Strike some serious blows at the right
Yes, he’s the one, he’s the one
The one they call The Seventh Son

He can air the crimes of a racist cop
Radicalize talk in the barbershop
Out the profiling they call the “beat”
Grab ears of brothers in the street
Yes, he’s the one, he’s the one
The one they call The Seventh Son

A breath of fresh air from the Bay
Amplifying what we’ve got to say
Hustlers pushin’ “get out the vote”
He took a knee, rocked the boat
Yes, he’s the one, he’s the one
The one they call The Seventh Son

Poet’s note: This poem was inspired by Colin Kaepernick’s stand, great Jazz saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Yusef Lateef’s “#7” and great Chicago bassist, composer and producer Willie Dixon’s “Seventh Son.”

Raymond Nat Turner © 2016 All Rights Reserved. Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. Find more of his work at http://ursurgejazz.com and contact him at upsurgejazz@gmail.com.

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