I say You Is ah Racist. [Spoken word]

Uploaded by TTRN -Trinidad and Tobago Radio Network Limited
I SAY YOU IS AH RACIST
By Keegan Maharaj

So is why some Africans like to say they were born in Africa but they doh act like Africans? And some Indians like to say they were born in India but they doh act like Indians? And still I see less dashikis and even less saris and more hoodies and sought after skinnies.

And still some people think I should not be on this stage, that I smell like curry and coconut oil dripping down the side of my ears, and I can't wine in time and I must be a racist, and I can't play football, and I should not exist in these spaces, in YOUR places

That I should not know Africa is not a country but the second largest continent filled with glorious countries - 1.3 billion people, 12 percent of the race runs in Africa. But you more African than me so you know that Sudan is the heart, and that half of all diamonds and gold comes from no other place but Africa with oil reserves that could make the whole world black and six percent of the earth's surface already black.... with poverty.

But I am not allowed to say these things 'cause I might lose friends I never really had.

I wonder when the first man was walking in Africa over 7 million years ago, if he was preoccupied with the thought of an Indian man somewhere in the West Indies having a ..... like this for African things? I wonder if the first man was a racist? I wonder if he would be my friend, come home by me, drink dhal, break roti, eat curry and watch Indian movies with my granny? Not just because he is hungry or polite but because he knows we are brothers, just like you know we are brothers.

I wonder if the next girl I date happens, like all the rest, to be African, if her parents will like me, if my parents will like her, if people will still stop and stare at us, if little Indian children will make faces and turn their nose in directions unknown and if my uncles will call me a disgrace just to propel their hate for the African race?

So if Africa is for the Africans and India for the Indians, then my dougla niece in Brooklyn suck salt mixed with hate and venom in this lost generation of lost big people manufacturing lost little people.

And now the crowd will scream! We have sold our souls for nothing, and nothing plus nothing equals nothing.

And still you say you not a, not a, not a, not a, not a racist.

But if your actions cause the same pain as racism, then you must be a racist so doh try to pass for no black nationalist and doh try to pass for no Indian culturalist...yeah.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................


A Note From The Gull

Dhanyavaad, dhanyavaad, bahut dhanyavaad, Keegan Maharaj.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare