THE BLACK BRIGADE

A continuum the war is
Not just the Turners, Prossers, & Veseys
But the nameless ones who fight back, who draw blood
Who take lives, who inspire fear
Who command respect
Who fight without uniform
Without rank; without praise
Never reaching the media’s ear or the masses’ tongue
From day to day they resist
From decade to decade they rebel
From century to century they revolt
Those who defend, who protect, who uphold –
Troops who never tire
Or retire
Who hide in sunlight and feed off shadows
Who accompany backwood winds upcountry roads
& trail back alley whispers down city streets
Who engage the stormbrokers on sinking terrain
& summon the racial power of primordial discipline.
Names and faces change; times & places change
They soldier while others sleep
They patrol while others play
They battle while others beg
This army of anonymity
Living an oath of struggle 
Under a vow of continuance
Acknowledge them. Become them! These warriors of the Nzinga flame
Of the Samori cloth; of the Menelik stock
Our guarantors of existence. Proud parallels ofHannibal stretch to Hampton spread; of
Asantewaa cut to Assata sweep
The battalion grows as the times recruit
& frontline namelessness issues a warranty of honor:
To fight for freedom until we are free
To maintain our freedom for eternity.