SIGNS OF THE TRIBES
by Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa
smiling injun showing pearlie whites
looking shifty in wide-eyed caricature
with a single feather sticking up
from the back of his head
a band holding it in place
he’s stuck to the plastic cap
of a boy of summer playing hit the ball
and run the bases
before a sea of mostly pale faces
and arms moving up and down in
a tomahawk-choppy motion
to the helter-skelter rhythm of balls and strikes
runs, out, and errors
but an error is a mistake
the Trail of Tears and Wounded Knee
were not events
that the children of Plymouth Rock and Valley Forge
did not mean to do
they meant it and weren’t sorry for even as long
as it takes to blink an eye
or steal first, second or third
they stole home
called this “pilgrims’ progress”
“pioneer spirit”
“taming the frontier”
and other turns of phrases
to cover the trail of murders and thefts they lay
on the road to today
where the logos and mascots of their fun and games
mock the people they considered fair prey
o’er the land of the free
and atlanta’s the home of the braves
but they
and cleveland injuns and washington redskins
cannot speak for themselves
because decals and mascots can’t talk
and Leonard Peltier, like me, can’t run free
but must walk, pacing back and forth in a cage of history
repeating itself
and i
being foreign to this place
could ignore these signs of the tribes
but for the thought in my head
that little black sambo’s turned red.
.
From NYC’s Anarchist Black Cross:
Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa (formerly David Rice) were members of the Black Panther Party, and their case was, and continues to be, controversial. The Omaha Police withheld exculpatory evidence at trial. The two men had been targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program), that operated against and infiltrated anti-war and Civil Rights groups, including the Omaha Black Panthers. The US section of Amnesty International recognizes we Langa and Poindexter as political prisoners. The state’s parole board have recommended the men for release, but political leaders have not acted on these recommendations. For more information, visit n2pp.info
.
The short video below questions the validity of the state’s star witness in Mondo’s case.
