you have the nerve to say the past is past<BR>and subscribe instead to the rugged individualism<BR>of your father<BR>and screw your mother<P>the mother they pressed and o'ppressed and o'ppressed<P>but in birmingham<BR>black is hot<BR>with charred bobby socks and<BR>loosened pigtail knots<BR>smeared lipstick blots <BR>silent rows of screaming forget me nots<P>black is hot tonight<P>hot with the discourse of what life is<BR>and what it is not<P>what black is<BR>and what it is not<P>name it. name it.<P>black burns tonight<BR>footsouljahs i said<BR>foot souljahs i said <BR>foot soul jahs <BR>made in the image <BR>climbing over sharp cutting fences <BR>as the school teachers look the other way<BR>seven years old and realizing the multiplicity of idenitity <BR>they picked up picket signs much like we pick up treasured broken glasses that are heirlooms<P>black is hot tonight<P>and the serpent rises again clothing himself in his own insatiability<BR>deceptively devouring each shattered piece of the we <BR>--we never were<P>friendly god fearing politicians<BR>who pimp politcks and promises like pussy<BR>watched as the tension grew thick and red like the dirt<P>looking at the future that must have been the other way<BR>politicking and hyperbo-libbing about how they be gettin overcoats<BR>to keep out all the niggers hot air<P>everydaypeople<BR>smacked <BR>and <BR>bull whipped<BR>and bullied<BR>and bullhorned<BR>black asses<BR>and water hoses still couldn't put the fire out they fill the jails up<P>missionaries<BR>content to love everything about you but you<BR>wish they could wish your pain away with their fear<BR>pray for you but refuse you life<BR>here they<BR>dance in the light of the servitude<BR>quiver in the moon<BR>and tell us to dance that line<BR>dance that line but don't<BR>bend over and let it come to push and shove<P>but black is hot tonight<BR>and the sound is so loud<BR>it concaves in on itself <BR>a pleathora of <BR>w i d e w a n d e r i n g w o u n d s <BR>each open and hungry<P>the devils' brood<BR> smoking outside the kingdom before they<BR>step into their deacon robes<BR>then somebody reached their hands down into the dirt that southern dirt that never seems to wash of the hands <BR>never seems to wash <BR>out<P><BR>the snakes came stealing in the river<BR>plotting <BR>burial grounds<BR>and battered brown <BR>strange fruit<BR>that leaves the tounge bitter <BR>and the heart afraid<P>made their way into the temple <BR>and slayed<P>denise, cynthia, addie mae, carole<BR>two others,their eyes poked out<P>name us. name us.<P>and along with the loose apendages<BR>and broken bodies<BR>and the small profaned wombs<BR>the mounds of budding breasts<BR>and the brick embedded in denise's pressed hair<BR>and bloodied white underwear<BR>there is the smell of bubble gum<BR>and strached dresses<BR>and curly kitchens<BR>and dreams<BR>and head bands<BR>and <BR>the drumming<BR>the drumming<BR>of freedom songs and heavy heated hands<P>there are snakes in the river jordan<BR>who would come and devour our children?<BR>there are snakes in the river jordan<BR>but they have always been there<BR>been there<BR>we are reminded <BR>in that biting hissing cruel sound<P>how do i tell my child she was born to be hated?<P>oh lord black is hot tonight<BR>they are drumming the names<BR>they are drumming the names<BR>if we loose them we loose us<P>mounds of budding breasts calling out to us<BR>as we walk past reality like it is a picture show<BR>reaching out to us<BR>as we plant new seeds<BR>reaching out to us<BR>the us that makes us get up <BR>at three o'clock inthe morning and wonder what's wrong<BR>because we hurt so bad and can't name our affliction<BR>and we just want to be touched because the hurt is so prolific it moves<BR>like birth pains<BR>...like birth pains<P><BR>and black is on fire tonight<BR>as we set out into the river to cutthroat the serpents power<P>by<P>walking through the fire<BR>i said walking through the fire<P>oppressing opppressing opppressing oppressing<BR>right through it<P>and you<BR> have the nerve<BR> to say the past <BR>is past.<BR>