The lines between hip hop and social justice are often blurred, which is a topic of discussion at The Hip Hop Youth Research and Activism (HHYRA) Conference. The HHYRA will bring together youth from diverse communities for a day filled with workshops, dialogues, and interactions that revolve around the ideas of Hip Hop and social justice.
1Hood Media Teaching Artist Shyheim Banks will perform his Emmy award poem entitled “Don’t Clip Our Tails,’ A Pittsburgh Poet’s Reflection on Racial Justice,” a collaborative effort between Banks, Public Source, and Ryan Loew, Videographer/Editor.
Check out the complete program here.
Workshops and presentations will be led by high school and college students who submitted proposals that the HHYRA Youth Leadership Council accepted.
Register for the May 20, 2022, event here.
Don’t Clip Our Tails
I had a conversation
With a member of a nation
Who seems to be lacking in patience
She would like to see black people live
As much as me
But couldn’t seem to see
Where telling a young black boy to put his hoodie down when asked could come off as invasive
I know you’re all wondering,
Yes,
She was Caucasian
To which I replied,
“Why,
Are you not telling them to stop shooting at the stations?”
See this is too often the occasion,
I asked her to tell me how
We deserve criminalization
For wearing a fucking hoodie
When they come to us guns blazing
See that’s where I think we’ve been failed
It’s to a point where
even our white allies think we’re the problem
So they offer help by clipping our tails
If you were thrown in a cell
By someone who does NOT wish you well
Would you respond well
To being advised to “just not go to jail”?
C’mon bro,
What the hell ?
If you’re so “not racist”
Then why is your idea of help
To tell black people
How to better operate in white spaces ?
I told her simply,
Don’t clip our tails
To which she replied,
“What does that mean”
Well..
I know you mean well,
But it’s counterproductive
To use your voice to inspire compliance
Within a system where your voice could be destructive
Martin Luther King said it best
You become a stumbling block
In the stride toward freedom
When you’re more devoted to order
Than to justice
Don’t clip our tails
That means simply,
If you’re going to stand WITH me,
Give me the space to speak out
Against all odds stacked against me
Don’t clip our tails
Don’t treat me like my culture is a waste
Because we take up room
Where you failed to make space
Let me wear my blackness with grace,
With dreadlocks,
Afros,
An Unshaved face,
And Tell Fox News
That’s the beauty in blackness,
Not the disgrace
Don’t clip our tails,
There should be enough room for me to exist as is,
I shouldn’t have to humble my joy,
Nor silence my kids,
Nor turn down my music,
Nor straighten my wig
When concerning my freedom,
My life shouldn’t be the first bid
Don’t clip our tails
Black people shouldn’t have to shrink
In fear of what white America will think
When regarding my place in society,
Your first thought shouldn’t be the clink
If you see me out for a jog,
Knowing the road I had to take,
You should offer me a drink
Don’t clip our tails
I should be able to stand tall
In ALL of my blackness
Baggage and all