My Burden Poem by Mustafa Marconi

It is my duty to serve
To nurture, tutor and train
To give selflessly of myself
For the good of the whole
It is my burden to endeavor
To be the best that I can be
Despite my mortal weaknesses and limitations
To emulate the greats who preceded me
The martyrs on whose shoulders I proudly stand
To contribute whatever I can to the cause of liberating humanity
For the good of every child, every woman, and every man
It is my duty to seek the truth
To refrain from blindly accepting the status quo
To dispute the lies masquerading as authenticity
And to unearth the truths buried under an avalanche of falsehoods and deceptions
It is my obligation to remember
To contradict the tidal waves of revisionist history
To recognize and honor the martyrs on whose shoulders I proudly stand
Who sacrificed everything so that we could one day live with dignity and self respect
All for the cause of resurrecting our humanity
For the good of every black child, every black woman, and every black man
It is our duty not to assimilate
To nurture our minds, bodies, and souls
To give of ourselves for the good of the whole
And to stem the tide of generational apathy and ignorance
It is our burden to recognize
That we are the antithesis of collective thought and purpose
That we are the tainted product of a society that negatively influences every aspect of our lives
For the purpose of keeping us physically weak, spiritually captive, and mentally blind
A society that appoints our role models, heroes, and leaders
From a special list of sell outs and high priced slaves
Guiding us away from freedom and away from the truth
Away from information and into the abyss that we so readily embrace
It is our duty to not succumb to the recycled and repackaged ploys of our oppressors
To nurture and educate our mind, bodies, and souls and inspire revolution
To give of ourselves without fear of reprisal or death
For the good of every African American child
Every African American woman and every African American man
And for the good of the African Diaspora