BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

The Black Woman

I have to scratch my head when I hear young

Black men calling our sister’s bitches and whoes,

because Black women are our most precious asset.

Sister’s are the very womb of our culture,

and if it wasn’t for her, we would have

long since been relegated to the

ash heap of history.

Sister’s have been standing by us

and reinforcing our manhood

for centuries.

.

When we were beaten down

and told that we weren’t shit

by the White man,

SHE WAS THERE . . . to nurse our wounds,

and assure us of our value.

.

And when we ran the street

in a misguided attempt to chase our

manhood,

SHE WAS THERE . . .  to rein us in,

and convince us that we were

more than our vision of ourselves.

.

And once we gained the wisdom

to become real men,

SHE WAS THERE . . . to help us defined

our manhood through the image of ourselves

that we saw reflected in her eyes.

.

So, my man,

it behooves us to educate

our young brothers

to the fact that,

"That Bitch," and 

"That Whoe,"

is our most precious

possession,

and we’d be lost

without her.