We of no name
Didn’t blow here on no boats
We flew here in aeroplanes
Didn’t march out in chains we walked out
Chasing dreams, following lovers
And yes, we do have our dictators
& some of us were running
But who cares what we sought? They threw us into prisons
When they set us free, we found them seething
Couldn’t understand our speaking
Wouldn’t pronounce our names
So they made up their own calling us leeches.
They placed us in the Cities -
With the fast life, fast women, fast Mercedes
Hardworking men, not steal or cheat men
Fascinated by such liberty
But they wouldn’t accept us, these Natives
Implementing policies
So even honest men can’t eat
Now when dreams turn to boulders
The order is to keep pushing
But these stones were still, unmoving
And dreams turned into illusions.
So some went underground, bought new identities
Made up accents & names, faked Histories
Some of we found fame on the big screen like Makosi
Some made use of their penises
Made Native daughters curl up in ecstasy
Made them hurl out our strange names like lyrics they’d been singing for years
Some made their names on Commonwordblorgs.org reciting poetry
Like me, and I have a name: Gift Nyonie
And I have something for you to take with your tea:
There’s more of us than can see
We form the backbone of this economy
We do the jobs you won’t do
We lick the arses you won’t lick
We are the people you refuse to be
There’s no getting rid of us so infuse us – or let us be
If some of you look into your roots they’ll reveal
That you and yours are once – We
So next time you want to fight against me
Remember this:
When you fight against us, you fight against yourself