Aya de León-Icon/I Have A Dream

Icon/I have a dream Martin Luther King fought for justice, not integration Don’t confuse the method of transportation with the destination But history remembers our heroes distortedly like black & white kids holding hands is all he stood for & completely forgets his opposition to the viet-nam war & what’s more his ideas are intellectual property & if Ghandi can be an icon for apple computers, then everything in this nation is for sale I can just imagine what advertisers would do with King’s letter from the birmingham jail picture this: it gets bought by corporations in the prison industrial complex & they take it all out of context putting up billboards in the hood that say: hey young black men, MLK went to jail; if you’re lucky, you can be next> Or imagine this one Let’s say the NBA buys his speech at the march on washington talking about I have a team I have a team so the sons of former slaves can sweat and toil up and down basketball courts like modern day cotton fields for the profit & amusement of the sons of former slave owners; it is deeply rooted in the american dream; I have a team> Or perhaps it would be bought by developers talking about I have a scheme. I have a scheme that little white yuppies can live next to little black and brown boys and girls, digging the convenience & flavor of their hood & when the black & brown folks get moved out white yuppies will say in their newly acquired hipster slang don’t trip peeps, it’s all to the good yes, I have a scheme still deeply rooted in the American dream feeling like a dij` vu, except without the smallpox blankets & then developers can go to black church testimony meetings talking about I’m not here to testify I’m here to gentrify! can I get a witness?> Or maybe it would be bought by a multinational pharmaceutical conglomerate talking about I have a cream I have a cream & even if the red hills of georgia are nothing compared to the acne on your face, I have a cream. A cream that guarantees that every pockmark will be exalted and every pimple made low, I have a cream. I have a cream that fights against itching, anti-government bitching and encourages snitching. I have a cream that is spermicidal, herbicidal, pesticidal & genocidal, I have a cream today! I have a cream that will turn little black boys into little white girls & we sold some to michael jackson & he said white at last, white at last, thank god almighty I'm white at last! yes, people, we must be very careful who we let control our past.> © Copyright 2002.  All rights reserved.  This material cannot be reproduced without consent of author. source