We've Been Sleeping Long Enough Part 1: Poetically Alarming The Black Conscience

By Jerald Brown

"We've Been Sleeping Long Enough Part 1: Poetically Alarming The Black Conscious" is a poetry book by Author Jerald Brown, speaking to the many issues that plague the Black community. From miseducation to police brutality, mental health to mass incarceration, this poetry book will highlight problems that have been upon African Americans for years and years. It is a poetically crafted publication designed to alarm the masses of poetry readers everywhere.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jerald Brown
• Release date: May 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370050376

Jerald Brown

Jerald Brown is a poet, spoken word artist, and author of 4 poetry books. His spoken word name is Lyfe Lessons and he travels the country performing poetry. He is born and raised in Danville, Illinois, but his entire adult life he has been a resident of Memphis, Tennessee. He also owns and operates a self-publishing company entitled All In All Publishing.

Book preview

Know Thyself

If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.

-Carter G. Woodson

Powerful people cannot afford to educate the people that they oppress, because once you are truly educated, you will not ask for power. You will take it.

-John Henrik Clarke

The so-called modern education, with all its defects, however, does others so much more good than it does the Negro, because it has been worked out in conformity to the needs of those who have enslaved and oppressed weaker peoples.

-Carter G. Wilson

Now You Know

Don’t let them tell you different

Don’t let it be mistaken

African Americans definitely contributed

To America’s civilization

Many modern day inventions

That we currently take for granted

Came from the creativity from Black genius minds

For the innovation of the planet

For example, all of you bike enthusiasts

L.R. Johnson changed the game

When he presented to the world of cycling

The advent of the bicycle frame

William S. Grant created curtain rod support

And Samuel Scrottron made the curtain rod

Osburn Dorsey gave us the door stop

And he also contributed the door knob

Benjamin Banneker conceived the clock

Thomas Stewart designed the mop

Think of Paul Downing when you receive that check

On the 1st and 15th in your mailbox

The toilet came from Thomas Elkins

The clothes dryer from George T. Sampson

Michael Harvey formed something of a portable lamp

When he created the lantern

When it comes to women’s hair care

Madam C.J. Walker constructed the straightening comb

And Lydia Newman introduced the hair brush

Which I’m sure at one point every woman owned

John Burr devised the lawnmower

J.W. Smith produced the lawn sprinkler

For those hot summer days those in need of lemonade

Should thank J. Thomas White for the lemon squeezer

Washington Martin made the padlock

For security in every estate

Thomas Marshall improved the fire extinguisher

Joseph Winters set up the ladder for the fire escape

T.A. Carrington erected the stove

The traffic light was Garrett Morgan

Leonard Bailey fashioned the type of bed

That easily assembled from folding

The street sweeper was Charles Brooks

The stethoscope was Imhotep

The ironing board was Sarah Boone

Frederick Jones built control of the thermostat

Tiger Woods became Tiger Woods

From the help of the golf tee by George Grant

Nightclubs were assured payment from patrons

From Walter Purvis’ creation of the hand stamp

Edward Berger gave us the spark plug

Alexander Miles originated the elevator

For long haul trucks and railroad cars

Frederick Jones also instituted systems of automatic refrigeration

So many black inventions

So many contributions

But if you never do your research

You’ll forever be in a state of delusion

The typewriter

The pencil sharpener

The peanut butter

From George Carver

The ice cream scooper

The horseshoe

The blood plasma bag

From Dr. Charles Drew

The tricycle

The fountain pen

The key chain

From F.J. Loudin

The music guitar

The biscuit cutter

The folding chair

The baby buggy

This list is inconclusive

There’s so much more to our pedigree

A lot of what you see created

Was stolen from our legacy

So now I’ll finish writing

So your research can begin

As I salute W.B. Purvis

For the use of his creation…the pen!

Actually, Facts are Facts

Over the distance of 196,940,000 square miles

Of this marvelous globe

The human, or should I say hue-man

Began populating like an illuminating strobe

And civilization manifested through the Original man

Circumferencing 24,896 miles of an inexplicable span

And for centuries through to this millennium

There have been lies and falsehood advocated even in school curriculum

That damaged our psyche and made invisible our contribution

To nation building

We’re in a race for resilience

In the knowledge of ourselves

So throughout the 7,926 mile diameter we live in

Let actual facts be the stimulus to the viewpoint from our pigment

With no resentment and no fear because it’s truth

With irrefutable and indisputable proof

As we stand here, or live