Written piece
Integrated: A Commonwealth Black Man
Errol Bean
Jamaica
About this piece
A rhythmic affirmation of Black manhood shaped by ancestry, Jamaica, and lived experience. This poem rejects stereotypes and claims full, integrated belonging within the Commonwealth as the voice of a proud Commonwealth Black man.
Integrated: A Commonwealth Black Man
I Man is a Black Man – a Commonwealth Blackman!
Not just another man nor a man-to;
Not a little man or a big man,
Not a tall man nor a short man,
Not a slim man nor a fat man,
Not a handsome man or an ugly man,
Not a sexy man nor a macho man;
I man is a man – a Commonwealth Blackman!
I Man is a Black Man – a Commonwealth Blackman!
Not a mamma's man or a maa-ma man;
Not a yes-man nor an everybody's man;
Not a workman nor a handyman
Not a dis-man nor a dat-man
Not a best man nor a big-belly man
Not a Rasta man nor a baldhead man
I man is a man –
a BLACKMAN, a Commonwealth Black Man.
I Man is a Black Man – a Commonwealth Blackman!
Not a drugs man nor a con man
Not a gunman nor a bad man
Not a don man nor a wicked man
Not a weak man nor a strong man
Not a powerful man nor a fallen man
Not a queer man nor a straight man…
I Man is a Black Man – a Commonwealth Blackman!
I Man is a Black Man – a Commonwealth Blackman!
Not a blackheart manikin dressed in
white concepts of comeliness;
Not a mentally enslaved African-Caribbean man
believing the colour of my skin is sin…
I man is a Blackman –
A free Commonwealth Black Man…
Ancestors taken from mama Africa
Ingrafted in the new motherland;
Paid allegiance to the Union Jack;
In 1962 hoisted the Gold, Green and Black…
Still, resting on Jamrock
A proud, integrated Commonwealth Blackman
That’s who and what I am… I am…
I am –
An integrated Commonwealth Black Man.