Just Simply Crabs

 

What a title!

What a theme!

What is he thinking?

What does he mean?

 

Just simply crabs

Like crabs in a barrel,

Or equally as striking

Like crabs in apparel.

 

The scourge of the blacks

Crabs in a barrel

Identified by appearance

Hence crabs in apparel.

 

Why no university?

Why no international bank?

Why no joint corporation?

Why this putrid tank?

 

This tank, this barrel,

Our cage, our prison,

From generation to generation

Our only possession.

 

The whites have it all

And we?  Delusion our bit,

The Chinese and Japanese:

They’ve made a hit.

 

The Jews too,

They are marching on

But the Blacks like crabs

Have little going on.

 

The Arabs like the Jews

Have come a long way

But the Blacks like crabs

Are always at bay.

 

 

Blacks patronize another

But cut against their own

And while their enterprise fails

Others have grown.

 

Like crabs in a barrel

Consigned to Whiteman’s pit,

Like crabs in apparel

The only change-cosmetic.

 

Superficial changes-

Blacks are easy to satisfy,

The others, their millions-

Blacks just get by.

 

 

Trampling one another

Desperate to get out,

Seems like one just made it

I heard him shout.

 

A shout of braggadocio

Now feeling better off,

Looking down his nose

He struts and scoffs.

 

Albeit, still in the barrel-

The crab mentality,

A mere pseudo freedom-

His stark reality!

  

A king but no kingdom

Just a mere Massa clone

But now using Massa whip

To control his own.

 

Still in Massa prison

Though having some clout

But still a crab in Massa barrel-

He hasn’t gotten out.

 

 

Closer to the top

A distance from the bottom,

But under Massa control-

That’s still his problem.

 

Hampered by melanin-

If only he were white,

He’d be rid of this barrel-

The source of his plight.

 

Blacks’ combined disunity

Coupled with Massa whip

Quells every uprising

Forcing them to quit.

 

For like iron and clay

There is no coming together,

No unified attempt

To escape this bother.

 

What’s that I hear?

Me thinks it’s a shout!

A perception but a deception-

Another’s gotten out.

 

On top maybe

But still in Massa barrel

Though of no particular note,

A change in apparel.

 

Just simply crabs

Crabs in a barrel

And of no particular note-

Crabs in apparel.

 

Stewart Russell © April 14, 2021