And As We Don Our Headdress                              Alexis Jackson

And as we don our headdress
And fold our legs beneath our frames
Chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo
              Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo
              Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo
Selling bean pies
Burning Imani
Denouncing the religion of the oppressors

We tell God that He is not omnipotent enough
To use oppression to produce liberty
We tell Satan that he is powerful enough to break the faith
Of a race

We venerate man’s sinful nature and praise the serpent
With Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo
        Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo
        Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo
And a bean pie my brotha
Sistah

We ignore Africa’s Eden
and Joseph, son of Jacob
We give power to the curse of Ham
And cast stones at Wheatley and Douglass
While exalting human depravity
Proving the need for Christ’s mercy

Social construct
That’s what we call freedom
Bound in garb that blinds
Ceaselessly chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo
                                Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo
                                Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo
To a deaf god