This is for the rabble-rousers

For every time Malcolm X stepped on toes 

So no negro would ever again have to be passive

For every Fanny Lou Hamer whose resistance couldn't be silenced by violence

For every Stokely Carmichael 

Stabbing the sky with a gloved fistful of tears that will no longer be ignored

This is for the radicals

Fluent in protest and dissent

Who dance like a revolution

Harlem shaking off the shackles of oppression

Who breathe like King's dreams and Confedrate nightmares

This is for the rebels

For every Che Guevara that could never be silenced b/c they hold no grudge with death

For every Jesse Washington they try to burn at the lynching tree

Unaware that a rebel spirit is a blaze that can't be extinguished

This is for the Zapatistas 

Who refuse to let their destinies be held hostage by the tyranny of the status quo

For every Black woman who's lost her son to police violence but regained her spirit through chanting Black lives matter

For every Mandela stuffed into a jail cell of conformity simply for believing in the audacity of compassion

For every Moses who throws snakes of defiance towards men who play God

Crossing seas of opposition until the promised land is reached

We're still not there 

We still need you 

If you've ever questioned God

Not for lack of faith

But for the backbone to bear to your cross

If you've ever stayed out past the street light of complacency

Skipping dinner in exchange for a hunger of justice

If you've ever dived into the deep end of struggle not knowing how to swim but refusing their floaties of gradualism

The world needs you to stir the winds of resistance 

Otherwise enslavement is inevitable

This is a tribute to the radicals

​Creating the chaos necessary for a better tomorrow

---

Joshua Everett is from Leeds, Alabama and recently graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He started both writing and performing to try and impress two different women at different points in his life. He's been swept up in a love affair with poetry ever since. His writing ranges in topics from love to racism to awkwardly stumbling through young adulthood. Music has strong influences on his writing, especially hip-hop, jazz, and soul. The goal of his writing is to infuse these distinct, yet connected African-American art forms to make work that people can really feel. He currently works as a community organizer in Jacksonville, Florida with Interfaith Coalition for Action Reconciliation and Empowerment (I.C.A.R.E).