Welcome to Week #1 of Zoeglossia’s Poem of the Week Series, curated by Leroy F. Moore of Krip-hop Nation!
I’m so grateful to be the guest curator of Zoeglossia’s August poetry series where every Monday, I, Leroy F. Moore Jr., will feature a poem to highlight the following poets from Krip-Hop Nation's, “Black MenTalk” program:
1) Leroy F. Moore Jr.
2) Lateef McLeod
3) Ottis Smith
4) Keith Jones
Here is a short meaning of the term that I made up earlier this year, Krip-Brotherhood with the first poem of the series by myself entitled, Brotherly Love With A Limp.
Krip-Brotherhood is deep friendships with disabled males from boys to men with pride in all of our identities and so much more. There needs to be a relearning among disabled men. We need to come together and take off this ableist and other assumptions that have been force down our throats from non-disabled boys/men, girls/women and our society from education to media to even Black and other cultures that teach an ableist, materialism, capitalist ways to see what is a man.
We must challenge this new awareness of men's studies, men’s groups, men’s YouTube channels and the growth of men’s organizations about ableist thinking, teachings, writings, cultural work like a man supposed to be the one that always provides, has a bigger paycheck, protects etc.. Some of the popular elements of what makes a man is almost impossible for a disabled man to reach thus continue to a feeling that being “a man” is not reachable and always being viewed as always being looked at as a child….
Many times disabled men are left out of the discussions on men’s issues. I think before we go out to educate non-disabled men we must set a strong foundation between us. Krip-Hop Nation in 2019 started Black Disabled Men Talk on youtube but before that a group of Black disabled men got together to talk under Krip-Hop Nation. This is very important to constantly build a space where we can feel comfortable to get together to talk and hang out. Usually we are taught as disabled people especially Black/Brown disabled young men to not acknowledge our disability so we don’t acknowledge each other thus continue to hide not creating what Krip-Hop Nation calls Krip-Brotherhood.
To get to Krip-Brotherhood we must realize it is a process like I said it goes in cycles from erasure to exploitation to pity to overcoming to identity politics to self-empowerment to seeing ourselves politically, culturally leading into living proudly in our Black/Brown/White and disability skin thus becoming politically as disabled men. Krip-Brotherhood is different from everybody and some people will take longer to get the feeling that they need Krip-Brotherhood. I didn’t come to work towards Krip-Brotherhood seriously not until I was forty-five and only now in 2020 I feel comfortable to make this part of my work publicly. This empowerment came from my childhood by seeing Porgy & Bess in 1979 to my father’s record collection seeing a lot of Black disabled men musicians like Robert Winters to blind Blues artists, to my non-profit in 1990’s with Gary N Gray under Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization to Sins Invalid to Krip-Hop Nation. The writings of Dr. J. Curry and interviewing him gave me another piece of my firm foundation as a Black disabled man.
It is easy to say that Black disabled and other disabled men must create that Krip-Brotherhood foundation so we can go out in our community and world to not only correct what a man is but to deliver a space in our world and men studies, groups that is open and includes our history, politics, rights, arts, sexuality, we need to see this as a process that might take time knowing that today we might not see the full creation of this foundation for disabled men especially Black disabled boys and men but knowing we now are putting our piece into this foundation that will help disabled boys in the future…
Brotherly Love With A Limp
By Leroy F. Moore Jr.
Got to show it
Got to be about it
Take off that macho shit
Nothing but brotherly love with a limp
My twenties & thirties are over
In my fifties I need it
So I provide that space to get together
Black Disabled MenTalk, no bullshit
Catch us on youtube
We talking to you
No comments from fools
We giving our Hip-Hop and Blues
Got to show it
Got to be about it
Take off that macho shit
Nothing but brotherly love with a limp
Panties still flying
When he rolled out in his wheelchair, Teddy Pendergrass
He sang about Black struggle from his bed, Curtis Mayfield
Those two welcome Rob Da' Noize Temple as an ancestor
Brotherly love with a limp
Coming from above
Now we can open up
Don’t need a ticket to get on this ship
Got to show it
Got to be about it
Take off that macho shit
Nothing but brotherly love with a limp
So happy to be alive to see it
slowly it’s forming with pain and joy
This is real not a new toy
For academic papers and studies
It started in the community
We needed to form that community
To see ourselves And
To be proud to provide that brotherly love with a limp
Leroy F. Moore
Leroy F. Moore Jr., Founder of the Krip-Hop Nation. Since the 1990s, has written the column "Illin-N-Chillin" for POOR Magazine. Moore is one of the founding member of National Black Disability Coalition and activist around police brutality against people with disabilities. Leroy has started and helped started organizations like Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization to Sins Invalid to Krip-Hop Nation. His cultural work includes film documentary, Where Is Hope, Police Brutality Against People with Disabilities, spoken-word CDs, poetry books and children’s book, Black Disabled Art History 101 published by Xochitl Justice Press. His graphic novel, Krip-Hop Graphic Novel Issue 1: Brown Disabled Young Woman Super Hero Brings Disability Justice to Hip- Hop was published by Poor Press 2019 and in 2020 Leroy also published Black Disabled Ancestors with also with Poor Press. Moore has traveled internationally networking with other disabled activists and artists. Moore has wrote, sang and collaborated to do music videos on Black disabled men.
www.kriphopnation.com
http://www.blackdisability.org
http://www.poormagazine.org/krip_hop
https://twitter.com/kriphopnation
https://www.facebook.com/LeroyFMooreJr
blckkrip@gmail.com
https://soundcloud.com/user-147187058/building-process-to-get-to-krip-hop-nations-politics