on & lime popsicles, thought them were diamonds” (lines 21-22). Throughout the last lines of the poem the speaker continuously mentions the “realenemy”, and how blacks must become aware of the realenemy. It is not until the reader gets to the last lines of the poem that the identity of the realenemy is revealed. Madhubuti uses the method of repetition in the last stanzas. The speaker is repeatedly saying “ know the realenemy. change. know the Caruthers 6realenemy. change. . .know your enemy. change your change your change your enemy change”, and finally he reveals what all the changes boil down to. In the last line he says, “change change your change change change your mind nigger.”It was not until the last line of the poem that the principle meaning of change really made sense. Each change was set in stages. The first stage focused on changing for the better. The second stage was focused on the wrong changes that blacks make, and the finally stage was the need to change Black America’s mentality. Each stage was leaning towards one main purpose, and that was realizing that the only true enemy that the black community faces is their own minds. Move away from this white way of thinking, and develop a sense of Blackness and self. ...
