A Black American Smokey Robinson

I love being Black
I love being called Black
I love being an American
I love being a Black American
But as a Black man in this country I think it’s a shame
That every few years we get a change of name

Since those first ships arrived here from Africa that came across the sea
There were already Black men in this country who were free
And as for those who came over on those terrible boats
They were called "nigga" and "slave"
And told what to do and how to behave
And then master started trippin'
Doing his midnight tippin', down to the slave shacks
Where he forced he and Great-Great Grandma to be together
And if Great-Great Grandpa protested, he got tarred and feathered
And at the same time, the Black men in the country who were free
Were mating with the tribes like the Apache and the Cherokee
And as a result of all that, we’re a parade of every shade
And as this late day and age, you can be sure
They're ain't too many of us in this country whose bloodline is pure

But, according to a geological, geographical, genealogy study published in Time Magazine
The Black African people were the first on the scene
So for what it’s worth, the Black African people were the first on earth
And through migration, our characteristics started to change and rearrange
To adapt to whatever climate we migrated to
And that’s how I became me, and you became you
So, if we gonna go back, let’s go all the way back
And if Adam was Black and Eve was Black
Then that kind of makes it a natural fact that everybody in America's an African American