"White Folks Walk Their Dogs" by Truth Thomas
JUNE 2024
White Folks Walk Their Dogs
(after Gil Scott Heron)
Gentrification done bit my brother Phil
As White folks walk their dogs
His property taxes began to swell
And White folks walk their dogs
Can’t get no money to shake my hand
And White folks walk their dogs
‘Cause east of the river is a Bantustan
While White folks walk their dogs
Another Black child fell in a grave
As White folks walk their dogs
He tripped up on the murder rate
But white folks walk their dogs
On U Street now, tanning beds grow
Since White folks walk their dogs
Will they spoon one in Ben’s Chili Bowl
‘Cause White folks walk their dogs?
Ain’t no heat in my baby’s school
As White folks walk their dogs
Her classroom is a trap house view
And White folks walk their dogs
Got ethnic cleansing in Barry Farm
Developers say that they mean no harm
Tell torn down blocks we can all come back
And as if that ain’t a leash to crap
Gentrification done bit my brother Phil
As White folks walk their dogs
His property taxes began to swell
And White folks walk their dogs
Bike lanes matter and running shoes
And White folks walking privilege, too
Statehood must be coming soon
‘Cause White folks walk their dogs
---
2024
Truth Thomas is a singer-songwriter, poet, and photographer born in Knoxville, Tennessee and raised in the sacred DMV. An NAACP Image Award-winner, he is the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Howard County, Maryland.
